Category: Stock Market

Australians are locking away their wallets as they face steeply rising interest rates and higher costs of living from inflation.

In this sort of environment, there are sectors that will obviously suffer.

One is real estate. Higher loan costs mean lower demand, and lower property prices.

Another is discretionary retail. If consumers have to devote more of their pay packet to their loan repayments, they will start cutting out non-essential spending first. 

But in the share market, like in life, there are always exceptions to the rule.

Here’s a pair of ASX shares Marcus Today portfolio manager Thomas Wegner reckons are prime buys right now:

‘Optimistic and resilient outlook’

Although JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) released its annual report on Monday, its numbers were already known from a preliminary report in July.

Wegner told The Bull the market liked what it saw, with the JB Hi-Fi share price shooting up 5% that morning.

“Top and bottom lines came in ahead of most estimates.”

At the time, forward guidance wasn’t offered, but Wegner saw enough in the rear-view to have confidence about the electronics retailer. 

“The results still painted an optimistic and resilient outlook by the consumer,” he said. 

“Sales momentum was strong throughout the year, with total sales up 3.5% to $9.2 billion.”

The wider professional community is still somewhat unsure about a consumer discretionary stock like JB Hi-Fi. Out of 15 analysts surveyed on CMC Markets, six rate it as a buy, three as a hold, and six recommend selling.

The JB Hi-Fi share price has fallen about 6.6% since the start of the year. The stock does pay out a 5.9% dividend yield.

Real estate market might dip, but there are plenty of offsets

Australia’s property prices caught fire for a couple of years after an initial pause in activity when the COVID-19 pandemic first arrived.

But with interest rates rising this year, even hot real estate markets like Sydney and Melbourne have cooled.

This still doesn’t stop Wegner from recommending online classifieds site REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) as a buy though.

“This digital advertising business specialising in property posted revenue of $1.170 billion in fiscal year 2022, up 26% on the prior corresponding period,” he said.

“Net profit of $408 million was up 25%.”

The company did admit the Australian residential property market would slow down as rate hikes start to bite, but there are enough tailwinds to offset that impact.

“It believes demand will be supported by robust household balance sheets, low unemployment and increasing migration.”

Wegner isn’t the only analyst going against the fortunes of the real estate sector to back REA’s credentials.

The team at Morgans last week also recommended buying the stock after its financials were revealed.

“REA remains one of the highest quality franchises in our coverage,” said associate analyst Steven Sassine on the Morgans blog.

“And whilst FY23 may exhibit some volatility (e.g. macro impacts on listings volumes), we believe management has levers to potentially pull (e.g. yield) in such an environment.”

The post 2 surprisingly ‘robust’ ASX shares to buy in current climate: expert appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• JB Hi-Fi share price dips as full-year dividend jumps 43%
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• Could this ASX 200 share be heading for a short squeeze?
• 2 ASX shares that Morgans would buy after excellent results
• Down 20% since March, is this ASX 200 share a misunderstood investment opportunity?

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo 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 REA Group Limited. 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 good news for income investors is there are a large number of dividend shares for them to choose from on the Australian share market.

Two such shares that Goldman Sachs rates as buys are listed below. Here’s what the broker is saying about them:

Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT (ASX: CQE)

The first ASX dividend share that Goldman Sachs is bullish on is this real estate investment trust.

The Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT invests in social infrastructure properties such as bus depots, police and justice services facilities, and childcare centres.

And while its recent results were a touch short of expectations, the broker saw enough to retain its conviction buy rating and bump its price target up to $4.35.

Goldman commented:

Although CQE’s result came in slightly below our expectations, we continue to believe the REIT is relatively well positioned given the sector’s positive fundamentals and CQE’s strong balance sheet, with headroom and liquidity to pursue investment opportunities, although rising interest costs will be a near term headwind in FY23. Furthermore, we remain attracted to its relatively resilient cash flows, underpinned by triple net leases to strong tenant covenants. CQE trades at an ~8% discount to NTA (versus a ~14% premium historically) and offers a potential 12m total return of ~20% at our revised TP of A$4.35, and we maintain our Buy rating (on CL).

As for dividends, the broker is forecasting dividends per share of 17.3 cents in FY 2023 and 18 cents in FY 2024. Based on the current Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT unit price of $3.76, this will mean yields of 4.6% and 4.8%, respectively.

GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG)

Another ASX dividend share that Goldman Sachs is bullish on is fund manager GQG.

The broker rates the company highly for a number of reasons. This includes its strong investment performance, low fees, and attractive valuation.

