DX Group (LSE: DX) delivered a 10% gain for shareholders when markets opened this morning. The courier and logistics group said that trading for the full year was expected to be in line with expectations.
Broker forecasts suggest that DX could report earnings of 4.4p per share for its current financial year, which ends on 30 June. If so, DX shares would trade on a remarkably low P/E of 4.2. It’s also worth noting that the company is expected to pay a total dividend of 2.5p per share this year. This would give a staggering 13.5% yield!
The big risk is that DX’s most profitable business, DX Exchange, appears to be in decline. DX Exchange provides a secure mail service for lawyers and businesses. Demand is being rapidly eroded by email.
The other businesses in this group appear to be fairly standard low-margin courier and logistics operations. The group doesn’t provide a breakdown of profit in its results, so it’s very hard to tell how dependent DX is on DX Exchange.
In my view, DX could double in a year — but it may also have further to fall.
Summer drilling could unlock value
Shares in North Sea explorer Hurricane Energy (LSE: HUR) dipped slightly this morning, after the company said it would “temporarily suspend” efforts to find a farm-out partner for its Lancaster field.
The decision was made following the success of a recent £52.1m placing, which will fund two new exploration wells this summer.
In my view, suspending the search for a partner is a smart move. Hurricane’s current contingent resource estimates for Lancaster range from 62m to 456m barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). I suspect this is too wide a range for a potential partner to be able to value accurately. The Lancaster 7 wells planned for this summer should refine this range.
This should enable Hurricane to put a firmer and hopefully higher value on its asset. Dr Robert Trice, Hurricane’s founder and chief executive, is highly regarded in the oil industry. I think shareholders should trust his judgement and remain patient.
A double bagger from the current level of 18p is definitely possible, in my opinion.
This could be risky
I’m far less confident about the outlook for Indian online fashion retailer Koovs (LSE: KOOV). Shares in the firm fell by 4% this morning, after it announced a £3.3m fundraising at 25p per share. That’s a discount of almost 50% to Tuesday’s closing price of 48.3p per share.
Although Koovs’ sales rose by 189% to £10m last year, its operating losses during the first half of the year were three times greater than its sales revenue. A huge increase in sales appears to be needed to make this business viable. Although Koovs could become India’s answer to Boohoo.Com, it could also run out of cash quite soon.
In my opinion, Koovs is simply too risky to be an attractive investment.
