Internet traffic for Bunnings and Masters

Source: Google Trends

It's no secret that sales at Bunnings are motoring ahead of Masters. Woolworths management continues to put on a brave face describing Masters as a long term investment and talking up new store formats.
Online the search term "Bunnings" is far, far ahead of "Masters."   Masters has been growing at a slow rate but this seems to have faded in the last six months.  In contrast Bunnings continues to make strong gains particularly in the last year.  Searches in December in the lead up to Christmas show a spike every year.

Internet traffic for JB Hifi and Dick Smith

Source: Google Trends

Probably best to never underestimate the importance of Christmas to a retailer.  The above graph shows google searches for the terms "JB Hifi" and "Dick Smith."
All the spikes represent the surge in searches in December of each year.  Looks like the clearance sale at Dick Smith from a couple of weeks ago certainly generated a lot of interest online with a massive spike at the right hand side of the chart.  With this exception online searches have been drifting sideways to lower which isn't a good sign for either retailer.

New lows for Woolworths

Source: Yahoo Finance

After spending the last six weeks going sideways and just holding above $23, Woolworths (WOW) has now broken the support level to be at a new 52 week low.
Their relaunched loyalty scheme has been receiving negative feedback and one wonders how or if this will impact quarterly sales.
Dividend yield continues to edge up now to 6.2%.

ANZ share price with Mike Smith

Source: Yahoo Finance

With ANZ shares currently trading around $26 there is a distinct possibility the shares will end lower than when Mike Smith commenced in 2007.  As compared to the impressive run under the previous CEO John McFarlane.

Telstra leads Optus in google searches

Source: Google Trends

The comparative graph above looks at google searches that involve the terms "Telstra" and "Optus". For a period in 2009 and 2010 more people were searching for "Optus" related phrases before a steady decline takes place and "Telstra" takes a commanding lead.

Interesting when you then compare this with the Telstra (TLS) share price.

Source: Yahoo Finance

In 2012 as Telstra takes back the lead from Optus in Google searches its share price goes on a nice bull run under CEO David Thodey.

Is Woolworths (WOW) relaunched loyalty scheme in trouble?

Fairfax columnist Michael Pascoe wrote a piece yesterday titled "Don't like: Woolworths Rewards Card fails the social media test." It seems in the land of Facebook everyone is up in arms over the changes to the scheme which involves no more Qantas frequent flyer points and buying products with little orange tags.  It's not a good look when someone's rant on Facebook quickly gathers over 40 000 likes.

The changes Woolworths have made to the loyalty scheme do seem rather curious.  Woolies sales are declining.  They need to boost marketing, cut prices and sacrifice margins to at the very least stop the slide in sales.  The new loyalty scheme hardly looks that exciting as Pascoe points out in his column and is simply aggravating shoppers even more.  John Durkan (managing director at Coles) recently said "our profits will grow through increasing sales and increasing transactions - the margin will be what the margin will be."  Protecting high margins is a key factor that has led to the mess that Woolworths now finds itself in.  One has to wonder whether they realise how much they need to slash margins to get back in the game.

Anyway back to Woolworths new loyalty scheme.  Is it really that bad or is it just a few people having a whinge on Facebook.  The graph below shows the number of google searches for the terms "flybuys" (Coles loyalty scheme) and "everyday rewards" (Woolworths loyalty scheme).

Source: Google Trends

Back in 2009 when Woolworths launched their Qantas alliance they had a nice little spike in people googling their loyalty scheme.  Coles relaunched their scheme in 2012 and had a massive spike in people googling the term "flybuys."  Since then they have been trending up quite nicely.

Woolworths scheme however has been showing a gradual decline.  And to make matters worse with the relaunch recently "everyday rewards" has fallen further while "flybuys" has made new gains. Ouch!

Telstra (TLS) share price with each CEO

Source: Yahoo Finance

• Took a couple of years from David Thodey starting before the share price showed some reliable gains.
• Andrew Penn (current CEO) has a tough act to follow.  Price has dipped a bit this year but still early days for Penn.

