The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) might have lifted 0.64%, but three ASX lithium shares practically shot into orbit today, easily outperforming the index.

So which three ASX lithium shares are they, and why did they have such a stellar trading day?

Scorpion Minerals Ltd (ASX: SCN)

The Scorpion Minerals share price soared nearly 24% today. Scorpion raised $3.18 million to explore lithium and other metals at the Pharos Project in Western Australia. The company has already identified multiple lithium targets and plans to start drilling in the June quarter. Scorpion will take advice from renowned WA lithium expert Michael Fotios.

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)

Core Lithium surged 12% despite no fresh news from the company today. The Core Lithium share price has exploded a massive 435% in a year. The company is exploring the Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory. Lithium is a critical component of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). Demand for lithium is surpassing new supplies. On Monday, Core Lithium entered an agreement to acquire a new lithium project.

Lake Resources (ASX: LKE)

Lake Resources shares surged nearly 10% today. The company’s shares have risen 541% in a year. The strong lithium market could also be helping Lake. In news today, CBS reported Honda would invest 5 trillion yen in electric vehicle technology. Honda aims to produce more than 2 million EVs per year by 2030. Also, Bell Potter has recently lifted the price target on the Lake share price by 55% to $2.83. Lake is exploring lithium at the Kachi project in Argentina.

The post 3 ASX lithium shares that rocketed between 10% and 24% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Up 427% in a year, Core Lithium share price surges 11% again today
• This ASX miner just raised $3m for new lithium projects, and its shares are soaring 24%
• The Lake Resources share price has surged 56% in a month. What’s happening?
• Why is the Lake Resources share price powering down by 8% today?

Motley Fool contributor Monica O’Shea 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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If you’re a growth investor with room for some new portfolio additions, then it could be worth considering the three ASX growth shares listed below.

Here’s what you need to know about these buy-rated ASX shares:

Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR)

The first growth share to look at is Dicker Data. It is a leading technology hardware, software, and cloud distributor, which distributes a growing portfolio of products from the world’s leading technology vendors from its new state of the art distribution centre.

It has been growing at a consistently solid rate for years and the team at Morgan Stanley appear confident this trend can continue thanks to ongoing industry tailwinds. The broker has an overweight rating and $16.00 price target on its shares.

Nitro Software Ltd (ASX: NTO)

Another ASX growth share to look at is document productivity software company Nitro Software. It is the company behind the popular Nitro Productivity Suite, which provides businesses of all sizes with an integrated PDF productivity and electronic signature tools. At the end of FY 2021, the company had over 1 million active subscriptions and reported over 22 million eSignature requests across its platforms.

Goldman Sachs is bullish on Nitro and has a buy rating and $2.60 price target on its shares. It recently commented: “We estimate Nitro can increase its TAM penetration from 0.15% to 1.4% by FY40 implying 9x uplift to Nitro’s current revenue base.”

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

A final ASX growth share to consider buying is Xero. Over the last few years, the Xero platform has evolved from a simple cloud-based accounting solution into a full service small business solution. This has led to millions of small to medium sized businesses globally subscribing and running their businesses through its platform.

The good news is the company still has a very long growth runway, which Goldman Sachs believes has the potential to underpin multi-decade strong top line growth. Goldman has a buy rating and $135.00 price target on the company’s shares.

The post 3 top ASX growth shares that experts say are buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why are brokers talking about the Xero share price? Let’s take a look
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• Cloud zero: Xero share price is down 5% in 2 days
• 3 ASX 200 shares with impressive management teams
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Block and Zip sink, Paladin Energy raises $200m

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. owns and has recommended Dicker Data Limited and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Dicker Data Limited and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nitro Software 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 S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) ended up having a solid, if not spectacular, day of trading this Wednesday. By market close, the All Ordinaries had gained a robust 0.47% to 7,772 points. But the Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price managed a far better performance.

Appen shares ended the day at the rather unlucky number of $6.66 each, up a healthy 4.88%. Symbology aside, this would no doubt come as a welcome development for investors, who, before today, had watched Appen lose more than 7% over the first two weeks of April alone.

