Category: Stock Market

The ASX share market saw more volatility this week and a number of ASX shares made headlines.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is ongoing. Inflation continues to be a key focus for economists.

With this in mind, here are five ASX shares that were key parts of the news:

Race Oncology Ltd (ASX: RAC)

This ASX share is a precision oncology company with a cancer drug called Zantrene.

It announced this week the final results from the clear cell renal cell carcinoma (a dangerous form of kidney cancer) preclinical program.

The research found that Zantrene on its own and in combination with known kidney cancer drugs can kill kidney cancer cells at clinically relevant concentrations. The company said that these results support advancing Zantrene into the clinic as a possible new treatment option for advanced kidney cancer patients.

Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: NIC)

Nickel Mines describes itself as a globally significant, low-cost producer.

The Nickel Mines share price fell 25% this week.

The ASX share has decided to withdraw its share purchase plan after aiming to raise $18 million, but then receiving applications for $57 million. But after the drop, the board decided to cancel the share purchase plan and return the money to shareholders in full. It confirmed that the proceeds of the share purchase plan are not required for the acquisition of the 70% interest in the Oracle Nickel Project.

Nickel Mines also addressed press speculation regarding a short position in LME nickel held by Tsingshan group and the implications of this for the global nickel markets. Tsingshan assured the company it had no intention of selling any Nickel Mines shares, there had been no change to its undertaking to buy all of the nickel pig iron produced by the company’s RKEF operations and it has no impact on the intention to receive Nickel Mines shares in the placement.

Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD)

After many years on the ASX share market, Sydney Airport was removed from the official ASX list on 10 March 2022 after the acquisition of the business by the Sydney Aviation Alliance.

The group that has taken over the airport business are entities associated with AustralianSuper, IFM Australian Infrastructure Fund, QSuper, IFM Global Infrastructure Fund and Global Infrastructure Partners.

St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM)

St Barbara is one of the larger gold miners on the ASX with a market capitalisation of more than $1 billion according to the ASX.

Over the week, the St Barbara share price climbed by 16%.

My colleague Brooke Cooper reported on speculation that St Barbara could be a takeover target. On top of that, gold prices have been rising amid all of the global uncertainty.

Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR)

This week, department store business Myer reported its result for the 26 weeks to 29 January 2022.

It reported “strong” total sales growth of 8.5% to $1.52 billion. Online sales grew much quicker, rising by 47.5% to $424.1 million, representing 27.9% of total sales.

Myer generated an underlying net profit after tax of $32.3 million, an increase of 55.2% if adjusted for jobkeeper.

The company also declared a fully franked dividend of 1.5 cents per share, the first since the FY17 final dividend.

The post 5 ASX shares making unbelievable news this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• Why were Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) shares still making news this week?
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts this Friday
• Why Core Lithium, Nickel Mines, SG Fleet, and Whitehaven Coal are pushing higher
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Block falls, Nickel Mines jumps

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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Shareholders had a rare victory over an ASX-listed company in the Federal Court this week.

The full Federal Court sided with investors in their appeal against Worley Ltd (ASX: WOR).

The Federal Court had dismissed the class action initially, but the shareholders successfully appealed before the full bench.

The class action, represented by Shine Lawyers, is seeking compensation for investors who claim the engineering services company misled the markets in its financial forecasts back in 2013.

“Between August and November of 2013, WOR announced an FY 2012 profit of $322 million and provided the market with inflated earnings forecasts showing earnings growth in FY 2013,” said Shine Lawyers class actions leader Craig Allsopp.

“The company announced its inflated and erroneous earnings forecast in August 2013 and repeated it in October 2013, only to issue a downgraded forecast in November 2013.”

The shareholders allege that Worley had no “reasonable grounds” to make the initial forecast and that this resulted in a 26% drop in the stock price.

The Motley Fool has contacted Worley for comment.

All ASX-listed companies now ‘on notice’

The class action represents investors who bought Worley shares between 14 August 2013 and 19 November 2013.

Allsopp said this case focused on listed companies’ obligation for “accountability and the importance of implementing proper processes to ensure price sensitive information is disclosed to the market in a timely way”.

“This puts all corporations on notice and provides a timely warning to those companies that do not prioritise transparency in their disclosures to shareholders.”

The court will now return to a single judge who will rule on the compensation and legal cost orders.

The Worley share price has never really recovered from that period in question, closing Friday at $12.70. It was trading as high as $21.59 during that time in 2013.

