Category: Stock Market

The Iluka Resources Limited (ASX: ILU) share price is starting the week in a positive fashion.

In early trade, the mineral sands and rare earths producer’s shares were up 8.5% to a new record high of $12.50.

The Iluka share price has pulled back a touch but still remains up 6% to $12.20.

Why is the Iluka share price shooting higher?

Investors have been bidding the Iluka share price higher today after the company made a final investment decision on phase three of the Eneabba Rare Earths Refinery.

As you might have guessed from the share price reaction, the company has decided to go ahead with the construction of the refinery. This follows the completion of a feasibility study, which demonstrates solid economics and significant potential for growth.

Also supporting the decision was the government’s agreement to a risk sharing arrangement, which includes a non-recourse loan under the Australian Government’s $2 billion Critical Minerals Facility.

What is phase 3?

According to the release, phase 3 will deliver a fully integrated refinery for the production of separated rare earth oxides at Eneabba, Western Australia.

The release notes that following completion, the refinery will be capable of processing rare earth feedstocks sourced from both Iluka’s portfolio and from a range of potential third party concentrate suppliers.

Iluka’s refinery will produce high value rare earth oxides neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. Management notes that these are critical inputs across a range of industries and technologies, including electric vehicles, sustainable energy, advanced electronics, medical and defence applications.

Management commentary

Iluka’s managing director and CEO, Tom O’Leary, spoke very positively about the plans. He said:

“Eneabba Phase 3 represents a defining opportunity for Iluka and an order of magnitude evolution for value addition to Australia’s rare earth resources.

“Rare earths are among the key building blocks of an electrified economy and our final investment decision for Phase 3 will see Eneabba become a strategic hub for the downstream processing of Australia’s rare earth resources. The refinery has been designed specifically to have the capacity to be globally material, the capability to process both Iluka’s feedstocks and those held by third parties, and to have minimal environmental impact, including as a result of being located entirely on a brownfields site.

“Beyond the production of rare earth oxides, the refinery also provides a foundation for undertaking potential further steps along the value chain in future, such as rare earth metallisation. Iluka has already had strong and positive engagement with potential rare earths customers.”

The post Iluka (ASX:ILU) share price jumps 8% to record high on major rare earths news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Bruce Jackson.

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Experts are always on the lookout for ASX shares that offer investors a lot of potential upside.

When several brokers simultaneously like a business, that may suggest that there’s an opportunity. Or all of those experts could be wrong at the same time.

With that in mind, here are two potential opportunities:

Universal Store Holdings Ltd (ASX: UNI)

Universal Store is an ASX retail share. It’s a specialty retailer of youth casual apparel with 73 stores across Australia. It also has an online store.

The Universal Store share price has fallen heavily over the last six months.

The company suffered in the first half of FY22 as many of its stores in NSW and Victoria were closed because of COVID-19 restrictions. It lost about a quarter of its potential trading days. Despite that, it still managed to generate $108.3 million of sales and $13.5 million of statutory net profit after tax (NPAT).

It opened nine new stores late in the first half and expects to open up to three new stores in the “next six months”. It has a long-term target of at least 100 stores across Australia and New Zealand.

It’s currently rated as a buy by at least three brokers, including UBS. The broker has a price target on the business of $7.75. UBS thinks that it has a good longer-term outlook with an attractive ability to open more stores.

On UBS’s numbers, the Universal Store share price is valued at around 15x FY23’s estimated earnings.

City Chic Collective Ltd (ASX: CCX)

City Chic is another ASX retail share that is highly rated by several brokers. It currently has at least five buy ratings.

The business sells plus-size clothing, accessories, and footwear to women.

Morgan Stanley thinks that the company looks cheap after the steep fall of the City Chic share price since the start of the year.

The broker thinks that investors may start liking the company again if second-half trading impresses or if it makes another acquisition.

City Chic has made a number of acquisitions to increase its scale over the last few years. It has bought Avenue in the US, Evans in the UK, and Navabi in the EU.

The first half of FY22 saw a lot of top-line growth, with sales rising by 49.8% to $178.3 million. In the first eight weeks of the second half of FY22, the company said that it had delivered strong online sales growth. The UK and EU markets showed signs of recovery.

Based on Morgan Stanley’s numbers, the City Chic share price is valued at 21x FY23’s estimated earnings.

The post Buy these ASX shares with significant upside: experts appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 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 Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price continued its disappointing run during the month of March.

The buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares dropped a further 13.4% during the period.

This meant that Zip share’s had lost approximately two-thirds of its value during the first quarter of 2022, which made it the worst performer on the illustrious ASX 200 index.

Why did the Zip share price sink during March?

Investors continued to sell down Zip’s shares last month after the BNPL provider announced an all-scrip deal to acquire rival Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) and a capital raising to support the growth of the two businesses.

In respect to the latter, at the start of the month Zip successfully completed its fully underwritten $148.7 million institutional placement. These funds were raised at $1.90 per new share, which was a 14% discount to the Zip share price at the time.

The company was then aiming to raise a further $50 million from retail shareholders through a share purchase plan. Though, it remains unclear how much Zip will raise from this part of the capital raising after the pullback by Zip’s shares made the share purchase plan less attractive to shareholders.

What else?

Also weighing heavily on the Zip share price last month was a broker note out of UBS.

The broker responded to Zip’s capital raising and the acquisition of Sezzle by downgrading the company’s shares to a sell rating and slashing its price target to $1.00.

With the company’s shares currently trading at $1.47, this suggests that the Zip share price could still fall a further 32% from current levels.

Though, it is worth noting that not everyone is bearish. Morgans believes the acquisition of Sezzle makes ‘strategic sense’ and put an add rating and $3.94 price target on its shares. This is more than double where its shares trade at now.

The post Why did the Zip share price get smashed in March? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. 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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Some leading ASX growth shares could be worth considering in April 2022.

There has been significant volatility on the ASX share market since the start of the year. But sometimes, the ups and downs of the stock market can open up opportunities.

With that in mind, here are two possible contenders that have compelling growth potential:

Bailador Technology Investments Ltd (ASX: BTI)

Bailador describes itself as a technology expansion capital fund. It says it provides investors with exposure to “expansion-stage” technology companies at attractive valuations before going public and listing on a stock exchange.

Some of its previous investments have been Lendi, Siteminder Ltd (ASX: SDR), and Straker Translations Ltd (ASX: STG).

The Bailador share price has fallen by almost 20% since the start of the year. But the company can point to several financial metrics that show the strength of the underlying businesses.

In December 2021, the ASX growth share had 10 investments which had 43% revenue growth for the 12 months to December 2021, or 81% revenue growth excluding travel. Around 91% of the revenue is recurring. Those investments had a gross profit margin of about 66%.

Despite the pain that technology businesses have experienced on the share market, Bailador has continued to report gains.

It has entered into an agreement to sell its investment in Standard Media Index for $20 million, representing an uplift of approximately 67% to the carrying value. This valuation uplift represented an $8 million increase.

Bailador also recently completed an additional $7.7 million investment in InstantScripts, a digital healthcare platform that enables Australians to conveniently access high-quality doctor care and routine prescription medication. It saw 109% revenue growth in the three months to January 2022. The valuation of the investment round resulted in a 15% uplift to the valuation of Bailador’s existing investment in InstantScripts.

Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB)

Bubs is an Australian infant formula business that specialises in goat milk products. The company claims to be the fastest-growing infant formula manufacturer in Australia.

In its recent FY22 half-year result, it reported several achievements. It said that it achieved positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first time, with positive cash flow in the half (and both quarters being cash flow positive).

It doubled its infant formula sales, which helped “significant” gross profit margin improvement. Bubs saw “strong” growth in domestic retail scan sales with market share gains. Corporate daigou sales were also at a record high.

The ASX growth share has also launched ‘Bubs Supreme’ featuring A2 beta-casein protein milk, with ranging secured in 500 Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) supermarkets nationally. It will be on the shelves from May 2022.

Corporate daigou partner Willis Trading has made an opening purchase order of $32.9 million. This will be delivered in the fourth quarter of FY22 and the first quarter of FY23.

Bubs boasts that it now has a presence across all key premium segments: goat, organic, and A2 beta-casein protein.

The post Are these 2 compelling ASX growth shares buys in April 2022? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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. owns and has recommended Bailador Technology Investments Limited and SiteMinder Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BUBS AUST FPO, Bailador Technology Investments Limited, and Straker Translations. 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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March was a dramatic month for AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL), but its share price didn’t join in on the commotion.

AGL’s stock gained just 2.66% over the course of last month. That’s despite the company being hit with a sweetened takeover offer and the coming together of some of its renewable energy plans.  

As of the final close of March, the AGL share price was trading at $7.72, just 20 cents higher than it was at the end of February.

