Investment bank UBS trawled public statements from the ASX's 200 largest companies in half-year earnings calls and investor presentations for mentions of coronavirus to measure how potentially exposed they are to the health crisis.While the ASX200 fell 9 per cent between January 23, when the Chinese city Wuhan was put in lockdown, to February 26, shares in the 28 companies that made at least 10 mentions of coronavirus in their presentations fell by an average of 16 per cent, UBS found.
Corporate Travel Management has mentioned coronavirus more often than any other company in the market , followed by BlueScope , Qantas , Blackmores and Seek . Australian shares have followed global markets lower over the past six weeks, as concerns grow that the spread of COVID-19 in China and beyond could disrupt supply chains and lead to an extended downturn in demand for everything from air travel, consumer goods and commodities.
UBS analyst Pieter Stoltz said that while COVID-19's economic impact was likely to be large, the ASX200's 10 per cent fall in the past week was greater than he expected.Mr Stoltz said the Australian market's slump in value, based on a ratio of price to projected 2022 earnings, from 16.4 times to 15 times was 0.2 points more than it should have fallen, based on a comparison to the global equities sell-off.
He said that individual stocks that had sold off more than they should have include Webjet, Corporate Travel Management, Flight Centre, Qantas, Treasury Wine Estates, Vicinity Centres, Star Entertainment, Sky City and Sydney Airport.