The company revealed in the February reporting season that its net profit rocketed 259% upwards, while last week it announced a withdrawal from all business in Russia.

The post $7 billion ASX company loses court case vs shareholders appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 5 ASX 200 shares trading ex-dividend today
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• 3 ASX All Ordinaries shares hitting 52-week highs today
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Woolworths impresses but Domino’s crashes after earnings miss
• Worley (ASX:WOR) share price launches 6% as net profits triple

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 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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Last week was a disappointing one for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). The benchmark index dropped 0.7% over the period to end the week at 7,063.6 points.

While a good number of shares dropped lower with the market, some fell more than most. Here’s why these were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week:

Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: NIC)

The Nickel Mines share price was the worst performer on the ASX 200 last week with a 25.2% decline. Investors were selling this nickel miner’s shares amid concerns over its ties with stainless steel giant Tsingshan. It is the company’s largest shareholder and one of its biggest customers. As Tsingshan has been caught up in a huge short squeeze, which reportedly will lead to billions in losses, there were fears that this could lead to share sales or sales contract terminations.

Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO)

The Rio Tinto share price was some way behind as the next worst performer with its decline of 11.7%. The majority of this decline is attributable to the mining giant’s shares trading ex-dividend last week for its $6.63 per share fully franked final dividend. Eligible shareholders will be paid this huge dividend next month on 21 April. It was largely for the same reason that the Deterra Royalties Ltd (ASX: DRR) share price lost 9.1% of its value last week.

BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL)

The BlueScope share price wasn’t too far behind with a drop of 9.5%. This appears to have been driven by concerns over rising input costs. With iron ore and metallurgical coal prices climbing to sky high levels again, this could put significant pressure on the steel producer’s margins.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

The Zip share price was out of form again and sank 8.7% last week. This appears to have been caused by weakness in the tech sector and a recent broker note out of UBS. In respect to the latter, UBS has downgraded Zip’s shares to a sell rating and cut the price target on them by 80% to just $1.00. Not even heavy insider buying was enough to keep the Zip share price above water.

The post These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts this Friday
• Guess which 3 ASX 200 shares are among the top 10 dividend payers in the world
• Why Core Lithium, Nickel Mines, SG Fleet, and Whitehaven Coal are pushing higher
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Block falls, Nickel Mines jumps

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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Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD) shares made news this week one last time as an ASX company.

On 10 March 2022, Sydney Airport shares were removed from the official list after the acquisition of the business by Sydney Aviation Alliance.

Sydney Airport takeover implemented

The business has been taken over by a consortium comprising of entities associated with AustralianSuper, IFM Australian Infrastructure Fund, QSuper, IFM Global Infrastructure Fund and Global Infrastructure Partners.

The takeover price for Sydney Airport was $8.75 for each share. That cash was sent to Sydney Airport shareholders on 9 March 2022.

However, UniSuper, which owned approximately 15% of Sydney Airport, will receive an approximate 15% interest in the holding company of the bidder, so that it will retain its interest.

Sydney Airport’s directors David Gonski, John Roberts, Stephen Ward, Ann Sherry, Grant Fenn and Abi Cleland have all resigned.

The directors decided to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the takeover.

Why was the takeover attractive?

The Sydney Airport board pointed out that the offer of $8.75 per security represented a significant premium to Sydney Airport’s recent historical trading price. It represented a 50.6% premium to the closing price of the shares on 2 July 2021, being the last day before the announcement of the first bid.

It was also pointed out that there are several risks with the airport’s business and operations, whilst the cash offer provided certainty.

Some of those risks included:

• The ongoing impact of COVID-19
• Competition from Western Sydney Airport in the future
• Uncertainty about future aeronautical and commercial revenue
• The need for significant future capital expenditure in order to grow capacity at the airport
• Uncertainty about the future distribution profile
• Risks with Australia and China’s geopolitical relationship

Last travel update

A couple of months ago, the company told investors about its passenger update for December 2021. In that month, it saw 1.2 million passengers, which was down 69.7% on December 2019, but up 70.4% on December 2020.

Domestic passengers amounted to 949,000 in December 2021 – down 59.6% on December 2019. This was an increase of 44% on December 2020.

There were 248,000 international passengers that travelled through Sydney Airport, down 84.5% on the corresponding period in 2019. The business said that traffic was lower in December because of reduced demand cancellations and lower load factors due to the Omicron outbreak.