For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index(ASX: XJO) gained 6.39% last month. That means the AGL share price underperformed the broader market by 3.73%.

Let’s take a closer look at how AGL performed last month.

What happened to AGL last month?

The AGL share price sunk earlier this month on the back of an increased – and quickly rejected – takeover offer.

The offer was posed by the private investment firm of Mike Cannon-Brookes – co-founder and co-CEO of software company, Atlassian – in partnership with Brookfield Asset Management.

Previously, the pair posed a $7.50 per share takeover bid for AGL in February. It was quickly rejected, with the AGL board stating it undervalued the company.

The takeover offer also highlighted an alternative future for the energy producer and retailer, with Cannon-Brookes vowing to stop AGL’s planned demerger and fast track the closure of its coal-fired power stations.

On 7 March, the pair’s bid for AGL was bumped to $8.25 per share. That was an 11% premium on the AGL share price’s previous close.

However, Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield were once again shot down, with AGL’s board believing the bid was still a lowball. Though, some of the company’s major shareholders argued that more consideration should have been given to the sweetened offer.

The AGL share price slumped 1.75% the day the second bid was posed and rejected.

In non-market sensitive news, AGL announced it will build a $41 million battery in Broken Hill last month.

The battery will be partly funded with a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). It is expected to help support the switch to renewable power.

Additionally, AGL was given the green light to install a grid-scale battery at the site of its Liddell coal-fired power station.

Liddell is expected to be shuttered in 2023. The process of closing the station began on Friday when the first of 4 units was powered down.

Finally, AGL made progress on its goal to better integrate electric vehicles (EVs) into Australia’s electricity grid last month.

AGL share price snapshot

March wasn’t a great month for the AGL share price. However, it’s still outperforming in 2022.

At the end of last month, the energy company’s stock was up 22% year to date.

Though, it’s slipped 19% since this time last year.

The post How did the AGL share price perform in March? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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. owns and has recommended Atlassian. 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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Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) is one of the bigger tech shares on the ASX, with a market capitalisation of around $4.5 billion. But could it also be building a reputation as an ASX dividend share?

For readers who haven’t heard of Altium before, the company describes itself as a multinational software business that focuses on electronics design systems for 3D design and embedded system development. Its products are everywhere, “from world leading electronic design teams to the grassroots electronic design community.”

Some of its more well-known offerings include Altium Designer, Altium 365, NEXUS, and Octopart.

What are Altium’s dividend credentials?

The company has provided information about its dividend policy.

Altium says it is “committed to a progressive increase of long-term shareholder value.”

It has grown its dividend every year since October 2012, so it is close to a decade of consecutive annual dividend increases. In October 2012, it paid a dividend of 5 cents per share. In September 2021, the company paid a dividend of 21 cents per share.

Altium says it will determine the appropriate dividend payment to achieve dividend growth by considering three factors.

The first factor is its growth prospects and development profile.

Second, Altium will consider available cash flow and funding requirements.

The final factor is capital management and needs.

Altium’s board aims to pay ordinary dividends each year between 50% to 80% of net profit after tax (NPAT).

In the recent FY22 half-year result, it grew the interim dividend by 11% to 21 cents per share.

How is Altium planning to dominate its industry?

The ASX tech share says that its software tools empower and connect PCB (printed circuit board) designers, part suppliers and manufacturers to develop and manufacture electronic products faster and more efficiently.

A key focus of the business in recent times has been Altium 365, its cloud platform offering. The idea is that it can create “seamless collaboration” across the entire PCB design process.

The ASX tech share thinks that its industry has a long-term growth outlook.

The company notes that electronics are at the heart of ‘intelligent’ systems, while PCBs are central to the design and realisation of electronics and smart connected products.

Financial and operational goals

Altium is focused on the ‘rule of 50’. This is where the percentage of revenue growth plus the current earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin is at least 50 each year. The company is committed to achieving double-digit revenue growth each year.

Over the next few years, the company is planning to scale significantly. By 2025, it is targeting $500 million of revenue and 100,000 Altium Designer subscribers.

In the six months to 31 December 2021, Altium grew revenue by 28% to US$102 million. The company said that it had 56,200 Altium Designer subscribers as of 7 February 2022.

Altium share price snapshot

Over the last year, the Altium share price has risen by more than 25%. However, that includes a decline since the start of 2022. This calendar year to date, Altium shares have dropped 23%.

