Can WH Smith ever recover from summer slump?
As well as a personal issue about the retailers store pricing, independent analyst Alistair Strang also has misgivings about the share price.
20th November 2025 07:37
by Alistair Strang from Trends and Targets
Perhaps it was the case WH Smith (LSE:SMWH) is using its UK motorway outlets to try and correct the little woopsie, due to their North American profit forecasts being overstated by around $30 million. News of this led to the company share price experiencing a 35% fall, a reduction in value of £600 million which far outweighed the accountancy error! However, WH Smith have created an entire industry of “distress” purchase retail locations, enjoying their mini monopoly in airports, hospitals, railway stations, and motorways.
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As can be assumed, we’re not exactly brimming with confidence for the immediate future of the company which slashed its profit outlook and lost its CEO following a review of the accounting failures in the North American division.
Despite the share price gaining over 7% on the day the boss left the company, we’ve a bit of a problem discovering any optimism for recovery as the share price needs to exceed 888p to start undoing the damage caused by the gap down in August.
About the best we can currently hope for is for movement above 674p to bring near-term recovery to an initial 775p with our secondary, if exceeded, at 837p. Unfortunately, this secondary is substantially below our 888p, indicating the danger the share price has moved down to a new trading level. Unless the market discovers a reason to gap up the share price, we suspect a glass ceiling shall form around the 837p target level.
Should things intend to go wrong, below 585p risks triggering reversal down to an initial 533p with our secondary, if broken, at 233p. We suspect a return to a low at 533p shall prove possible.
Source: Trends and Targets. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
Alistair Strang has led high-profile and "top secret" software projects since the late 1970s and won the original John Logie Baird Award for inventors and innovators. After the financial crash, he wanted to know "how it worked" with a view to mimicking existing trading formulas and predicting what was coming next. His results speak for themselves as he continually refines the methodology.
Alistair Strang is a freelance contributor and not a direct employee of Interactive Investor. All correspondence is with Alistair Strang, who for these purposes is deemed a third-party supplier. Buying, selling and investing in shares is not without risk. Market and company movement will affect your performance and you may get back less than you invest. Neither Alistair Strang or Interactive Investor will be responsible for any losses that may be incurred as a result of following a trading idea.
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