That’s unfortunately not where this dataset provider company’s woes end either. From its glory WAAAX days of times gone by, Appen shares are now down more than 40% in 2022 thus far, and by more than 60% over the past 12 months. That’s including today’s gains, too.

So why did Appen enjoy such a strong day of trading on the ASX today?

Why did the Appen share price shoot 5% higher?

Well, it’s unclear. The company made no announcements today, nor were there any other developments to speak of. Some ASX tech shares performed well today, though. Block Inc (ASX: SQ2) was up 0.73% at $165 a share. But many other ASX tech shares, including Xero Limited (ASX: XRO), Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) fell. So it doesn’t seem to be a sector-wide move.

So perhaps investors have just decided Appen shares are cheap enough to be in the buy zone. After all, Appen touched a low of $6.35 just yesterday, which isn’t too far from this company’s 52-week low of $6.08.

At least one ASX broker is bullish on Appen right now. As my Fool colleague Tristan covered earlier this month, broker Citi has a buy rating on Appen with a 12-month share price target of $9.15. If that came to pass, it would mean a rise of almost 40% from today’s pricing.

Whatever the reason for today’s strong price rise for Appen shares, no doubt it came as a welcome development for shareholders.

Appen has a market capitalisation of $783.49 million with a dividend yield of 1.5%.

The post Why did the Appen share price rise by a strong 5% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 3 ASX All Ordinaries shares scaling new multi-year peaks today
• How did ASX uranium shares perform last quarter?
• Do Appen shares pay dividends?
• Why are ASX 200 tech shares having such a dire day?
• Opportunity knocking? 3 ASX All Ords shares trading at 52-week lows today

Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. 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. owns and has recommended Appen Ltd. 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 Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) share price closed more than 3% higher on Wednesday, finishing at $16.44.

With its shares gliding downwards the past 12 months, the embattled fund manager turned to its investors for support as part of a wider plan to stop it haemorrhaging capital.

As seen below, Magellan shares have now dipped substantially from the benchmark index, the result of a significant wave of selling pressure.

‘We need your help!’

Magellan is set to offer its clients $30 Amazon gift vouchers in exchange for feedback on how to improve its online services, The Age reports today.

According to reports, Magellan sent an email to clients titled, “We Need Your Help!”, asking stakeholders to complete a short survey on how to improve the company’s website.

“We regularly ask our clients for feedback as we value your opinions. Our website rebuild is no different… Be one of the first 200 people to complete the survey and receive a $30 Amazon voucher,” it said, as cited by The Age.

The push for client engagement comes after a long-tailed string of events that’s seen the fund manager’s share price collapse more than 66% in the past year and almost 23% this year to date.

After the shock exit of former CEO Brett Cairns, Magellan’s founder and chief investment officer Hamish Douglass was quick to follow.

A short while later, it was reported Douglass will step down indefinitely, with the company confirming he will not return under a new leadership team.

In the midst of the internal reshuffle, the fund’s largest shareholder, UK giant St James Place, withdrew its investment valued at $23 billion.

Other institutional and retail outflows soon followed and have kept up at pace. Analysts at JP Morgan note this as a key risk for the company moving forward.

In a recent note, the broker said:

The pace of outflows, particularly in Institutional, appears to have slowed with Retail net outflows appearing relatively steady on a pro-rata basis.

[H]owever, we still remain cautious noting this may not be indicative of an improving trend given the very short measurement window since the previous update.

Total outflows for the March quarter stood at $17.9 billion, JP Morgan said. This was split between $16 billion of institutional capital pulled from the fund and an additional $1.9 billion in retail investor money.

“Recent leadership changes and Mr Douglass’ leave of absence have resulted in greater uncertainty. We remain underweight on relative valuation,” JP Morgan concluded.

The post Magellan share price lifts as company tells investors, ‘We need your help!’ appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell next week
• These were the best performers on the ASX 200 last week
• Magellan share price dips as Macquarie tips further outflows
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• Why Ardent Leisure, GQG, Magellan, and Melbana shares are charging higher

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow 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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