The post Is Altium (ASX:ALU) building a reputation as an ASX dividend share? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns Altium. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Altium. 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 Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price has seen volatility since the start of 2022. But what is the outlook for April?

It’s hard to know what a share price is going to do on any given day, week, or month. But analysts often give their opinion on what they think of a company’s current valuation.

Woolworths shares are now down 3% in 2022, but does this mean that the supermarket business looks good value?

Analyst opinions on the Woolworths share price

Brokers are mixed on the business.

On the optimistic side is Citi, which rates the supermarket company as a buy, with a price target of $40.30. The broker thinks that the recently-announced federal budget will help Woolworths because it means that Aussies will be able to more easily afford to pay for products that have risen in price.

Ord Minnett also rates Woolworths as a buy, with a price target of $39.50. It thinks that Woolworths can grow sales quicker than the competition.

Speaking to Livewire, the fund manager Raaz Bhuyan from WaveStone Capital also called Woolworths a buy, citing food inflation and its digital offering as reasons to be positive about the business.

However, there are also analysts out there that aren’t optimistic either. UBS rates the company as a sell with a price target of just $34. After seeing the FY22 half-year result, UBS thought that the Woolworths share price was too expensive when compared to Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) and also because investor expectations are too high for the business.

How strong was the half-year result?

Woolworths reported that in the first six months of FY22, its continuing operations sales increased by 8% to $31.9 billion.

However, before significant items, the continuing operations half-year earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 11% to $1.38 billion, while net profit after tax (NPAT) fell by 6.5% to $795 million.

The company highlighted its e-commerce sales growth as one of the drivers of total sales growth. Total e-commerce sales increased by 48% to $3.49 billion.

Profitability was hurt by higher operating costs caused by COVID-19 and a delay in implementing productivity initiatives.

Growth prospects

Investors can consider growth plans when thinking about the Woolworths share price.

Woolworths said that in the first seven weeks of 2022, Australian food total sales increased by around 5%, driven by the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The company has a medium-term annual target of 10 to 25 new full range supermarkets, between five to 15 new Metro Food stores and three to four new Countdown supermarkets in New Zealand.

Woolworths expects inflation to continue to intensify because of industry-wide cost increases, though it said it would work hard to ensure “great value and affordable alternatives”.

Woolworths share price valuation

One of the latest opinions came from Citi. Using the broker’s numbers, the Woolworths share price is valued at 30x FY22’s estimated earnings.

The post What’s the outlook for the Woolworths share price in April? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 owns and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET. 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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ASX tech shares may have the potential to deliver long-term growth. The world is becoming more technological, which can provide a tailwind.

Some businesses are looking to tap into the growth of this technological trend.

Here are two businesses expecting to become much bigger in the coming years:

Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT)

NextDC describes itself as an innovative data centre-as-a-service provider. It says that it’s building the infrastructure platform for the digital economy, delivering the critical power, security and connectivity for global cloud computing providers, enterprise and government.

The business continues to grow. In the first half of FY22, its data centre services revenue increased by 19% to $144.5 million, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 29% to $85 million.

The ASX tech share is working on a number of developments including the S3 data centre in Sydney and the M2 and M3 data centres in Melbourne. In December 2021, it acquired its first edge data centre on the Sunshine Coast. New sites have been secured for D1 in Darwin and A1 in Adelaide.

NextDC says that its expansion potential continues to grow, with a total planned capacity of over 400MW, before S4, new regions in Darwin and Adelaide, as well as future planned ‘edge’ locations.

The NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie said:

With liquidity over $2 billion, combined with record operating cash flow, NextDC is in an outstanding position to take advantage of current and future customer opportunities and to press its advantage into new regions and edge locations.

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

Altium is a global electronic PCB software provider. The ASX tech share also has other offerings, including Octopart, which is a search engine for electrical parts. The company says that it’s pursuing dominance and transformation.

The company has a goal of reaching US$500 million in revenue and 100,000 Altium Designer subscribers by 2025. It also wants 95% of its revenue to be recurring, excluding China.

Altium says that printed circuit boards are central to the design and realisation of electronics and smart connected products. Management said that Altium 365 and Nexar are connecting electronic design to manufacturing and the wider engineering software ecosystem. Nexar is a cloud-based integration platform, while Altium 365 is Altium’s cloud offering connecting the ‘fragmented’ value chain.

The ASX tech share is planning to build strategic partnerships for the benefit of customers who are highly motivated to pursue digital transformation but who have low organisational capability to implement enterprise software for electronics.

