Greeting card distributor Moonpig is due to release its half-year results for the 2023 financial year on Wednesday 7 December, in what will be the London-listed company’s second interim earnings since going public in 2021.
Moonpig shares have been faring well in anticipation of the festive season, with 11% added throughout November alone, although stock performance has been underwhelming over the wider year, being nearly 60% down year to date.
Numerous hedge funds, including GLG Partners (NYSE:GLG), BennBridge and JPMorgan Asset Management, have opened short positions on Moonpig stocks, proof that a contingent of investors is betting on a lacklustre Christmas for the group.
Moonpig expects full-year revenues of £350mln – a 15% year-on-year increase – though that is obviously weighted in the second half given the Christmas spending season.
In the near term, “we continue to target mid-teens percentage underlying revenue growth for the enlarged group”, said chief executive Nickyl Raithatha, taking into account both UK and global sales.
“Margin trends remain resilient in the near and medium-term, and the proposed acquisition of Buyagift is expected to be margin accretive. In view of this, we have recently raised the group’s medium-term adjusted EBITDA margin rate target to between approximately 25% and 26%,” added Raithatha.
Eight analysts polled by the Financial Times have a 12-month median Moonpig price target of 310p against the current market price of 161.4p.