Woolworths (WOW) and Wesfarmers (WES) daily charts since January

Woolworths (WOW) daily chart since January.
Making an attempt to hold up at $24 and reach the middle of the channel.













Source: Yahoo Finance

Wesfarmers (WES) daily chart since January.
Chart is fairly similar to Woolworths (WOW).
Currently trading in the middle of its channel.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Source: Google Finance

10 year return of BHP and RIO

Source: Google Finance

• Both BHP and RIO now have lower share prices from 10 years ago
• Despite the focus on BHP's recent falls RIO has performed worse over the 10 year time frame.
• BHP's falls this year not nearly as severe as the falls in RIO during the GFC.
• Share price of RIO still above its GFC low where as BHP is falling beneath its GFC low

Weekly WOW chart

Source: Yahoo Finance

• Peak of $38.92 in April 2014
• Low of $23.05 in Nov 2015
• Dividend yield 5.8%
• Market cap 30b
• P/E 14

BKL chart

Source: Yahoo Finance

Getting a bit dizzy looking down from the top of the Blackmores (BKL) chart.

P/E ratio of 68.

Needless to say they have had an impressive year.

TLS up from November low

• TLS touched its 52 week low of $5.06 on 16th November 2015
• Has since rallied 10% in just over two weeks
• Dividend yield 5.5%
• P/E 16
• Still well down from its 52 week high of $6.73 on 4th February 2015

WBC share price on the rise

This graph shows the comparative performance of WBC, CBA, NAB and ANZ since July 1st.

Source: Google Finance

Westpac (WBC) is the clear leader with its share price now higher than where it was on July 1st.
ANZ by comparison is still lower by 13%

Woolworths still above $23

After touching a low of $23.05 in mid November the Woolworths share price has edged a bit higher but has generally drifted sideways over the last month.

Still a lot of unknowns within the company involving the next CEO, Masters and Big W.

Dividend yield currently a healthy 5.7%

Will the $23 support line be held? Mycharttrades offer some useful insights.

ANZ dividend yield falls to 6.5%

After touching a low of $25.01 in early November the ANZ share price has rallied over 10% and is currently almost reaching $28.  Reasonable GDP figures today will help all the big four banks.

November 10th:  Dividend yield 7.2% and PE 9.3

December 2nd:  Dividend yield 6.5% and PE 10.3

Dividend yields of top 10 ASX

1.   BHP    9%
2.   NAB   6.6%
3.   ANZ   6.5%
4.   WBC  5.7%
5.   WOW 5.7%
6.   TLS    5.6%
7.   CBA   5.2%
8.   WES   5.2%
9.   MQG  4.4%
10. CSL    1.6%

• BHP leads the list with the growing likelihood that its dividend will be cut.  A decision on this is not expected until February and commodity prices can fluctuate dramatically in the space of two or three months
• NAB and ANZ have yields of about 6.5%.  There is also talk that their dividends could be cut due to the large capital raisings this year.  This is looking increasingly unlikely in the short term as their share prices have rallied over the last couple of weeks.
• WOW 5.7%.  Who knows what will happen with WOW.  Who will the new CEO be? What will happen to Masters?  What will happen to Big W?  Will second quarter sales be positive?  
• MQG and CSL with lower yields have been by far the best share price performers over the year.

Top 10 ASX by market cap - November changes

                 Nov 9th         Nov 30th

1.   CBA     130b              136b

2.   WBC    100b              107b

3.   ANZ     74b                79b

4.   NAB     74b                78b

5.   TLS      64b                66b

6.   BHP     70b                59b

7.   CSL     44b                46b

8.   WES    43b                43b

9.   WOW   30b                30b

10. MQG    27b                28b

• The big four banks have all increased their market cap over the last three weeks.
• ANZ has just edged ahead of NAB
• BHP has lost 11b in market cap in the last three weeks
• WES and WOW both remain unchanged.