The broker explained:

Overall we reiterate Buy on GQG given: i) strong operating momentum in the business as evidenced by its investment performance, ii) GQG’s lowest quartile fee offering among global peers, and strong distribution coupled with a scalable business model, iii) GQG’s co-founders have the majority of their net wealth invested in GQG and its investment strategies, and iv) our revised 12m TP of A$1.92 offers c.27% [now 19%] TSR.

In respect to dividends, the broker is forecasting dividends per share of 8 cents in FY 2022 and 9 cents in FY 2023. Based on the current GQG share price of $1.68, this will mean yields of 4.8% and 5.4%, respectively.

The post Goldman Sachs names 2 ASX dividend shares to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• Equity markets threaten to ‘melt up’ as Nasdaq enters bull market territory
• ‘We’ve become the piggy bank’: GQG share price jumps on half-year results
• 2 ASX All Ords shares I’d buy before they report in August
• 2 quality ASX dividend shares rated as buys by brokers

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.

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Ask a fund manager

The Motley Fool chats with fund managers so that you can get an insight into how the professionals think. In part one of this edition, we’re joined by Grant Nichols, fund manager of the $2.4 billion Centuria Office REIT (ASX: COF), Australia’s largest listed pure-play office REIT. Today, Nichols explains how COF has kept its office space almost fully occupied during and after the COVID pandemic, and what’s keeping REIT investors awake at night.

The Motley Fool: COF reported some strong financials for FY22. Those included a statutory net profit of $115 million, up 50% year-on-year; occupancy levels increasing to 94.7%; and 98.2% average rent collection. How did the office REIT achieve that?

Grant Nichols: Leasing across the portfolio underpinned our results for FY22. We had a really good year of leasing; 41,000 square metres of net lettable area, which is about 13% of the portfolio NLA.

And that’s continued on what has been a very good leasing story across the portfolio for quite some time. Since the outbreak of COVID, we’ve leased in excess of 120,000 square metres of space. Which is about 40% of our portfolio’s net lettable area.

This is in contrast to some of the media stories we’re hearing about the concerns for ongoing tenant demand for office space. What we’re seeing across our portfolio is we’ve completed a lot of leasing; we’ve been able to track and retain a lot of our tenants and increase occupancy. So, it’s been a very good story.

The reason we’re able to do that is primarily due to the portfolio we’re providing.

We’re certainly seeing the flight to quality from tenants. Tenants are looking to get into better quality office space. And we have one of the youngest portfolios you can invest into, with the average age of our assets being around 16 years.

We feel we’re providing an accommodation solution that’s meeting the needs of the tenants, at the moment.

MF: On the topic of COVID, have you noticed a big bounce back in office space demand from the pandemic shutdown periods?

GN: We didn’t have any material deterioration in tenant demand through COVID.

There’s a lot of talk in the market about office occupancy. And that’s because there is now a more versatile work opportunity. People are working from home more than they were doing before COVID.

But tenant demand across our portfolio hasn’t materially changed.

What you need to think about is that if people are working from the office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, that doesn’t mean that office space, or your tenant footprint, contracts by 30% to 40%.

Because, ultimately, the whole point of having a centralised workplace is allowing all the staff to be in the same place at the same time, cooperating and communicating. And if you’re not providing that opportunity, it reduces the benefit of having that centralised workplace.

So, what we’re seeing across our portfolio is that tenant footprints aren’t materially changing. In fact, in some cases they’re increasing as tenants want to provide more breakout space for that kind of cooperation.

It’s just that the tenant occupancy within that accommodation may not be as used as it was pre-COVID. So instead of having 80% occupancy five days per week, it might be 80% occupancy for three days per week.

That’s where we’re seeing a change.

MF: Circling back to the strong FY22 results your ASX REIT posted. Despite those numbers, investors pushed down the COF share price by some 8% on the day of the results release. What do you think caused that?

GN: The biggest issue investors have at the moment is what the impact of rising interest rates will have on not only office but commercial property generally.

There are two items to that.

There’s the velocity of the interest rate change. I don’t know if we’ve ever been in a situation that’s seen interest rates increase at the rapid rate that we’re seeing at the moment.

Also, there’s still conjecture about where the neutral rate will moderate going forward.

I think most people are in agreement that the neutral interest rate will be lower than what it has been in the past. But there’s still conjecture in regards to what level that will be.

That’s where the concerns for investors lie across the [real estate investment trust] REIT market, that caution around interest rates.

Once there’s a greater consensus around where interest rates are going to moderate, I think that’s where you’ll see more confidence from investors looking at commercial property and commercial property REITs.

