Virgin priced to fly: JPM | Shaws expands to NZ | Firmus in $280m pre-IPO raise

Good evening,

Virgin Australia’s return to the ASX is just hours away, and JPMorgan’s sales desk has already been telling clients the airline’s stock is “priced to fly” once the bell rings on Tuesday. That’s despite some serious geopolitical shockwaves in the form of a worsening conflict in the Middle East.

Russell Gill, from the Wall Street investment bank’s equity research sales desk, said there were plenty of dark clouds on the horizon. The oil price has jumped 21 per cent since Virgin priced the deal. Qantas shares have fallen 3.1 per cent. Still, Gill reckons this isn’t enough to take away the shine.

“Despite the recent oil price appreciation, we expect the stock to trade well on listing and close the implied valuation gap to [Qantas].Longer-term, the investment case remains more uncertain with many questions still to be answered (and delivered) and, in our view, a need for current market structure dynamics to hold,” he wrote in a missive to clients.

Read the full article: JPMorgan’s early verdict on Virgin’s Tuesday IPO? Should ‘trade well’

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

ASX-aspirant Firmus Technologies is close to ruling off a $US180 million ($280 million) raising ahead of a sharemarket float next year.

The Australian sharemarket fell to a three-week low as investors braced for Tehran’s response after the US attacked Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend, pushing oil prices higher.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.