“There's enough value left in resources stocks to remain optimistic. Commodity prices are locked in over fairly long-term contracts for many of them, so there's an element of safety too.”
“We're still in a period of rising commodities prices. Even if they started to soften, the big mining companies have still locked-in long-term contracts which translate into a degree of earnings certainty.”
“We're talking about some big global players here, so that's what driving the speculation behind the rest of the sector. Steel stocks have been gaining a small amount of momentum back after a poor run the past few months, and this is the kind of thing that could prompt some managers to have another look.”
“I think there is a bit more competition in some of the areas they have with a lot of copycats coming out, making life a little more difficult for them.”
“The thing is, the market keeps expecting it to set new highs. We have had two or three years of exceeding expectations, so you have to keep exceeding it more each year.”
“It's facing more and more competition each day and that's going to keep chipping away at profits. It's an ugly position to be in if you're trying to sell half the company.”
“It's pretty much in keeping with the reporting season so far where we've seen a mixed bag of good and bad results. The market is still close to its top so we're going to have to wait a bit before there's any real indication where it should go.”
“There's been a lot of talk but I don't expect much action. It's not a great time to be launching takeovers when changing advertising spending is transforming the entire media environment.”