It has a number of leading clients including Tesla, Space X, NASA, Boeing, Google, Siemens, Honeywell, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo, Amazon, Disney, Apple, Fitbit, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Bosch and iRobot.

The post 2 ASX tech shares expecting a lot of long-term growth appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns Altium. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Altium, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Tesla, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Alphabet (C shares) and has recommended the following options: long January 2024 $145 calls on Walt Disney, long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, short January 2024 $155 calls on Walt Disney, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, and Walt Disney. 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 200 Index (ASX: XJO) materially outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) in the three months to March 2022.

In the first quarter of 2022, the ASX 200 rose by 0.7%. The S&P 500 fell by around 5%. That means the ASX 200 outperformed by almost 6% over the three months.

Why is the ASX 200 outperforming?

The performance of an index is dictated by the underlying holdings.

Not only are the names in the portfolios different, but the sector weights are also markedly different.

The ASX 200 is dominated by banks and resource businesses including BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ), Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO), and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG).

Resource companies have helped deliver outperformance in the first period of 2022.

The Australian Financial Review reported comments from co-head of mining research at UBS Lachlan Shaw explaining why ASX 200 shares are doing well:

Commodities are seen traditionally as a bit of an inflation hedge, and commodity prices are certainly doing their part right now. For now, they are getting a lot of interest from investors in terms of the inflation hedge, in terms of what’s showing up in the headline price.

But if I weigh that against where prices are, the potential windfall cash flow for names like BHP is astonishing. Even if they’re having to give some of that windfall cash back in cost inflation, it’s still an environment where there are strong results and very strong dividends.

BHP is trading on a dividend yield of 11%. That’s exceptionally strong in its own right, but exceptionally strong relative to other parts of the market and other assets in general.

It is also believed that higher interest rates can help bank margins which, in turn, can help ASX 200 bank shares.

Interest rates are expected to increase in both the US and Australia this year.

Why are potential higher interest rates hurting the S&P 500?

The legendary investor Warren Buffett said at the 1994 Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting:

The value of every business, the value of a farm, the value of an apartment house, the value of any economic asset, is 100% sensitive to interest rates because all you are doing in investing is transferring some money to somebody now in exchange for what you expect the stream of money to be, to come in over a period of time, and the higher interest rates are the less that present value is going to be. So every business by its nature…its intrinsic valuation is 100% sensitive to interest rates.

The S&P 500 is dominated by global tech names like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, which have higher price/earnings ratios (P/E ratios) and more growth expectations built into the valuation. A higher interest rate can mean some investors increase the discount rate they apply to growth shares.

The post Here’s why the performance of ASX 200 shares is smashing the S&P 500 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns Fortescue Metals Group Limited. 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 Macquarie Group Limited and Westpac Banking Corporation. 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 Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price edged 1% higher last month after struggling to gain form early on.

In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) surged more than 6% following a rebound across the broader market.

Let’s take a look below at what’s the latest with the mining giant’s shares over the past month.

What happened to Rio Tinto shares in March?

Investors appeared mixed on Rio Tinto shares last month despite the company announcing the completion of the Rincon lithium project.

Rio Tinto acquired the project from Rincon Mining for $825 million, following approval from Australia’s foreign investment review board (FIRB).

Rincon is a large undeveloped lithium brine project located in the heart of the lithium triangle in the Salta Province of Argentina.

With the lithium revolution continuing to keep pace, Rio Tinto is looking to get in on the action.

In addition, the company’s largest commodity, iron ore rose 11% in March after a bumpy ride earlier on.

It seems that markets are expecting demand to pick up again in China when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

Nonetheless a couple of brokers weighed in on Rio Tinto’s shares with varying price points at the end of March.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley raised its price target by 7% to $130.50 for the Rio Tinto share price. Based on Friday’s closing price of $120.34, this implies an upside of roughly 8.4% for investors.

The team at UBS also changed it assessment, upgrading its rating to “neutral” from “sell”. Although the price target was lifted by 15% to $104 apiece, this represents a downside of around 15%.

Rio Tinto share price snapshot

Since the beginning of 2022, the Rio Tinto share price has gained 20% and is up around 7% for the last 12 months.

The company’s shares reached a 52-week low of $87.28 in November, before zipping 38% higher to Friday’s closing price.

Rio Tino has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15.35 and commands a market capitalisation of roughly $44.67 billion.

The post What happened to the Rio Tinto share price throughout March? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 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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