The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) climbed 0.9% today, but these three ASX mining shares soared far higher.

The Lode Resources Ltd (ASX: LDR), Atlantic Lithium Ltd (ASX: A11), and Benz Mining Corp (ASX: BNZ) share prices all lifted by more than 10% during trading today.

Let’s take a look at why these three ASX mining shares had such a top run.

Lode Resources

The Lode Resources share price soared 23% in early trade today from 22 cents to 27 cents before retreating. The explorer’s shares closed 13.64% ahead. Lode is exploring silver, gold, and copper in the New England Fold Belt in New South Wales.

The gold price is currently down 0.27% to US$1,906 an ounce, according to CNBC, while silver is sliding 0.88%. Copper is up 0.3% to US$4.0116 a pound, Trading Economics data shows.

Diamond drilling has recently recommenced at Lode’s Webbs Consol Silver project in New South Wales. Commenting on the work at the project, Lode managing director Ted Leschke said:

Drilling to date has discovered six mineralised lodes and revealed that the Webs Consol mineral system much more extensive than previous recognised.
The Company is well funded for the planned drill programme and beyond.

Benz Mining Corp

Benz Mining shares surged 11.8% in earlier trade from 38 to 42.5 cents. The company’s shares finished at 42 cents each at market close, up 10.53%.

Benz Mining is exploring gold, copper, lithium, and nickel in the James Bay area of Quebec, Canada. Benz shares lifted today despite no news from the company. In February, Benz advised its 2023 diamond drilling campaign has started in the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt. Assay results are pending for 1,600 samples including lithium and gold assays.

Atlantic Lithium

Atlantic Lithium rebounded on Wednesday. The company’s share price surged 14.6% in morning trade from 41 to 47 cents. The lithium developer’s share price closed at 44 cents, a 7.32% gain.

Today’s gains follow a recent tough run for the lithium explorer. The company last week refuted a short seller report from investment firm Blue Orca.

Atlantic Lithium shares could have lifted today if investors believed the company’s shares were sold off unfairly following the attack. It’s also possible short sellers could now be closing their positions, as my Foolish colleague James reported today.

The post 3 ASX mining shares that surged over 10% on Wednesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Could buying BrainChip shares be a classic beginner’s error?
• Are NAB shares a buy following the SVB-induced dip?
• Why analysts are very bullish on these ASX growth shares
• Goldman Sachs says these ASX 200 shares are buys
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday

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 Scott Phillips.

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Are you wanting to make some new portfolio additions?

If you are, then check out the two ASX 200 shares listed below that Goldman Sachs is bullish on.

Here’s why the broker believes they are buys:

IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)

Goldman Sachs says that this language testing and student placement company is an ASX 200 share to buy.

Its analysts believe that the company is well-placed to deliver double-digit revenue growth through to at least FY 2025. And with its margins forecast to expand, its earnings growth looks set to grow at an even quicker rate. Goldman commented:

While the 1H23 result was modestly below our EBIT forecast (-4%) the company delivered strong revenue growth (+26%) and operating leverage (EBIT margin +476 bps). We expect double digit revenue growth and c.200bps p.a. of EBIT margin expansion to continue over the forecast period, justifying the stock’s premium rating.

Goldman has a buy rating and $35.70 price target on IDP Education’s shares.

Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Another ASX 200 share that Goldman is bullish on is data centre operator NextDC.

Thanks to the cloud computing boom, which is driving strong demand for data centre services, NextDC has been growing at a solid rate for years.

The good news is that the shift to the cloud still has a long way to go. Goldman believes this bodes well for the company’s growth in the coming years. It commented:

We are particularly positive on NXT and are Buy rated given the rapid growth in cloud adoption, which has been supported by the continued evolution of the enterprise telecommunications market, and the significant demand by both public and private investors for digital infrastructure assets. We believe the company has a compelling growth profile and a proven and profitable business model, noting it trades on a growth-adjusted discount vs. peers, which we view as unjustified.

The broker has a buy rating and $13.30 price target on NextDC’s shares.

The post Goldman Sachs says these ASX 200 shares are buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Here are the 10 most shorted ASX shares this week
• ‘Still has legs’: Not too late to buy these 2 stellar ASX 200 shares, says expert
• 10 ASX 200 stocks trading ex-dividend tomorrow
• Passive income watch: Here are the ASX 200 shares that delivered some of the biggest dividend boosts this earnings season

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Nextdc. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Idp Education. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Idp Education. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is recovering from the nasty falls we saw earlier in the trading week so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has gained a robust 0.77%, which lifts the Index back above 7,060 points.

Let’s hope this goodwill holds. But time now to dig a little deeper into these pleasing gains today by checking out the shares that are topping the ASX 200’s share trading volume charts right now, according to investing.com. 

The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Wednesday

Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS)

Today we’re starting with ASX 200 telco Telstra Group. So far today, a decent 22.09 million Telstra shares have been called up for trading.

