Wednesday proved a rough day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). It fell 0.96% to close at a four-week low of 7,197.4 points.

The market’s suffering followed a surprise interest rate hike from the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday. The official cash rate was lifted 0.25% to 3.85%.

Leading Wednesday’s tumble was the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ), which fell 2.1%.

The S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ) also suffered, falling 1.5%, while the S&P/ASX 200 Real Estate Index (ASX: XRE) slumped 1%.

But one sector defied the downturn. The S&P/ASX 200 Communication Services Index (ASX: XTJ) rose 0.3%.

Not to mention, numerous ASX 200 shares outperformed the market in today’s session. Let’s take a look at the 10 biggest gainers.

Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown

Gold shares took out nearly all the top spots on the ASX 200 today. The best performing among them was Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) – its stock rose 4.7%.

The gains came on the back of a strong session for the price of gold. The precious metal’s spot value lifted 1.6% overnight to US$2,024.20 an ounce.

These shares made today’s biggest gains:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR)	$1.90	4.68%
West African Resources Ltd (ASX: WAF)	$0.975	4.28%
Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX: SLR)	$1.24	4.2%
Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)	$3.61	3.74%
Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL)	$2.14	2.88%
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)	$4.20	2.44%
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)	$13.55	2.26%
De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG)	$1.595	2.24%
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)	$20.80	2.21%
Computershare Ltd (ASX: CPU)	$21.92	2.19%

Our top 10 shares countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to let you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the weekday market closes to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Why Flight Centre, Jumbo, Pilbara Minerals, and Ramelius shares are charging higher
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Why are ASX 200 gold shares going gangbusters today?
• Investing for passive income? Here’s your dividend yield if you bought BHP shares in July

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper 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 recommended Flight Centre Travel Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/kCIo0ds

The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price avoided the market selloff on Wednesday.

The supermarket giant’s shares rose 1% to close the day at $38.96.

This compares favourably to a 1% decline by the ASX 200 index.

Why did the Woolworths share price push higher?

Today’s gain appears to have been driven by a positive reaction to the company’s third quarter update from a number of brokers.

One of those was Goldman Sachs, which has retained its conviction buy rating with an improved price target of $42.80.

This suggests that its shares can rise 10% from current levels. Goldman commented:

2Q23 signals high quality earnings in 2H23: WOW reported better than expected 3Q23 with group sales of A$16.34B in-line with GSe. The key positive was the AU Foods comp sales at 6.6% (vs COL +6.5% and GSe of +3.0%), which was better than expected as recent discussions with suppliers suggested that COL was more aggressive in driving market share via discounting.

In light of this strong result, the broker has bumped its earnings estimates higher. It adds:

[W]e tweak our FY23-25e group sales by ~+1% and NPAT by 0.4%-1.1% respectively. This is due to slightly higher sales across all key business segments while our margin views remain intact. Our updated forecasts imply FY22-25e ~3.4% sales CAGR and ~9.6% CAGR for EBIT/NPAT respectively.

Who else is bullish?

Another broker that responded positively was Citi, which retained its buy rating and $42.20 price target.

It notes that “consumer caution [is] not hurting sales.” The broker adds:

Woolworths reported Australian Food 3Q23 LFL sales growth of 6.6% (Citi: 5.1%). This was a strong result and in line with Coles (6.5%). NZ Food and BIG W were also ahead of our expectations with LFL sales growth of 6.8% and 5.5% respectively. Looking into FY24e, we continue to believe there is upside to consensus LFL sales growth for Australian Food of 3.5% (Citi: 5%) with our industry feedback suggesting inflation around mid-single digits and population growth of ~2%. We make minor earnings revisions to our above consensus forecasts. Our target price is $42.20 and we retain our Buy rating.

The post Here’s what brokers are saying about the Woolworths share price post-Q3 update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Volatility got you down? 3 steps to building a robust income from ASX 200 dividend shares
• Woolworths or Coles shares: Which ASX grocery giant would I buy right now?
• Woolworths share price slips as sales leap 8%
• This ASX 200 stock is ‘one of the cheapest defensives’ to buy right now

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 Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/DSLhvuP

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed Wall Street’s lead and dropped deep into the red on Wednesday. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 1.25% to 7,176.3 points.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are rising:

Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)

The Flight Centre share price is up over 1.5% to $20.68. This follows the release of an update from the travel agent giant this morning. Flight Centre revealed that its strong recovery from COVID continued during the third quarter. This culminated in the company delivering monthly total transaction value (TTV) of over $1 billion for the first time in March.

Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX: JIN)

The Jumbo share price is up 7% to $13.61. Investors have been buying this lottery ticket seller’s shares following the release of a trading update at an investor conference. Jumbo revealed that trading conditions have been kind and have resulted in lower than expected marketing costs as a percentage of sales.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

The Pilbara Minerals share price is up 3% to $4.22. This may be related to the release of the lithium miner’s corporate presentation after the market close on Tuesday. That presentation outlined the company’s plan to grow its production capacity to 1Mt per annum by 2025 to “capture value and increase revenue.”

Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX: RMS)

The Ramelius share price is up 4.5% to $1.33. As well as getting a boost from a rising gold price, investors have been buying this gold miner’s shares after it announced that it has gained control of Breaker Resources NL (ASX: BRB). The company now owns over 50.1% of Breaker’s issued shares.

The post Why Flight Centre, Jumbo, Pilbara Minerals, and Ramelius shares are charging higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Flight Centre share price lifts following record, $1 billion month
• What’s the forecast for the lithium price in May?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday
• Top broker upgrades Flight Centre share price

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 positions in and has recommended Jumbo Interactive. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group and Jumbo Interactive. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/pGVuUJi

There are a number of strong ASX blue-chip shares for Aussies to choose from. Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) shares and Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) could be two of the leading candidates, but which of these two is the better option?

Coles is one of the leading supermarket businesses in Australia. It also operates some of the leading liquor retail chains in the country, including Coles Liquor, First Choice, Liquorland and Vintage Cellars. It also owns half of the Flybuys loyalty program.

Transurban is a toll road builder and operator. It has assets in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and North America.

Inflation is boosting the revenue of both businesses

A lot of businesses are hurting from higher costs relating to inflation. However, both of these ASX blue-chip shares are seeing increased revenue thanks to the inflationary environment.

In Transurban’s recent presentation to the market, it noted “resilient freight and orbital travel has provided relative traffic stability and growth over recent years, with airport and CBD traffic now recovering well.” It revealed that FY23 third-quarter traffic showed an “uplift across all trip categories.”

Transurban noted that the benefit of short-term higher inflation compounds over the life of CPI-linked toll prices, while interest rates are expected to reduce in the coming years.

In the recent Coles FY23 third quarter update, it said that its continuing operations sales revenue grew by 6.6% to $9.4 billion. The supermarkets saw price inflation of 6.2%. Coles also reminded investors that it’s on track to deliver cumulative ‘smarter selling’ benefits of $1 billion across the four-year program by the end of FY23.

Higher revenue is not guaranteed to turn into higher profit, costs can grow even faster which hurts profitability.

But, profit is going well for both ASX blue-chip shares.  

I think it’s no surprise that the share prices of Coles and Transurban have risen around 10% since the start of the year.

Stronger profits to lead to bigger dividends?

Operating conditions are going so well for Transurban that it recently upgraded its distribution guidance by another 1 cent per security for FY23 to 58 cents per security. This would represent a growth of 41.5% compared to FY22.

However, at the current Transurban share price, it only represents a yield of 4%.

Estimates on Commsec suggest that Coles is going to pay an annual dividend per share of 65.5 cents. This would put the forward grossed-up dividend yield at 5.2%.

Are Coles shares or Transurban shares better?

I think the outlook for both businesses is promising. Transurban’s earnings could be boosted in the future by the WestConnex project, though that does come with execution risks.

For me, I think Coles is the better ASX blue-chip share choice for resilience. Everyone needs to eat food, but not everyone needs to go on a toll road, particularly if people’s budgets are tighter because of the current economic environment. While I’m not expecting another pandemic, I think COVID showed how resilient Coles’ earnings can be in a crisis.

Population growth can help both businesses grow earnings, so I’d be happy to own either of them.

But, I like the stronger passive income potential from Coles, as well as the company’s ongoing focus on improving its operations (‘smarter selling’), combined with a better offering for customers (such as its large own-brand selection of products).

The post Better ASX blue-chip share to buy for resilient returns: Coles vs Transurban appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Volatility got you down? 3 steps to building a robust income from ASX 200 dividend shares
• My 5-step plan to achieving $500 in monthly passive income
• Woolworths or Coles shares: Which ASX grocery giant would I buy right now?
• Is the Coles share price good value after the supermarket giant’s Q3 update?
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today

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 no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Coles Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/7NjJA6m