For the first 15 days of January, provisional data indicated that international passenger traffic was down approximately 85% and domestic passenger traffic was down approximately 58% compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

The business said that the outlook for passenger traffic continued to remain subdued due to tightly controlled inbound international travel, entry requirements and restrictions into key overseas markets, and the significant domestic flight cancellations announced for the first quarter of 2022.

The post Why were Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) shares still making news this week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here’s why the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price fell 7% today and could keep falling
• Here’s why the Neometals (ASX:NMT) share price surged 6% on Friday
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Is the NAB (ASX:NAB) share price a buy? Top broker expects sector-leading earnings growth
• 2 buy-rated small cap ASX shares analysts believe have 60%+ upside

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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It was another disappointing day of trade for the Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) share price on Friday.

The struggling fund manager’s shares ended the day almost 7% lower at $14.20. This latest decline means the Magellan share price has now lost over a third of its value in just 2022.

And if we were to go back and compare things to this time last year, the company’s shares are down by a whopping two-thirds.

Why did the Magellan share price tumbling today?

Investors were selling down the Magellan share price on Friday following the release of an update on the performance of flagship Global Fund.

As you might have guessed from the share price reaction, Magellan’s team did the not deliver a strong investment performance during the month of February. In fact, the Global Fund lost 7.2% during the month, which compares unfavourably yet again to a 5.4% decline by its benchmark.

This means that on a 12-month basis the flagship fund is now trailing its benchmark by a sizeable 9.1%.

Investors appear concerned that this underperformance could continue to weigh on its funds under management (FUM). Particularly given its high management fees of 1.35%.

As a comparison, rival GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG) charges management fees of just 0.49% on average for its funds. Furthermore, its global equity strategy returned -0.57% net of fees during February, much better than Magellan’s 7.2% decline.

Is this a buying opportunity?

The team at UBS don’t believe the weakness in the Magellan share price is a buying opportunity. Earlier this week the broker put a sell rating and $13.50 price target on the fund manager’s shares.

Unfortunately, its analysts now have concerns with its infrastructure FUM. UBS warned that there is an emerging risk that these FUM will be next to flow out to other fund managers. This follows a recent investment underperformance from this side of the business.

The post Here’s why the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price fell 7% today and could keep falling appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• 15% yield! But are these ASX high-yield shares dividend traps?
• Down 31% this year: Top broker tips more pain for Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: CSL and St Barbara charge higher
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell next week

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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The Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) share price has travelled sideways over the course of the last few years.

COVID-19 headwinds impacted traffic levels as state government-mandated restrictions were enforced Australia-wide. This led Transurban shares to falter while management focused on navigating the business through the pandemic.

Below, we calculate if the dividends have been worth the wait if a shareholder made an investment 3 years ago.

What if you had invested $10,000 in Transurban shares 3 years ago?

If you had invested $10,000 in Transurban shares on this day 3 years ago, you would have bought them for around $12.53 each. This would have given you approximately 798 shares without factoring in any dividend reinvestments over the years.

Fast-forward to today, the current Transurban share price is $12.73. This means those 798 shares would now be worth around $10,158.54 (798 shares x $12.73). When considering percentage terms, this implies an upside of 1.59%.

In contrast, the ASX 200 has returned a yearly average of 4.75% to shareholders in the past 3 years.

And the dividends?

Over the course of the last 3 years, Transurban has made a total of 6 bi-annual dividend payments from June 2019 to 2022.

Adding those 6 dividends payments gives us an amount of $1.285 per share. Calculating the number of shares owned against the total dividend payment gives us a figure of $1,025.43 (798 shares x $1.285).

When putting both the initial investment gains and dividend distribution, an investor would have made roughly $11,183.97.

In comparison, investing the same amount in the ASX 200 would have netted you a total figure of $11,493.76.

Transurban share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Transurban share price has shed around 1%, driven by poor trading conditions.

Its shares hit a 52-week low of $12.03 in January, before finding support around the mid $12 mark.

Based on the current share price, Transurban commands a market capitalisation of around $39.09 billion.

The post The Transurban (ASX:TCL) share price has gained under 2% in 3 years. Have the dividends been worth the wait? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why this broker says the Transurban (ASX:TCL) share price can drive 14% higher
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• Why brokers rate these ASX 200 dividend shares as buys
• Which new investments are predicted to help the AFIC (ASX:AFI) share price and dividends?
• Just banked the Transurban (ASX:TCL) dividend? Here’s what you need to know

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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Shares in Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT) charged higher on Friday to finish trading at 5.76% in the green at $1.47.

