Sydney: James Hardie Industries Plc shares plummeted for a second day, with analysts rushing to cut their price targets after disappointing earnings results and concerns over the US housing market.
The Australian building materials maker dropped as much as 10% in Sydney yesterday after a slew of brokers trimmed their share-price expectations.
The stock tumbled 28% on Wednesday, the most since November 1973, after the company’s quarterly profit sank and it warned demand for repairs and new construction in North America remains challenging. Its US-listed shares plunged 34%.
While weaker conditions were widely anticipated, the results “suggest share losses in the US market and reveal new concerns on earnings visibility,” Barrenjoey Markets Pty analysts led by Brook Campbell-Crawford wrote in a note, downgrading the stock to “underweight”. — Bloomberg