Monthly WPL chart

Source: Yahoo Finance

• Traded roughly in a range of $30-$40 for over four years.
• Dividend yield 9.1%
• Market cap 25b
• PE 9.4

Monthly MQG chart

Source: Yahoo Finance

• Increased four fold since 2012
• Dividend yield 4.4%
• Market cap 28b (10th largest on ASX)
• PE 12.5

TLS since 2002

Source: Yahoo Finance

Impressive run in TLS doubling in price from $3 to $6 in only four years.
Reached its peak in February and has since closed lower every month since with the exception of Jul.
Perhaps worth remembering the negative sentiment with TLS for such a long period of time.  Its shares drifted lower for 12 years from $9 to less than $3.
However if bought and held at almost any point since 2002 (apart from this year) there is a capital gain of anywhere between 0-100% and the descent dividend that comes by every six months.

Some readers may be aware of the investment strategy Dogs of the Dow.   I often wondered whether TLS was an exception to this strategy as it drifted lower over many years.  Perhaps it does fit the strategy when looked at over a much longer time frame.

15 year return on BHP, ANZ and WOW

Three different companies in three completely different sectors: Mining, banking and retail.  All currently experiencing their own headwinds and difficulties.  Which has performed best over the long term?

ANZ

Source: Yahoo Finance

WOW

Source: Yahoo Finance

BHP

Source: Yahoo Finance

If measured from the year 2000 then Woolworths (WOW) is a long way ahead of ANZ and BHP.
WOW has increased its share price five fold and don't forget the dividends as well.  ANZ and BHP have increased their share price roughly half as much as Woolworths (WOW)

When measured from 2005 the results are much the same.  Woolworths (WOW) has risen 60% where as ANZ and BHP have only risen 30%.

From 2010 everything has changed.  ANZ is up a bit, WOW is down a bit and BHP is down a lot.

Highs and lows of ANZ since 2000

Source: Yahoo Finance 

From 2000 it took seven years for ANZ to triple in price from $10 to $30 (pre GFC high)

From 2009 (GFC low) it only took six years to triple in price from $12 to $36.

Hardly surprising there has been a pull-back from the highs seen earlier in the year.

S&P/ASX 200 up almost 5% for the week

The week for S&P/ASX 200 - up almost 5%

The week for Wesfarmers (WES) - up almost 7%

The week for ANZ - up over 7%

WES and WOW - Internet traffic for Big W, Target and K-Mart

Woolworths (WOW) and Wesfarmers (WES) reported their first quarter sales a few weeks ago.  WOW same store sales for food and liquor was down 1% where as WES was up 3.6%.

But the discount department stores was where the divergence was even greater with Big W same store sales down 8.1% and K-Mart up 8.6%.  Target even managed a 3.2% rise.

We are now half way through the second quarter and the all important Christmas trading period is in full swing.

Each Christmas there is a significant spike in internet traffic for the search terms "Big W", "K-Mart" and "Target".  Big W saw the most searches from 2011 to 2014.  Last year Target just edged out BigW.

And this year...  K-Mart is currently leading for the first time, ahead of Target and then Big W.

Source: Google Trends

The spike in July represents the mid-year sales (toy sale in particular) for which Target is always a clear leader.

7 year returns on BHP, FMG and RIO

Trevor Sykes writing for the Fin Review yesterday suggested that BHP is a red hot buy.  His main argument centred on cashflows and that its investing outflows are largely voluntary.  He states that if BHP stopped investing altogether for a year they would be "knocked over by the wall of money."

Not that the market seems that interested this morning.  With the spot price of iron ore down again they are drifting around the $20 mark.

Seems like the main game everyone is playing is trying to "pick the bottom" of the BHP share price.  Seven years ago in the depths of the GFC the share price briefly touched the $20 mark before doubling in price over the next few years.  That low was also at the end of November almost seven years ago to the day.

Here is a chart showing where the share price has gone since.

Source: Yahoo Finance

So where would we be today if we invested in some resources companies seven years ago.  Pretty much back where we started.  This chart shows how your returns on BHP, RIO and FMG would have fluctuated over the seven year time frame.

Source: Google Finance

With FMG you would still be slightly ahead and there would have been plenty of opportunities to sell out at a 200% or more return.

