Investors remain on edge with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) bouncing between gains and losses on conflicting reports of a new US-China trade war.

Those looking to buy any dips in the market may find the following stocks enticing. These are the latest ASX shares leading brokers are recommending investors buy today.

Better than expected

One to watch is the SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) with Credit Suisse reiterating its “outperform” recommendation on the stock following its profit update.

The online jobs classifieds group provided earnings guidance that was a little ahead of what the broker was expecting.

SEEK is expecting to post revenue of around $1.58 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of about $410 million in FY20. Credit Suisse had pencilled in $1.55 billion and $405 million, respectively.

“Divisionally, Zhaopin, ANZ and Seek Asia have continued to see a recovery with Zhaopin May billings only down 10% y/y and lower costs mitigating the earnings impact,” said the broker.

Management also managed to increase its debt covenants, which is reassuring to investors that the group won’t run into trouble with its lenders.

On the downside, SEEK’s Latin America operations are more heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and that will force management to take a $190 million to $230 million writedown.

Credit Suisse’s price target on the stock is $24 a share.

Deserving a premium

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley stuck to its “overweight” recommendation on the Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) share price after yesterday’s profit results announcement.

“We had expected a strong trading update but were still surprised (most notably with Liquor and Hardware),” said the broker.

“Beyond current tailwinds we believe MTS warrants a higher multiple vs. history given diversification and balance sheet strength.”

Management reported 9% growth in its grocery distribution business in the first seven weeks of FY20. This is despite the loss of the Drakes contract.

Morgan Stanley estimates that this means growth in supermarkets was actually running around 11% when the broker was only forecasting around 9%.

The broker upped its price target on the stock to $3.50 from $3.30 a share.

Back in businesses

Finally, the Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP) share price surged by 4.1% in after lunch trade to $3.66 after Goldman Sachs restated its “buy” recommendation on the property group.

Stockland provided an update on property revaluation and dividend. The value of its commercial property portfolio will decline by 6%, which is better than what the market expected.

Its commercial properties include malls, which have been hit by the coronavirus lockdown. However, its malls are reopening faster than expected with around 95% of its retail tenants by income starting to trade again.

The devaluation also compares favourably with its peers with GPT Group (ASX: GPT) cutting the value of its retail portfolio by 9% and Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX) expecting an 11% to 13% drop.

Stockland also said it expected to pay a second half distribution of 10.6 cents per share. This takes the full year payout to 24.1 cents when consensus was expecting only 23.9 cents.

Goldman’s price target on the stock is $4.43 a share.

More reading

• Why the AMP share price is up 9% today
• Leading fund manager names 3 undervalued Chinese shares to buy
• Is a Fortescue Metals mega-merger on the cards?
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX 200 shares to sell today
• ASX shares in danger? Why the gold price is creeping towards all-time highs

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended SEEK Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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 AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) share price is up 8.92% to $1.92 a share at the time of writing today. The broader S&P/ASX 200 Index (INDEXASX: JXO) is having a bit of a roller-coaster kind of day, up 1%, then down 1% and now flat. But in contrast, AMP shares are surging and are back to the levels we were seeing before the March stock market crash. In fact, since 24 March, AMP shares are up nearly 80%.

So why are AMP shares surging today? And more importantly, are AMP shares still a buy at these levels?

Why the AMP share price is raising the roof

We can safely say that the AMP share price surge we are seeing today is the direct result of the company receiving the green light for its AMP Life sale. This morning the company announced that it has been given the all-clear by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) for the sale of its life insurance business to go ahead. The RBNZ blocked AMP’s initial proposal last year on the grounds that the deal endangered the wellbeing of AMP’s New Zealand clients.

If the sale does indeed go ahead, it will result in approximately $1 billion in proceeds for AMP. The sale was the central tenet of AMP’s new-ish CEO Francesco De Ferrari’s turnaround plan for the emballed wealth manager.

