A small cohort of stocks brought out very good results, but I maintain they still have some scope for share price rises. Here are three standout situations.
It was a tough full-year FY25 earnings season on the ASX, with many companies punished for disappointing results, and the companies that did well being quickly bid up to fairly full valuations. But a small cohort of stocks brought out very good results, but still have some scope for share price rise. Here are three standout situations.
Praemium (PPS, 80 cents)
Market capitalisation: $382 million
12-month total return: 53.1%
3-year total return: 11.6% a year
Forecast FY26 dividend yield: 3%, fully franked (grossed-up, 4.3%)
Forecast FY26 price/earnings (P/E) ratio: 17.4 times earnings
Analysts’ consensus price target: 97.5 cents (Stock Doctor, eight analysts)
Wealth management platform provider Praemium showed off a 55% lift in net profit in FY25, to $13.6 million, which comfortably beat market expectations. The profit jump came on the back of a 25% rise in revenue, to $103 million, supported by a 12% increase in funds under administration (FUA) to $64.3 billion. Return on equity (ROE) improved from 15% at the half-year result, to 16.1%, while the net profit margin improved to 19.0% from 17.9%. Praemium holds $41 million in cash on the balance sheet and no debt.
Praemium would be particularly happy with the performance of its new flagship platform, the next-generation Spectrum, which was built to offer unrivalled access to global markets and investment opportunities, including private credit and infrastructure projects, for high-net-worth Australians. Launched in 2024, Spectrum, which blends both custody and non-custody assets with Praemium’s powerful reporting and
tax engine. posted a 364% year-over-year increase in funds to $2.4 billion, although the includes a $1.5 billion transfer from OneVue, which Praemium acquired in 2020, but is being phased-out in favour of Spectrum. The SMA (separately managed account) product delivered steady growth, up 14%, while Scope+, the non-custodial reporting service, increased 15% year-on-year to $33.6 billion.
Powerwrap, the legacy platform serving high-net-worth clients, reported $251 million in net outflows in the June quarter, and is a bit of a problem child for the company, but on the flipside, the growth in the higher-margin platforms such as Spectrum and SMA is good news, and Scope+, the non-custodial reporting service, increased funds 15% year-on-year, to $33.6 billion.
As Spectrum increasingly becomes the company’s main wrap-platform product, analysts are quite positive on where PPS heads from here. Bell Potter has a price target of $1.00 on the stock. There is also a handy fully franked dividend yield to augment the potential total-return picture.
Viva Leisure (VVA, $1.515)
Market capitalisation: $153 million
12-month total return: 8.2%
3-year total return: 7.3% a year
Forecast FY26 dividend yield: no dividend expected
Forecast FY26 price/earnings (P/E) ratio: 7.1 times earnings
Analysts’ consensus price target: $2.58 (Stock Doctor, two analysts)
Health and fitness company Viva Leisure is a unique animal on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), as the only listed ASX exposure to the fitness industry. The company has grown spectacularly from running 29 gym sites when it listed on the ASX in 2019, to a network of 491 company-owned and franchised sites, with almost 621,000 members. The company says its expanded scale now enables competitive advantages through procurement leverage, brand presence, and data analytics capabilities across the enlarged footprint.
FY25 was an excellent result, with revenue up 30% to $211.3 million; earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rising 25.6%, to $99.1 million; and net profit up 60.9%, to $5.2 million, and up 47.6% on an earnings-per-share (EPS) basis, to 5.24 cents a share. Viva has grown revenue at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.9% since its first full financial year, FY20, and EBITDA at a CAGR of 44.5%. Average revenue per gym rose from $900,000 in FY24 to $1 million in FY25.
Viva operates multiple brands, including its wholly owned low-cost Plus Fitness brand, the largest by sites; Club Lime, Club Pink (women-only) Hiit Republic, GroundUp, World Gym Australia, BFS and Rebalance Pilates. After entering the UK market late last year, Plus Fitness has sites in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, India, Singapore and the Philippines. Broker Morgans says there are more than 46 Plus Fitness sites in the pipeline, while VVA’s minority investments BFS and World Gym, have a combined 119 sites in the pipeline.
VVA is the second largest gym and fitness company in terms of locations in Australia. In terms of revenue, research firm IBISWorld says VVA is the third largest operator, with 11.1% market share in a $2.8 billion industry.
The outlook for FY26 is positive, with VVA spending on expanding the company-owned gym network to slow down, and the existing network to be optimised, driving improved
profitability, with dividends expected to flow in FY27.
Universal Store (UNI, $8.74)
Market capitalisation: $671 million
12-month total return: 34.1%
3-year total return: 29.9% a year
Forecast FY26 dividend yield: 4.6% fully franked (grossed up, 6.5%)
Forecast FY26 price/earnings (P/E) ratio: 15.1 times earnings
Analysts’ consensus price target: $10.50 (Stock Doctor, ten analysts)
In a tough retail environment, youth fashion retailer Universal Store did a lot right in FY25. It sales rose 15.5%, to $333.3 million; underlying earnings (EBIT) increased 15.9%, to $54.6 million; underlying net profit rose 15.2%, to $34.8 million; the gross profit margin increased one percentage point, to 61.1%; and a 16.5 cents fully franked final dividend took full-year dividends to 38.5 cents, an 8.5% increase from the previous year. Like-for-like sales were up 13%: a net nine stores opened in FY25.
Universal Store focuses on “trend-led and casual” women’s and men’s fashion, shoes, accessories, lifestyle and gifting. The company is a brand aggregator with more than 50 local and international brands, targeting the latest and greatest youth trends: UNI often works with brands to develop exclusive styles and collections to offer its customers, which it describes as the “16 to 35-year-old fashion-focused” person. Some of the brands with which it works in this way include Champion, Tommy Jeans, Kiss Chacey, Barney Cools, Abrand Jeans, Nobody Denim, Wrangler, and Lee.
The company’s principal businesses are Universal Store and CTC, which contains the THRILLS and Worship brands (UNI bought youth fashion retailer, designer and wholesaler Cheap THRILLS Cycles for $50 million in September 2022). At the time, the Byron Bay-based THRILLS was UNI’s highest-selling third-party brand). The company is also rolling out its successful female youth private brand Perfect Stranger as a standalone retail format; Perfect Stranger now represents about 8% of sales.
At present, UNI operates 111 physical stores across Australia, comprising 84 Universal Store sites, 19 Perfect Stranger sites, and 8 CTC stores, in addition to an online store for each of its core brands. There are four to six new Universal Store stores planned for FY26; as well as five to seven new Perfect Stranger stores, and two to four new CTC stores.
When releasing its result Universal Store reported that early trading in FY26 was strong, with like-for-like sales up 10.7% at Universal Store and 19.3% at Perfect Stranger. That has analysts bullish on where Universal Store is heading; the most upbeat is Citi, which has a price target on the stock of $11.28.