BHP, despite their current woes, has consistently outperformed RIO on the seven year time frame.

4 year chart of WES and WOW

Here's a chart of Wesfarmers (WES) going back four years.

Source: Yahoo Finance

And here's the same chart of Woolworths (WOW) going back four years.

Source: Yahoo Finance

From 2012 to 2014 the graphs are remarkably similar.  From April 2012 to April 2013 they both increase their share price by roughly 50%.  Not bad for a one year return.

For the next year and a half (April 2013 to October 2014) they go sideways which is not unexpected given the rapid rise they had.

October 2014 is where the two charts start to diverge.  It would appear the market was getting nervous with Woolworths (WOW) several months before the board did.  Former chairman Ralph Waters admitted earlier in the year that the board was not fully aware of the extent of the downturn in sales in December and January.  The board thought sales were "a bit soft"

The market was seeing something however as WOW lost over 10% of its value this time last year where as WES was still holding steady.

And so the plunge has continued for WOW this year with its share price returning to 2012 levels.

WES has largely held up however its share price has begun slipping under $40 in the second half of this year.  It has previously traded within a range of $40 to $45 since July 2013.  Could the market be getting a bit nervous about WES as it did with WOW this time last year?

BHP - still above $20 for now

Source: Yahoo Finance

BHP over the last three trading days.
Opens well down and then shows some steady gains during the day.

Meanwhile BusinessDay is reporting that commodity markets are "too pessimistic."  It notes that the recent declines in the prices of metals have been much smaller than that experienced earlier in the year.

Buy and hold Westpac?

With the slide in the share price of BHP the big four banks take out the top four positions of largest companies on the ASX measured by market capitalisation.  And by a fair bit too with Commonwealth Bank (CBA) being twice the size of Telstra (TLS).  That's despite some decent falls in their share prices since April.  And that's all everyone wants to talk about "How far they've fallen since April." Not that this isn't important but what if we look further back.  Much further back.

Take Westpac (WBC) for example.  Here's a monthly chart going back to the beginning of 2009.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Since March 2013 (roughly two and a half years) they have been going sideways trading between a range of $30 to $35.  There was a descent spike out of this range at the beginning of the year with the price almost touching $40.  Everyone seems to conveniently forget that the falls in April, May and June were matched by gains of a similar magnitude at the beginning of the year.  So the only people nursing descent capital losses are those who bought in February, March and April.

The period from July 2009 to September 2012 also saw plenty of sideways movement trading between roughly $20 and $25.  That's a bit over three years.  After that 11 consecutive monthly gains saw the price shoot from $20 to $30.

So what does this all mean.

Despite the hysterical headlines its business as usual for the Westpac share price.  Despite a capital raising and recently going ex dividend the share price remains above $30 within its two and a half year range.

With sentiment currently poor one would expect it to stay in this range for some time.  However if you believe that Australia will avoid a recession, that unemployment will remain around 6% and economic growth is going to pick up you would have thought there is more upside than downside in the share price.

BHP vs FMG since July 1st

Source: Google Finance

Since July 1st FMG is up 23% and BHP is down 23%.

Who would have thought!

S&P/ASX 200 correction similar to 2011

Weekly S&P/ASX 200 going back to 2011.

Source: Yahoo Finance

There are some striking similarities between the correction of 2011 and the correction of this year.

2011
Peak in April and trough in October
1000 point drop from 5000 to 4000.
Steep falls in August

2015
Peak in April and trough in October
1000 point drop from 6000 to 5000.
Steep falls in August

S&P/ASX 200 going back 20 years

Here's a monthly chart of the S&P/ASX 200 going back to 1995.

Source: Yahoo Finance

In the decade from 1995 to 2005 the index went from 2000 to 4000.
Then from 2005 to the beginning of 2015 it went from 4000 to 6000.
So perhaps we can pencil in 8000 for 2025??

From the GFC low of 3000 in 2009 it only took six years to make it up to 6000.

