If you have room for some new portfolio additions, then it could be worth considering the two ASX growth shares listed below.

Both shares have recently been named as buys by equity analysts at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG). Here’s what you need to know about these shares:

Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE)

The first ASX growth share to consider is Allkem. It is the result of the merger of two leading lithium miners – Galaxy Resources and Orocobre.

This merger made the company a top five global lithium miner with a collection of world class operations including Olaroz, Mt Cattlin, and the Sal de Vida brine project.

Unlike many lithium explorers and developers, Allkem is already benefiting from the sky high lithium prices being underpinned by the decarbonisation trend and the rapid adoption of electric vehicles. This bodes well for its growth in the coming years

Macquarie is very bullish on lithium and Allkem. It currently has an outperform rating and $13.60 price target on its shares.

Lovisa Holdings Limited (ASX: LOV)

Another ASX growth share to look at is Lovisa. It is a fast-fashion jewellery retailer with a growing global store network.

Lovisa recently announced the appointment of Victor Herrero as its new CEO. Mr Herrero was previously the Head of Asia Pacific and Managing Director Greater China for Inditex (Zara, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti), the CEO of Guess, and the CEO of Clarks.

This appointment went down well with Macquarie. It notes that Mr Herrero has experience in China and India, which will be a key focus for Lovisa. In fact, the broker sees scope for the company to open as many as 1,400 stores in these markets alone.

In light of this, it is very positive on its long term growth prospects. Macquarie has an outperform rating and $25.00 price target on its shares.

The post 2 ASX growth shares Macquarie rates as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why has the Allkem (ASX:AKE) share price surged 27% in a month?
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Here are the 5 best performing ASX 200 mining and resource shares of 2021
• What is JP Morgan saying about ASX lithium shares?
• LNG hit record highs in 2021 so why did the Santos (ASX:STO) share price struggle?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns Orocobre Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Lovisa Holdings Ltd and Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price will be one to watch on Friday.

This follows the release of an announcement after the market close this afternoon.

Why is the Qantas share price on watch?

The Qantas share price will be on watch on Friday after it revealed adjustments to its third quarter capacity settings for both the Qantas and Jetstar brands.

According to the release, the airline operator is reducing its flying levels to better match travel demand in light of the sudden growth in COVID-19 cases in Australia.

The Qantas Group now expects domestic capacity for the third quarter of FY 2022 to be at around 70% of pre-COVID levels. This is down from the 102% domestic capacity that had been previously planned.

The release notes that the schedule changes are focused on reducing frequency of services and size of aircraft to minimise inconvenience for passengers as much as possible.

It will be a similar story for its international capacity. Total group international capacity for the same period will fall from 30% to 20% of pre-COVID levels. This reduction is in response to increased travel restrictions in countries including Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia. The main impact is being felt on Jetstar’s leisure routes. Other markets, including London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Johannesburg and India, continue to perform well.

Qantas also advised that both airlines have (and will continue) to have 100% of their available Australian-based crew stood up. It notes that this has helped to minimise the resourcing impacts of some needing to self-isolate during the summer peak.

What will the financial impact be?

At this stage, the company hasn’t got a clear picture in respect to the impact these changes will have on its earnings. It intends to provide a further update with its half year results next month.

Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said: “The sudden uptick in COVID cases is having an obvious impact on consumer behaviour across various sectors, including travel, but we know it’s temporary. Thankfully, Australia has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates and the Omicron variant is milder than its predecessors. So, as challenging as this current phase is, we’re optimistic that it is likely to fast track a return to normal.“

Mr Joyce also revealed that Qantas is well-placed to add capacity back if demand improves earlier than expected and reiterated that the company’s “focus on cash positive flying remains, notwithstanding some of the costs that we’ll have to absorb from this sudden drop in demand.”

The post Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price on watch after cutting capacity due to the Omicron outbreak appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Is it a buy in 2022? Leading brokers size up the Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price
• Buying ASX shares in 2022? Here’s what you need to know: expert
• How did the Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price perform in 2021?
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Archer Materials Ltd (ASX: AXE) share price was on fire today following a technical progress update on the company’s biochip.

At the close of trading, the materials technology company’s shares were swapping hands for $1.36 apiece, a gain of 32.04%.

What did Archer Materials announce?

The Archer Materials share price soared today after the company revealed it had successfully addressed a key nanotech challenge on its biochip technology.

