The Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price has rocketed 72% in the year to date, but could it surge even more?

The company’s shares finished flat on Monday at $4.49 apiece. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) edged just 0.1% higher today.

Let’s check the outlook for Whitehaven Coal.

Price target lift

The Whitehaven share price may be on fire this year, but the team at Morgans believes it can go even higher.

Whitehaven operates coal mines in New South Wales and Queensland.

Analysts at Morgans have lifted their price target on the company’s shares to $5.20. This is 15.8% more than today’s closing price. The broker has pushed the company’s earnings estimates higher due to rising thermal coal price predictions. Morgans expects this could lead to big dividends in the short term.

Further, the broker believes the company’s share price could climb even higher to $6.53, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review. This is 45% more than today’s closing price. Morgans analyst Tom Sartor reportedly said:

We sense recent energy market dynamics has awakened a wider investor set to the importance of thermal coal.

The coal price has exploded 213.21% in a year, Trading Economics data reveals. Meanwhile, the European ban on Russian coal could tighten global coal markets further, creating a domino effect, oilprice.com reported.

Share price snapshot

The Whitehaven share price has soared 148% in the past year while it has gained nearly 14% in a month.

For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index has returned 7% in the past year.

Whitehaven has a market capitalisation of $4.56 billion based on its current share price

The post Whitehaven share price could surge 45% if coal price remains strong: broker appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• 3 ASX 200 shares starting the week with new 52-week highs
• Why ASX coal shares are charging higher again today
• Black gold! Here’s how well ASX energy shares performed over the March quarter
• In a sea of red, these ASX 200 coal shares are floating above water. Here’s why

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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If you’re looking to add some quality shares to your investment portfolio, then you might want to look at the ASX 200 shares listed below.

Here’s why analysts are tipping these ASX 200 shares as ones to buy right now:

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

The first ASX 200 share that could be in the buy zone right now is TechnologyOne. It is an enterprise software company servicing the government, financial services, health & community services, education, utilities and managed services markets.

Bell Potter is very positive on TechnologyOne. This is largely due to the company’s ongoing shift to becoming a SaaS-focused business. The broker expects this to underpin greater recurring revenues and stronger margins, which in turn could support a rerating of its shares. Bell Potter’s analysts currently have a buy rating and $14.00 price target on its shares.

The broker commented: “The key competitive advantage of the company is it has developed a fully integrated SaaS solution of its software and is now switching customers to this solution. The migration is now >50% complete and Technology One is starting to reap the benefits of greater recurring revenue and a higher margin. This combination will in our view drive double digit earnings growth for years to come and, as the migration of customers approaches 100%, we expect the multiple to re-rate to that of a pure SaaS company.”

Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)

Another ASX 200 share that could be a buy is Wesfarmers. It is the conglomerate behind retailers such as Bunnings, Kmart, Officeworks, and Target, as well as a collection of chemicals and industrial businesses such as Covalent Lithium and Coregas.

Morgans is a fan of the company and believes it is well-placed for growth over the long term. This is thanks to the strength of its portfolio and its highly-regarded management team. The broker has an add rating and $58.50 price target on its shares.

It said: “WES possesses one of the highest quality retail portfolios in Australia with strong brands including Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks. The company is run by a highly regarded management team and the balance sheet is healthy. While COVID-related staff shortages are a challenge, the core Bunnings division (>60% of group EBIT) remains a solid performer as consumers continue to invest in their homes. We see the recent pullback in the share price as a good entry point for longer term investors.”

The post Here are 2 excellent ASX 200 shares analysts rate as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Can Wesfarmers shares deliver an attractive dividend yield AND 20% upside in 2022?
• The Wesfarmers share price tumbled 15% in the March quarter. What’s next?
• Brokers name 2 ASX 200 dividend shares to buy now
• Broker names 3 more of best ASX 200 shares to buy in April
• Coles share price falls amid reports Wesfarmers is selling down its stake: Time to buy?

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 owns and has recommended Wesfarmers 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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Many ASX lithium shares closed lower on Monday, but not every lithium company had a bad day.