So nine years should be plenty of time to get from the current 5000 to 8000 ;-)

ANZ dividend yield up to 7.2%

Plenty of doom and gloom around the markets this morning as the S&P/ASX 200 hovers marginally above the 5000 point level.  Many blue chips are offering impressive dividend yields.

ANZ for example has a dividend yield of 7.2% fully franked and a PE ratio of only 9.3.  Many will point to whether its dividend is sustainable and the lack of earnings growth to justify the numbers.

Bargain buy or dividend yield trap?

Monthly CSL chart

Source: Yahoo Finance

• Since February 2012 there have been 32 monthly "rises" and only 13 "falls"
• Market cap continues to gain - now 7th largest on ASX at 44b

Top 10 ASX by market cap

1. CBA 130b
2. WBC 100b
3. NAB 74b
4. ANZ 74b
5. BHP 70b
6. TLS 64b
7. CSL 44b
8. WES 43b
9. WOW 30b
10. MQG 27b

• The big four banks still easily account for the bulk of the market.
• ANZ has slipped the most of the four banks
• BHP has fallen from 2nd to 5th in a year (share price down 30% in a year)
• Macquarie (MQG) the biggest gain (share price up 30% in a year)
• CSL continues to move up (share price up 20% in a year)

BHP dividend yield creeps up to 7.4%

BHP shares are once again testing new lows.  After rising above $25 last month they are now back around $22.  Consequently the dividend yield is up to 7.4% fully franked.  No doubt debate will once again continue on the sustainability of their progressive dividend policy.  If the share price continues to fall then it's a very clear signal that market participants are losing faith in the policy.

Here is a monthly chart of BHP going back to 2009.

Source: Yahoo Finance

• The solid bull run after the GFC saw its shares peak in April 2011 at $46.
• The next 15 months to June 2012 saw 12 monthly "falls" and 3 monthly "rises"
• The following 2 years sees the price edge up from $30 to $35.

The next fall from August 2014 looks rather similar to the previous one just described.

• The next 15 months up to today sees 11 monthly "falls" and 4 monthly "rises"

The scale of the two falls are also quite similar.

• April 2011 to June 2012 sees the decline from $45 to $30
• August 2014 to today sees the decline from $35 to $22

While history does not dictate future share price movements it can provide a useful guide to keep things "in perspective".   If the current price falls mirror the declines of 2011/12 then perhaps the downside risks are starting to become limited.

When did Woolworths last trade below $23?

Monthly chart of Woolworths going back to 2010.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Very briefly traded below $23 in November 2011 otherwise we look back to July 2008.

So from the $23 low in November 2011 it was 29 months to the peak in April 2014.

From here the fall has been far swifter taking just 19 months to return to where we are today.
 

TLS approaching a new low

Telstra (TLS) is currently trading at $5.33 just a shade above its 52 week low of $5.27.  It has now lost about $1.40 since its peak in early February.

PE ratio of 15 and its dividend yield is creeping up to 5.7% fully franked.

So a pretty ordinary 9 months for TLS but perhaps worth remembering they've had a good run over the last four years.  Here's a monthly chart going back to 2011.

Steady gains most months saw the share price more than double over a four year period from Feb 2011 to Feb 2015.

Also worth noting that the steep declines of August and September are almost matching the steep rise of December 2014 and January 2015.

Source: Yahoo Finance

ANZ NAB WBC ex dividend dates approaching

With the full year results finished for three of the big four banks that means ex-dividend dates are fast approaching.  As has been noted previously there has been no run up in their share prices this year as return on equity slips, dividends remain stable and margins come under pressure.

Clancy Yeates and James Eyers writing for BusinessDay have summarised it all pretty neatly this morning.  They've included a few useful graphs looking at return on equity, net interest margins and bad debt expenses going back a number of years.

ANZ
Ex dividend date 5th Nov 2015
PE ratio down to 10
Dividend yield 6.7% fully franked

NAB 
Ex dividend date tomorrow (4th Nov 2015)
PE ratio 12
Dividend yield 6.6% fully franked

WBC
Ex dividend date 10th Nov 2015
PE ratio 13
Dividend yield 6% fully franked

ANZ continues to offer the best value and some would argue the higher risk.
Unless ANZ has a bit of a bounce today or tomorrow its share price could be testing its 52 week low later in the week.

