WOR - up 8% and over 52 week high, page-35

I've learnt to attach an enormous amount of importance to the 'language' used in company updates/reports and esp in the 'outlook statements'.

When DTL and ASG announced their respective updates not only were the figures good but the language used by MDs brimmed with optimism. hence, i bought with strong confidence at $1.125 and 90.5c. The result a 4-6 weeks later confirmed the updates AND each company's outlook maintained the strong optimism/confidence re the year ahead. Hence, no surprise to see their SPs soar!

With contractors its even more important as the situation/macro changes so rapidly. DOW and UGL have given clear indicators re margins, revenue and in DOW's case actual net profit for FY17. UGL's strength is govt sector infrastructure esp anything rail. DOW does just about everything and is well poised to benefit from increased govt spending.

MND is a very well managed company. But its main focus has been concentrated in oil&gas and resource construction. MND boomed during the resource boom. It was smart enough to set PLENTY cash aside during the heydays and is moving across to civil engineering as macro continues to weaken considerably/rapidly. Today's outlook is sombre and I've done some estimates re future earnings.

WOR is in a fix. Big debt, HUGE goodwill on balance sheet which exceeds company's mkt cap!! How can that be? Firm employs some 26,000 consulting engineers that are looking to replace the hundreds of Billions spent in the resource and energy boom. Its going to find it a very hard slog indeed. Hence, I will pay careful attention to the language used in WOR's results and esp 'outlook' statement tomorrow. I can't fathom how SP got to $9.53 during yesterday's trade!?!