The Lake Resources (ASX: LKE) share price surged 7% while the Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price finished flat. It was a better result than for Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) shares which closed 3.28% lower on Monday while Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) slipped 3.75%.

Let’s take a look at what may have impacted ASX lithium shares today.

Lithium shares’ mixed performance

Other ASX lithium shares that lost ground today included Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE), Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR), and Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL). Their share prices fell 0.23%, 2.6%, and 4.76% respectively.

Conversely, the Lake Resources share price surged as much as 16% to $2.16 this morning before retreating to $1.99. It came amid Lake’s news that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with automotive giant Ford Motor Company. Under the deal, Lake will supply Ford with 25,000 tonnes of lithium a year from Lake’s Kachi Project in Argentina.

Meanwhile, broker UBS shared its outlook on direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology following a call with International Battery Metals CEO Dr John Burba. In comments reported in the Australian Financial Review, UBS expressed caution on DLE technology:

Despite DLE showing promise for individual projects, we are wary how quickly supply can ramp up from a standing start.

Our current view on the lithium balance indicates the market will remain in deficit at least for the next few years with demand needing to be rationed in order for the market to balance.

Elon Musk weighs in

Also potentially weighing on lithium shares today were comments from Tesla founder Elon Musk on Saturday. In a tweet, Musk suggested Tesla may take up lithium mining. He said:

Price of lithium has gone to insane levels! Tesla might actually have to get into the mining & refining directly at scale, unless costs improve.

There is no shortage of the element itself, as lithium is almost everywhere on Earth, but pace of extraction/refinement is slow.

The lithium price has surged almost 79% since the start of 2022, Trading Economics states.

Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals provided an update on its joint venture with Korean company Posco today. The companies will build a downstream lithium chemicals conversion plant in Korea.

Also today, Macquarie predicted the Mineral Resources share price could soar another 35%. The company placed an $83 price target on Mineral Resources shares with an outperform rating.

The post How did ASX lithium shares perform today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday
• Why A2 Milk, Ionic Rare Earths, Pilbara Minerals, and Tyro shares are dropping
• Why IGO, Lake Resources, Regis Resources, and ResApp shares are charging higher
• Lake Resources share price shoots 16% higher on lithium deal with Ford

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 ASX’s All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) had a pretty dreary day of trading to kick the week off. This Monday saw the All Ords close at 7,773.2 points, up a miserly 0.015% after giving up a strong initial gain this morning and spending some time in the red this afternoon. But that did nothing to dent the performance of the Zimplats Holdings Ltd (ASX: ZIM) share price.

Zimplats shares have closed at $33.93 today, up a healthy 9.91%. Not only that, but Zimplats also hit an intra-day high of $34.45 a share. That price happens to be a new all-time high for Zimplats. 

So why did this ASX resources share rocket to a new record high today? 

What’s pushing the Zimplats share price to record highs?

Well, we can’t be completely sure. There was nothing new out of the company itself today that might easily explain this move.

However, there has been some news in the resources space that might be getting investors hot under the collar.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) today, the global price of palladium has had some strong appreciation over the past few days. This comes as two Russian palladium refiners were suspended from the London market last week. 

Russia reportedly produces around 40% of the world’s freshly mined palladium. Palladium is a platinum-group precious metal that is predominantly used in catalytic converters for road vehicles. Its price has soared over 2022 thanks in most part to supply issues stemming from the war in Ukraine and global sanctions against Russia. 

So why is this relevant to Zimplats? Well, the company is a major producer of platinum-group metals through its Zimbabwe Platinum Mines subsidiary, including platinum itself as well as palladium. According to Bloomberg, palladium prices have risen from US$2,200 per ounce on 6 April to today’s pricing of US$2,512. 

So it’s perhaps no wonder that investors have sent Zimplas shares up so enthusiastically today.

At the last Zimplats share price, this ASX resources share had a market capitalisation of $3.32 billion.

The post Here’s why this ASX All Ordinaries mining share is leaping 8% to a new all-time high appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• 3 ASX All Ordinaries shares rocking new all-time highs today

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen 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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