Woolworths hitting new lows

No good news for the WOW share price today with the intra day low representing a new 52 week low.  On Friday we mused that $23 could be a key resistance level.

Here's a graph of the S&P/ASX 200 and Woolworths over the last two years.  Both going sideways for most of 2014 and then it's down for WOW exactly 12 months ago...

Source: Google Finance

Westpac results - No surprises here

Westpac today rounds off the full year results after ANZ and NAB last week.

• Cash earnings $7.82 billion up 3%
• Final dividend 94c per share fully franked
• Return on equity 15.8% down 57 basis points

No surprises as most of the results were released two weeks ago when it announced the equity raising.

On Friday we had a look at how the share prices of ANZ and NAB were responding to their respective results.  They each lost 2% on the day the results were announced and then had steeper falls the following day.  And today Westpac is following the same formula being down 2%.  Maybe some steeper falls tomorrow?


Despite this, their shares are still trading comfortably above the retail entitlement offer price of $25.50.

Final musing:  Return on equity may be down a bit but 15.8% is still pretty healthy.

ANZ matches NAB's falls

After chewing over the ANZ results for a day it appears everyone has a bit of indigestion with the share price sliding over 3% today.  Yesterday I jumped the gun by declaring that the ANZ results were being a little better received than NAB due to the more modest share price fall.

Source: Google Finance

So as the above chart shows from a share price perspective they are both being marked down by a similar amount.  Interesting to note that they both had bigger falls the day after they released their results.

Woolworths - the day after

Plenty of doom and gloom being written up about Woolworths today.  Their shares are down another 2% after yesterdays 10% slide.  Plenty of analysts with "underperform" ratings.

Few points to note:

• The share price has fallen through $24 reaching an intra-day low of $23.95.  This is its new 52 week low.
• Dividend yield ticking up to 5.8%.  
• PE ratio around 14.  Could this be a bit high considering the chaotic state of affairs?

Elizabeth Knight writing for Fairfax sums it all up by saying "It is rare to see a blue-chip company – especially one with such quality assets – in such a continuous muddle.
But it is hard to see how sanity can prevail until a new chief executive is appointed, and he or she gets to place fresh eyes on the strategy, its execution and its timing."

From a charting perspective, mycharttrades has pencilled in a support line of $23.  Should $23 be broken then they feel that prices will be making "lower lows."

Snippets of Woolworths first quarter sales

Hmmm.....how did it come to this.

Woolworths first quarter sales were pretty bleak.  Or maybe "pretty bleak" is a bit too kind.  As I type these words its share price is down over 9% and sliding fast.  Its most recent share price low was $24.11 on September 21st.  A solid rally in the last four to five weeks has all been erased.

Snippet one

Woolworths same store sales (food and liquor) down 1%
Coles same store sales (food and liquor) up 3.6%

Snippet two

Big W same store sales down 8.1%
Kmart same store sales up 8.6%
Target same store sales up 3.2%

James Thomson writing for the Financial Review summed it all up pretty well by saying "Forget restoring Woolies to its former glory for a while - the new boss's big job is just going to be restoring some positive momentum."

Coles and Aldi are also unlikely to be easing up any competitive pressure.  As the quarterly sales from Wesfarmers showed all their retail brands including Target have positive sales growth and a little bit of the momentum Woolworths is missing.

ANZ full year result

Judging by the share price movements one can assume that ANZ's full year result is being received better than the NAB full year result from Wednesday.  NAB is down 6% in the space of two days where as ANZ is down 2% upon the release of their results today.

Source: Google Finance

ANZ 2015 full year results at a glance:

• Cash earnings up 1%
• Final dividend 95c fully franked
• Return on equity 14%

Bank dividend yields

Yesterday we looked at the PE ratios of CBA, WBC, NAB and ANZ and noted that ANZ is lagging behind the other three.  Whether it is a sign of good value or trouble ahead for ANZ is the question.

So what about their dividend yields.

