The Ftse Italy Mid-cap index (-1.9%) outperformed the main index by 0.8% over the past month (-5.9% year-to-date)
Topping the “best performer” list for the past month is Ovs Group, which posted a performance of +17%
Awaiting quarterly results, which are set to shed light on the sectors that have suffered the most from the macro scenario, the Ftse Italy Mid-cap index (-1.9%) outperformed the main index by 0.8% over the past month (-5.9% year-on-year). In contrast, the Ftse Italy small-cap index (-5.6%) performed 2.9% worse over the same period (+3.5% on a relative basis since the beginning of the year). Here’s who’s flying, and who’s crashing, on the stock market according to Intermonte’s latest monthly report on Italian mid and small caps.
At the top of the “best performer” list for the past month is Ovs Group, a clothing company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in the index dedicated to small caps with a market capitalization of 531 million euros, which posted a performance of +17 percent. The same goes for Sciuker Frames, a company specializing in designer windows and fixtures, with a market cap of 163 million euros. Rounding out the podium are Omer (an internationally active player in the design and production of highly engineered railway components), which recorded a performance of +15 percent, and Matica Fintec (which designs, develops, and sells technology solutions for banking and government institutions) with +13 percent. On the other hand, the worst performers in the past month are Expert.Ai (a leader in the field of artificial intelligence, plummeting -43 percent), Eles (which designs and manufactures semiconductor test solutions, -24 percent) and Igd (one of Italy’s leading retail real estate companies, -18 percent).
On the other hand, looking at the stocks that have performed best since the beginning of the year, Saras (a company operating in oil refining and power generation) ranks first with +88%, Tesmec (dedicated to energy transport infrastructure solutions) and Txt E-solutions (an IT company) second with +16% respectively, and Erg (an independent operator of clean energy from renewable sources) third with +3%. Also beating the stock market slump are Cyberoo (innovative pmi specializing in information security) with +3% and Autogrill with +3%, positive performances that compare with a collapse of the Ftse Italia Mid Cap of -28%, followed by the Ftse Mib with -21% and the Ftse Italia small cap with -18%. As for the “worst performers,” we once again find Expert.Ai in first place with -77%, accompanied by Media for Europe (a Dutch company active in media and communications) with -63% and Wiit (operating in cloud and IT security) with -60%.
“Since the beginning of the year, we have implemented a +5.7 percent revision to our EPS (earnings per share, ed.) estimates for 2023, led by significant earnings upgrades in energy stocks, while on average, we have cut our forecasts for the remaining stocks, particularly by 8.6 percent for our mid-small cap coverage,” they explain from Intermonte’s research team. “If we focus on this, over the past month, we have reduced our Eps forecasts for 2022 and 2023 by 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.” Against this backdrop, they continue, liquidity for large caps stands at -19.8 percent compared to the one-year average of -28.1 percent in the previous month. Conversely, liquidity is reported to be down -36 percent for mid-caps and small caps, -33.7 percent.
The macro picture, they note from Intermonte, remains exceptionally complex. “In Italy, political uncertainty, barring unforeseen events, would seem to be easing after the elections and given the birth of the new government expected in the coming days. The British government’s recent economic missteps should give the Italian government more reason to be cautious in future state budget policies,” the researchers conclude. “As for the quarterly results, we expect them to show a clear slowdown for some sectors (such as those related to spending on semi-durable goods) but also to confirm the investments planned by companies on issues related to long-term competitiveness, in particular digital transformation, energy efficiency, environmental and social sustainability. On these themes, we have tried to orient our investment ideas.”