The AMP share price is still recovering from the revelations that came to light during the 2018 Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. Before this time, AMP was worth around $5 a share. But revelations of systemic fraud, mischarging of customers and charging fees for no service saw an exodus of customers and AMP’s share price smashed.

That’s why the cash injection that the now-cleared sale will provide the company is welcome for shareholders today.

Is AMP still a buy today?

I say ‘still a buy’ only because picking up AMP shares at any time over the past 3 months would likely have netted a tidy profit on today’s AMP share price. But how are things looking from here?

Well, there’s no doubt that AMP will be a stronger company once it amputates the struggling AMP Life business. There is now little prospects of a dilutive capital raising and the company can continue to focus on the avenues where it has the most strength – namely asset management.

AMP shares are still cheap today from a valuation perspective, in my view. But then again, there is still a lot of uncertainty in this company’s future. So much so that I’m not tempted at all. I like to invest in companies with clear competitive advantages and strong brands. AMP has neither of these things in my opinion and so I’ll be looking elsewhere for a future winner.

More reading

• Leading fund manager names 3 undervalued Chinese shares to buy
• Is a Fortescue Metals mega-merger on the cards?
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX 200 shares to sell today
• ASX shares in danger? Why the gold price is creeping towards all-time highs
• Renewed US-China trade war puts these ASX 200 stocks in the firing line

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post Why the AMP share price is up 9% today appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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The Rox Resources Limited (ASX: RXL) share price is soaring today after the small-cap ASX miner reported more high gold grades at Youanmi.

At the time of writing, Rox Resources shares have jumped 17.74% to 7.3 cents after rallying as much as 29.03% in morning trade.

Rox Resources is an emerging Australian minerals exploration company, with advanced gold and nickel projects in Australia.

The company owns a 70% interest in the Youanmi Gold Mine, and wholly-owns the Mt Fisher Gold Project, Fisher East Nickel Project and Colluabbie Nickel Project, all located in Western Australia.

Why is the Rox Resources share price spiking?

This morning, Rox Resources reported further high-grade gold results from the drilling program underway at the Grace prospect at Youanmi.

Rox stated that shallow infill drilling has returned more high gold grades, including:

• 4 metres at 88.81 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 27 metres, including:
  • 2 metres at 176.03 g/t gold from 28 metres;
• 11 metres at 18.75 g/t gold from 8 metres, including:
  • 3 metres at 61.27 g/t gold from 10 metres; and
• 9 metres at 9.28 g/t gold from 9 metres, including:
  • 2 metres at 33.53 g/t gold from 11 metres.

These results relate to reverse circulation drilling designed to tighten drill spacing on the shallow high-grade part of the emerging Grace prospect to facilitate resource estimation.

Commenting on the results, managing director Alex Passmore said:

“These strong infill results are extremely encouraging and endorse our interpretation for Grace. The results, along with outstanding RC assays, will be complemented by upcoming diamond drilling to facilitate a maiden resource estimate, which we are aiming to have completed later this year.”

Recent developments

Today’s announcement follows another promising ASX release last week which saw the Rox Resources share price more than double.

The release also related to the drilling program being undertaken at the Grace prospect, with the deepest drilling completed to date returning impressive gold grades. This included 25 metres at 34.79 g/t gold from 143 metres, including 6 metres at 140.7 g/t gold from 150 metres.

With a share price of 7.3 cents at the time of writing, Rox Resource’s market capitalisation currently stands at around $145 million. With today’s rise, the Rox Resources share price has now rocketed 192% since the beginning of last week.

More reading

• Why the AMP share price is up 9% today
• Leading fund manager names 3 undervalued Chinese shares to buy
• Western Areas share price blasts 14% on successful drilling results
• Is a Fortescue Metals mega-merger on the cards?
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX 200 shares to sell today

Motley Fool contributor Cathryn Goh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post Rox Resources share price soars 18% after reporting further high-grade gold appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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