***

Tune in tomorrow for part two of our interview, where Centuria’s Grant Nichols looks at two tailwinds the office market could receive from rising inflation.

(You can find out more about the Centuria Office REIT (ASX: COF) here.)

The post This is the biggest issue for investors in ASX office REITs in 2022: fund manager appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why did this $1.1 billion ASX 300 share just sink 9%?

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben 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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On Monday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) started the week with a decent gain. The benchmark index rose 0.45% to 7,064.3 points.

Will the market be able to build on this on Tuesday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 expected to rise again

The Australian share market is expected to open the day higher on Tuesday following a positive start to the week on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is poised to open the day 23 points or 0.3% higher. On Wall Street the Dow Jones rose 0.45%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.4%, and the NASDAQ was up 0.6%.

BHP results

The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price will be in focus on Tuesday when the mining giant releases its full year results. According to a note out of Morgans, its analysts are forecasting BHP to report EBITDA of US$40,776 million and a net profit of US$23,844 million. This is expected to underpin a fully franked US$2.84 per share dividend. Elsewhere, Goldman is forecasting EBITDA of US$44,000 million and a US$2.90 per share dividend.

Oil prices tumble

It could be a very red day for energy producers including Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) after oil prices tumbled on Monday night. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 3.45% to US$88.91 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has dropped 3.65% to US$94.58 a barrel. Surprisingly weak economic data out of China put pressure on prices.

Goldman’s bank ratings update

In response to their respective updates on Monday, the team at Goldman Sachs has downgraded Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) shares to a neutral rating with a $10.60 price target and retained their conviction buy rating on Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares with an improved price target of $26.55. Goldman notes that Westpac’s “asset quality was run-rating better” than its previous second half forecasts.

Gold price falls

It could be a difficult day for gold miners such as Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) after the gold price dropped overnight. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is down 1.15% to US$1,794.60 an ounce. A strong rebound by the US dollar and rate hike concerns weighed on the precious metal.

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why did the Woodside share price lag the ASX 200 on Monday?
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why is the AMP share price having such a lousy start to the week?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday
• What’s impacting the Santos share price today?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Westpac Banking Corporation. 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 Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Westpac Banking Corporation. 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 interested in adding some ASX growth shares to your portfolio this month? If you are, you may want to look at the three listed below that have recently been named as buys.

Here’s what you need to know about these ASX growth shares:

Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG)

The first ASX growth share to look at is leading appliance manufacturer Breville. It could be worth considering due to its positive long term growth outlook which is underpinned by a combination of favourable industry tailwinds, its investment in research and development, and ongoing global expansion. The team at Morgans is very positive on the company and expects Breville to “deliver double-digit sales growth consistently over the next few years.” Morgans currently has an add rating and $25.00 price target on its shares.

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP)

Another ASX growth share that could be in the buy zone is Domino’s. This pizza chain operator could be a top option due to its strong brand, ongoing investment in technology, and expansion plans. The latter sees the company aiming to more than double its store network by FY 2033 in existing markets. In addition, the company has the balance sheet strength to add to its network with acquisitions, extending its market opportunity further. And while Domino’s is having a tough time this year, the headwinds it is facing are only expected to be temporary. As a result, the team at Citi believe recent share price weakness could be a buying opportunity. The broker has a buy rating and $92.95 price target on its shares.

Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB)

A final ASX growth share for investors to look at is this online travel agent. Unsurprisingly, Webjet was hit incredibly hard by the pandemic. The good news is that travel markets are now rebounding and the company expects to become profitable again in the near future. And with its costs reduced materially from pre-pandemic levels, Webjet will be a much more efficient business in the future. It is for this reason that Goldman Sachs is a big fan of Webjet. Its analysts currently have a buy rating and $6.90 price target on its shares.

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

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Better ASX travel buy: Flight Centre or Webjet?
• Is it a problem for shareholders that Italians don’t like Domino’s Pizza?
• 2 excellent ASX growth shares to buy now according to brokers

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 recommended Dominos Pizza Enterprises Limited and Webjet Ltd. 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 Seven Group Holdings (ASX: SVW) share price had its ups and downs on Monday but finished the trading day in positive territory. Shares in the ASX agribusiness closed 0.39% higher at $18.03.

It’s been a challenging year for the Seven Group share price, down 25.3% over the past 12 months.

Credit Suisse analysts believe it’s undervalued at current levels, saying that the potential for further bad news has already been priced in for the stock.

With the company submitting its earnings report tomorrow, let’s find out why the Credit Suisse brokers are bullish on this ASX 200 share.