1. ANZ 6.3%
2. NAB 6.2%
3. WBC 5.8%
4. CBA 5.4%

ANZ is certainly struggling for sentiment in the market with the lowest PE ratio and the highest dividend yield.

Ex-dividend dates are approaching for ANZ, NAB and WBC.  The traditional run-up of share price leading up to the ex-dividend date seems rather lack lustre this year.  One wonders whether yields of ANZ and NAB could soon be approaching 7%.

CBA still appears to be in a class of its own.  Its return on equity is still well ahead of NAB, WBC and ANZ.

NAB share snippets

NAB 2015 Full Year Results:

• Cash earnings up 2.4% adjusted for one-off items
• Net interest margins decline by 4 basis points.
• Final dividend 99c fully franked
• 80% of life insurance business sold off
• De-merger of UK banks now February 2016

Net interest margins (NIM) are continuing to slip at NAB due to competition in business lending.
NAB already has a NIM below CBA, WBC and ANZ

A fall in NIM is also expected in ANZ and WBC results.

What will NAB reveal tomorrow?

Full year results for NAB tomorrow (Wednesday 28th October 2015).

Should be no surprises with the dividend with it already being confirmed that it will remain at 99c fully franked.

Net interest margins and levels of bad debts will no doubt be closely scrutinised.

More interesting will be the "material transaction" to be unveiled.  Various media outlets seem convinced that it will be the sale of a large part of the life insurance business which drags down the results by being too capital intensive.

And there will be more details on the spin off of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks in the UK.  With the UK economy improving one can imagine that they will be quietly confident.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire have always been blamed for NAB's chronic underperformance.  As the chart below going back 15 years of CBA, NAB and S&P/ASX200 shows.

Source: Google Finance

There has been high optimism for NAB this year with Andrew Thorburn bringing about change at a rapid rate.  So has this optimism been reflected in the share price?  Let's look at the same chart going back only six months to April of this year.  This is where the index peaked in 2015 so we are really looking at who minimised their losses the most.

Source: Google Finance

As can be seen NAB and CBA have both performed in a similar fashion losing roughly 15% since April.

The PE ratios of the big four banks also tells an interesting story.  CBA, WBC and NAB all have a PE ratio of 13 to 14 where as ANZ has a PE ratio of 10.

With NAB about to say goodbye to its UK operations its PE has joined CBA and WBC.

ANZ with its vast Asian operations is trading at a discount to CBA, WBC and NAB.

Will the problems NAB has endured be ANZ's problems of tomorrow?

ANZ share snippets

The year so far...

Peaked on April 7th at $37.25

Trough on September 29th at $26.38

Source: Google Finance

Where as the S&P/ASX 200 is roughly where it started the calendar year ANZ is still down 10%.

Source: Google Finance

The 52 week range $26.38 to $37.25 -  representing $11 from peak to trough is the largest range since the GFC in 2009.

Ex dividend date in a couple of weeks.  Dividend yield currently 6.3% (100% franking)

S&P/ASX 200 weekly chart

Source: Google Finance

Snippet one

With todays gains the index is almost back to where it started the calendar year.

Snippet two

Peaked in April at 5996.
Trough early October at 4918.

Snippet three

Not that far to go to reach the mid point of the 52 week range.

Snippet four

Looks like "sell in May and go away" will ring true this year.

Snippets of WES first quarter sales

Snippet one

Coles same store sales growth (food and liquor) 3.6%.
This has maintained the same growth as the previous quarter.

Snippet two

Bunnings same store sales growth 8.2%
An increase from 7.7% on the previous quarter.

Snippet three

Kmart same store sales growth of 8.6%
Up from 8% the previous quarter

Snippet four

Target same store sales growth of 3.2%
First positive growth in over a year.

• Food and liquor sales growth at Coles is being maintained.
• Business as usual at Bunnings.  No signs of a slow down.
• Kmart has increased same store sales growth for five consecutive quarters.  From less than 1% this time last year to 8.6% in the previous quarter.
• Target has finally achieved some sales growth.  Previous four quarters has been flat to negative.