Last month, the company developed its first biochemical reactions for detecting nucleic acid sequences. This allowed small droplets of biological samples to be processed and analysed using graphene-based sensors integrated within the biochip.

Nucleic acid markers are useful for monitoring the various states of a person’s health to see if disease is present. Commonly known techniques that use this method include polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

However, the latest update surrounds the company’s in-house capability of integrating a single-atom-thick graphene on a silicon wafer.

Archer Materials stated that it used an electron beam lithography system to repeatably and reproducibly fabricate the graphene devices. This represents a significant technical achievement for the company as it intends to use graphene as an ultrasensitive sensor.

An advanced material composite, graphene on the nanoscale is highly advantageous for detecting and analysing diseases. It has unique properties such as high electron mobility and chemical stability for sensing the activity of biological molecules.

What did management say?

Commenting on the news driving the Archer Materials share price, CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair said:

Archer’s use of advanced lithography systems to successfully integrate graphene with silicon electronics is a significant step in the Company’s biochip development.

This is the culmination of a lot of strategic planning and coordination involving talented people, world-class facilities, and technology to get to this point. It’s exciting that Archer’s CQ quantum chip development could also benefit from this latest achievement.

About the Archer Materials share price

The Archer Materials share price has surged around 140% in the past 12 months. However, the company’s shares are 56% off their all-time high of $3.08 reached in mid-August 2021.

Based on valuation grounds, Archer presides a market capitalisation of around $305.75 million, with almost 247.57 million shares outstanding.

The post Here’s why the Archer Materials (ASX:AXE) share price rocketed 32% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price on watch after cutting capacity due to the Omicron outbreak
• How does the Newcrest (ASX:NCM) dividend stack up against other ASX 200 miners like BHP?
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Why did the Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) share price slump on Thursday?
• How has the Green Technology Metals (ASX:GT1) share price surged 60% already this year?

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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ASX 200 mining shares like BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) arguably dominated investors’ attention last year.

The explosive share price appreciation that we saw across the first half of 2021 enthralled ASX investors. As did the subsequent ‘back to Earth’ moves witnessed in the back half of the year.

For investors of gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM), the past year has been a one-way street. And not in the direction shareholders would have liked. At today’s closing share price of $24.70, Newcrest Mining has gone backwards by a nasty 7.4% over the past 12 months.

It’s likely that the rise of BHP and Fortescue last year was, in part, fuelled by the monstrous dividends those miners doled out. And with full franking credits, too.

Based on BHP’s closing share price of $46.85 today, the ‘big Australian’ has an impressive trailing dividend yield of 8.59%. Fortescue has an eye-popping 16.73% trailing dividend yield, based on today’s closing price of $21.40.

So, how does the Newcrest dividend compare to these astronomical metrics?

How does the Newcrest dividend stack up?

Well, unlike those big iron ore miners, Newcrest didn’t enjoy a booming commodities market in 2021. As the largest gold miner on the ASX, Newcrest’s ability to pay out dividends largely rests on the gold price itself. And that has been at a fairly consistent level over the past 12 months.

In 2021, Newcrest paid out two fully-franked dividends. The first was an interim payment of 19.31 cents per share. The second was a final dividend of 55.2 cents per share.

That total of 72.5 cents per share was a marked increase on the 2020 dividend of 35.7 cents. Even so, that tallies the Newcrest dividend yield at 2.9% (or 4.2% grossed up with full franking) based on today’s closing price.

That’s obviously not even in the same league as BHP or Fortescue. But it is the highest yield this gold miner has had on the table for years.

Remember, these numbers are all trailing, which means they reflect the past 12 months, not the future. Who knows what today’s dramatically lower iron ore price will do to BHP and Fortescue’s 2022 dividends.

At the current Newcrest share price, the ASX gold miner has a market capitalisation of $20.20 billion.

The post How does the Newcrest (ASX:NCM) dividend stack up against other ASX 200 miners like BHP? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price up amid rainy days for Brazilian iron ore
• CBA (ASX:CBA) is about to lose the mantle of the ASX’s largest company, here’s why
• Goldman Sachs says buy Rio Tinto and South32 shares but sell Fortescue now
• Why did the BHP (ASX:BHP) share price struggle so much in 2021?
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns Newcrest Mining Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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