Credit Suisse analyst rating

As reported by The Australian, Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Hodge believes that the company is trading lower than it should.

A note addressed to investors explained the broker’s stance:

We believe SVW remains materially undervalued, but are also cognisant the very near term is unlikely to produce any re-rating catalysts. Although recent share price performance suggests a broad expectation of prospective bad news already exists within the market.

Credit Suisse reduced the consensus price target for Seven Group Holdings, but the forecast still undervalues it. The consensus price is $22.15, giving it a 22.91% upside at the time of writing.

Hodge predicted a higher share price to materialise over the next 12 months as its Coates and WesTrac businesses were expected to perform strongly.

He added that Seven Group Holdings would likely provide investors with a “conservative” FY23 outlook when it reported tomorrow morning. The broker expects that to have a knock-on effect on the company’s share price.

Despite some recent share price weakness, we believe lower than consensus guidance will result in modest share price weakness from current levels.

Other analysts disagree on the fair value of the ASX 200 share. Joe Wright of Airlie Funds Management said last week it was trading at “a price we believe is more than fair”.

Seven Group Holdings share price snapshot

The Seven Group Holdings share price is down 18.93% year to date. It’s trading significantly below the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is 6.92% lower over the same period.

Seven Group Holding’s market capitalisation is $6.52 billion.

The post Why one broker is bullish on this ‘unloved and undervalued’ ASX 200 share appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Down 20% so far this year, why this ASX 200 share is now ‘incredibly compelling’: Airlie

Motley Fool contributor Matthew Farley 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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With so many blue chip ASX shares to choose from, it can be hard to decide which ones to buy.

To narrow things down, I have picked out two top blue chip ASX shares that experts rate as buys right now. They are as follows:

Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH)

The first blue chip ASX share to look at is Cochlear. It is one of the world’s leading developers, manufacturers, and distributors of cochlear implantable devices for the hearing impaired.

Cochlear has earned this strong market position thanks to its portfolio of world-class products which has been developed following its high level of investment in research and development (R&D) over the last four decades.

The good news is that management isn’t resting on its laurels. Each year the company spends around 12% of its annual revenue on R&D activities. This ensures that it remains ahead of the pack and creates a significant barrier to entry.

So with populations around the world ageing and demand for cochlear implantable devices expected to increase strongly over the next couple of decades, Cochlear appears well-placed for growth over the long term.

Morgans certainly believes this will be the case. As a result, it has an add rating and $244.50 price target on Cochlear’s shares.

Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)

Another blue chip ASX share to look at is Goodman Group. It is a leading integrated commercial and industrial property company.

Goodman is another company that appears well-placed for growth over the long term. This is thanks to to its world class portfolio, which has been developed to give it exposure to key growth markets such as ecommerce and logistics.

The team at Citi are very positive on Goodman and are forecasting strong earnings growth in the coming years. For example, the broker expects earnings per share growth of ~23% in FY 2022 and then ~20% in FY 2023.

Citi also sees value in Goodman’s shares at the current level with its buy rating and $22.00 price target.

The post 2 blue chip ASX 200 shares tipped as buys by experts appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• Broker names 3 ASX 200 shares to buy and hold
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Experts name 3 ASX 200 shares to buy now
• Why these blue chip ASX 200 shares are rated as buys by experts

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 CSL 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 Scott Phillips.

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The Ragusa Minerals Ltd (ASX: RAS) share price has exploded in the past week.

In the last week, the company’s share price has lifted 138% to 20 cents. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) has climbed 2% in the same time frame.

Let’s take a look at what is happening at Ragusa Minerals?

What’s driving this price boost?

Ragusa Minerals is exploring lithium in the Litchfield Pegmatite Belt in the Northern Territory. Ragusa also has a 100% interest in a halloysite and kaolinite project in Western Australia, along with gold projects in Zimbabwe and Alaska.

However, it is lithium news out of the Northern Territory project that seems to have pushed up the Ragusa Minerals share price.

On Thursday, Ragusa announced historical exploration works had confirmed “high grade lithium perspectivity” at the company’s NT lithium project.

As my Foolish colleague Bronwyn reported, this included 8.03% Li2O3 and 7.25% Li2O6.

Commenting on the results, chairperson Jerko Zuvela highlighted the company’s “significant opportunity” to progress the NT lithium project.

He said Ragusa is in a strong position to rapidly accelerate the project within a “high quality lithium district”.

Today alone, the Ragusa Minerals share price soared a further 42.86%, in what was a strong day for ASX lithium shares.

Ragusa share price snapshot

The Ragusa Minerals share price has exploded 150% in the past year and 153% year to date.