With no fresh news or announcements out of this ASX blue chip, we have to assume this volume is the result of the bouncing around in the Telstra share price itself that has happened this session.

At present, Telstra shares are up a healthy 0.37% at $4.065 each. But Telstra climbed as high as $4.10 this morning.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

From TLS to PLS! Next up is the ASX 200 lithium leader Pilbara Minerals. This session has seen a sizeable 25.11 million Pilbara shares bought and sold so far. There hasn’t been any news out of Pilbara today either. But Pilbara shares have been a lot more volatile than Telstra’s.

This morning, we watched this lithium share spike to a price of $3.86 (up more than 4%). But investors have since cooled their jets, and Pilbara is now back down to $3.655 a share, up by just 0.14% for the day. This price swing probably explains this high number of shares flying around.

Syaona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA)

Third and finally today, let’s discuss another ASX 200 lithium stock in Sayona Mining. So far this Wednesday, a notable 28.53 million Sayona shares have changed hands as it currently stands. Again, with no news out of the company itself, let’s turn to the Sayona share price itself for an explanation here. Sayona shares have also had a volatile session this Wednesday.

The company started off strong this morning and rose close to 5%. However, investors got cold feet soon afterwards and sent Sayona shares into red territory around lunchtime.

But in another change of heart, the company is back to the green this afternoon and is currently up by 1.16% at 21.75 cents a share. No wonder so many Sayona shares have been darting across the markets.

The post Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Investing in ASX 200 shares? Here’s what to expect from the US Fed next week
• Guess which ASX lithium share just rebounded 15%
• Should I load up on Telstra shares at $4 each?
• Pilbara Minerals or Core Lithium shares: Which would I buy?
• Warren Buffett’s $35 billion warning to investors

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Telstra Group. 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 positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP) share price is currently down 2%. Earlier today it went below $45, hitting a 52-week low and a multi-year low.

It has been a rough year for Domino’s so far, with the company being down by over 30% in the year to date. Since September 2021, it has fallen over 70%.

During COVID-19, Domino’s was able to provide some of the food that consumers wanted beyond supermarket food, while many cafes and restaurants shut in ANZ, Japan and Europe.

But, things have really changed, which we saw in the Domino’s FY23 half-year result.

Earnings recap

In the first six months of FY23, networks sales fell 4% to $1.97 billion, with a same store sales decline of 0.6%. However, the number of stores increased by 15.8% to 3,736 stores.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 14.3% to $182.3 million.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) declined by 21.3% to $113.9 million.

The net profit after tax (NPAT) dropped 21.5% to $71.7 million and the earnings per share (EPS) declined 21.8% to 67.4 cents. The Domino’s dividend was cut by 23.8% to 67.4 cents per share.

Lower profit can hurt the Domino’s share price because how much profit a business makes is a key influence on investor thoughts.

Management blamed lower-than-expected same store sales as well as passing on inflation which hurt earnings.

Domino’s said that it acted to offset rapidly increasing inflation, with price rises being a key response. The ASX share said that higher delivery pricing, including service fees and higher bundles, reduced customer demand.

Management said that customer counts have not met expectations since December, especially in Europe and Asia, which has lowered profitability.

The company said that December’s EBIT was “particularly impacted” in Japan due to a large number of corporate stores, especially its ‘immature’ stores in regional locations.

Domino’s is now evaluating its pricing strategies.

The company also noted that there were foreign exchange headwinds. If exchange rates hadn’t changed, the company’s NPAT may have been $5 million better, according to the company. The FY23 first half also had one less trading week than the FY22 first half.

While Domino’s is looking to grow its total store count to 5,000 by 2027 and 7,250 by FY33, the business is expecting same store sales growth and new store additions to be lower than hoped in FY23.

The tricky situation

The inflation rate may have peaked, but prices aren’t exactly going down. Domino’s needs customers to buy food to do well, but it needs to sell those pizzas at a profit. Simply passing on the inflation to customers is hurting demand. The business needs scale to maximise the scale benefits.

There has always been a balance between profit and customer demand, but it’s tough to know what to do here.

I think that the geographic expansion of Domino’s can still help with longer-term earnings. Population growth could help. A normalisation of inflation could help too.

Commsec numbers suggest that by FY25, Domino’s EPS could recover to $2.30. That puts the current Domino’s share price at around 20 times FY25’s estimated earnings, which could be quite cheap by the time FY25 arrives.

The post Why did the Domino’s share price just hit a multi-year low? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• The Domino’s boss just sold off $8 million worth of company shares. Here’s the lowdown
• These ASX 200 shares were crushed in February
• Domino’s share price lifts despite no dividend dough for new investors
• Dividend investors: 2 ASX 200 shares for decades of passive income
• Is the Domino’s share price now at bargain-buy levels?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Domino’s Pizza Enterprises. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Domino’s Pizza Enterprises. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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