For perspective, the ASX 200 Materials Index has lost nearly 11% in a year.

Ragusa has a market capitalisation of $25.15 million based on the current share price.

The post Why has the Ragusa Minerals share price exploded 136% in a week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are 2 ASX lithium shares surging on new discoveries
• Guess which ASX mining share is rocketing 55% on a new lithium find

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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The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price will be one to keep an eye out for this week.

On Wednesday, the global biotech is scheduled to release its full year results.

While there’s still some time left, let’s take a look to see what the market is expecting from CSL.

What should you expect from CSL’s full year results?

During its first-half results, CSL reaffirmed its FY22 outlook with net profit after tax (NPAT) of between US$2,150 million and US$2,250 million at constant currency.

It noted that the FY22 result is however heavily skewed to the first half.

Under the CSL Behring banner, improving plasma collection is projected to drive stronger immunoglobulins and albumin sales.

CSL’s Seqirus business is forecasted to have expenses falling more evenly over the year giving rise to a loss in the second half of sales. Although this may appear as a shock, management noted it is consistent with seasonality.

And what does this broker think?

Goldman Sachs believes there’s an upside from the plasma recovery and the US$12.3 billion Vifor Pharma acquisition.

The broker estimates CSL will achieve US$10,903.3 million in revenue for FY22 as the world moves into a post-COVID phase.

In addition, EBITA is projected to come at US$3,718.6 million.

Goldman Sachs said that for Behring, it sees “a sufficiently supportive set-up for margins to recover towards pre-Covid levels by FY24.”

It further noted that demand for immunoglobulins portfolio appears robust, with evidence that donor fees are declining in absolute terms.

However, uncertainty remains elevated, and with scope for current cost/mix pressures to temper the near-term margin trajectory, the broker is waiting for more insights from FY22 results next week.

Goldman Sachs has a neutral rating for CSL shares and price target of $307 per share.

Based on today’s price of $293.24, this represents an upside of almost 5%.

CSL share price summary

The CSL share price has uncharacteristically been a poor performer in the past 12 months, shedding 2%.

The company’s shares reached a 52-week low of $240.10 on 15 February before travelling in circles over the next 4 months.

Since then, the share has tracked higher on the back of renewed market confidence but is still 15% down from its pre-COVID highs.

The post Looking to buy CSL shares? Here’s what to watch when the biotech company reports this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are 3 ASX blue-chip shares reporting this week
• Goldman Sachs gives its verdict on the CSL share price
• CSL share price climbs as $16 billion Vifor acquisition becomes effective
• ‘Excited about the pipeline’: Why Wilson says the CSL share price is in the buy zone right now
• 3 ASX 200 shares to buy for a post-COVID resurgence: experts

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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 CSL 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 Scott Phillips.

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It ended up being a pleasing start to the trading week for ASX 200 shares on Monday. As of the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has added a healthy 0.45% at 7,064.3 points. But the Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price had no such luck.

Woodside shares had a bit of a clanger, falling by 0.43% to $32.63 by the end of the session. So what happened here with the ASX 200’s largest energy share?

What went wrong with the Woodside share price today?

Well, it was nothing to do with any news or announcements the company put out, seeing as there were none. This downwards move might have been influenced by the moves of the Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price though.

Beach, a fellow ASX 200 oil share, had an awful day today. Its shares dropped by a painful 11.1% by the end of the day to $1.65 a share. Investors were not impressed with the company’s FY22 earnings report, which was released this morning.

As we covered at the time, investors seemed to be expecting a little more than the $504 million in underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) the company delivered.

But even before these earnings came out, it wasn’t looking good for Woodside shares. As my Fool colleague James presciently predicted this morning, ASX oil shares were always going to come under pressure today, given the large drop in the oil price itself over the weekend.

As we reported this morning, the WTI crude oil price fell 2.4% to US$92.09 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price fell 1.45% to US$98.15 a barrel. Not exactly good news for the companies that pull the ‘black gold’ out of the ground.

So it’s probably a combination of these factors that has led to the underperformance in the Woodside share price we see today. No doubt investors will be hoping for a better day tomorrow.

At the last Woodside Energy Group share price, this ASX 200 energy share has a market capitalisation of $61.9 billion, with a dividend yield of 5.74%.

The post Why did the Woodside share price lag the ASX 200 on Monday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why is the AMP share price having such a lousy start to the week?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday
• Why Beach, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Opthea, and Paradigm shares are sinking
• Why is the Liontown share price leaping 5% on Monday?

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 Scott Phillips.

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