Investors appeared to be bidding shares up today amid the release of Neometals’ earnings results for the half-year ended 31 December 2021, which was released yesterday.

Whilst the release was deemed to be non-sensitive, it’s still more than worth a look to check in on the company’s progress.

What happened this year for Neometals?

• Loss for the period from continuing operations of $2.86 million, down from $4.01 million the year prior
• Profit from discontinued operations of $12.812 million for the period
• Profit for the period of $9.943 million, up substantially from a loss of $4.03 million last year
• Earnings per share (EPS) of $1.81 gained from a loss per share of 74 cents compared to FY20
• Cash and equivalents of $68.57 million at the end of the period

What else happened in this period for Neometals?

During the period, Neometals entered into a joint venture (JV) with SMS group GmbH. The 50:50 JV is called Primobius GmbH and was incorporated to “co-fund and complete final stage evaluation activities and to consider
commercialisation of the [lithium-ion battery] LIB recycling technology”, the company says.

“During the period, Primobius made strong progress towards technical and commercial validation of its sustainable LIB Recycling Technology”, it added.

This progress includes formation of a demonstration plant to showcase results to partners and advancing both Class 3 engineering and feasibility studies at the site.

Primobius has also exclusively licenced its LIB recycling technology to Stelco SPV. The agreement will allow Stelco to advance commercial sourcing agreements and advance its construction and operating permit process, per the release.

Neometals is also exploring opportunities to commercially apply its proprietary “vanadium recovery processing flowsheet on stockpiles of vanadium bearing steel manufacturing by-product”.

To date, it is pursuing two partnerships in Scandinavia, namely in Finland and Sweden.

What’s next for Neometals?

Neometals say that in the coming period, it aims to update its SysCAD model for specific brine feed at the Bondalti project. It will also engage contractors to perform pilot tests at the site.

With respect to the demonstration site and upcoming studies, Neometals says both of these remain on schedule for completion in June 2022.

The company did not provide any formal earnings or financial guidance for the coming period.

Neometals share price snapshot

In the last 12 months, the Neometals share price has soared over 336% and is up another 3% this year to date.

Over the previous month, shares have held gains and are up around 1%, but have fallen 8% in the red this week.

The post Here’s why the Neometals (ASX:NMT) share price surged 6% on Friday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Neometals (ASX:NMT) share price surges 10% amid dual listing

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow 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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Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) took a step backward after the US posted its highest rate of inflation in 40 years last night. At the end of the session, the benchmark index finished 0.94% lower at 7,063.6 points.

While there were plenty of fallers today, the market offered up a few green beacons to be grateful for. These were in the form of energy and mining shares — our typical ‘risk off’ names on the ASX boards. As you might expect, the shares that performed the worst as the inflationary thematic stepped up were tech and consumer discretionary.

However, the question is: which shares delivered the biggest returns to investors on the ASX today? Here are the top ten stocks that came through for investors:

Top 10 ASX shares countdown today

Looking at the top 200 listed companies, AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ) was the biggest gainer today. Shares in the lithium developer took a 7.19% ride to the upside during Friday’s session despite there being no announcements from the company. Find out more about AVZ Minerals here.

The next biggest gaining ASX share today was yet another lithium company, Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE). Just like AVZ, Allkem (formerly Galaxy Resources and Orocobre) did not post any new information today. However, the commodity space has been rife with enthusiasm as future supply is shrouded in uncertainty. Uncover the latest Allkem details here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made in these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ)	$0.895	7.19%
Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE)	$10.59	4.96%
Champion Iron Ltd (ASX: CIA)	$6.85	4.58%
GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG)	$1.275	3.66%
Alumina Ltd (ASX: AWC)	$2.03	3.05%
South32 Ltd (ASX: S32)	$4.89	2.95%
Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN)	$46.43	2.74%
Meridian Energy Ltd (ASX: MEZ)	$4.91	2.72%
Coronado Global Resources Inc (ASX: CRN)	$2.01	2.55%
Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX: IPL)	$3.70	2.49%

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check-in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

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

More reading

• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts this Friday
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Block falls, Nickel Mines jumps
• 3 ASX lithium stocks that brokers rate as buys
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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler 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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One of the leading brokers in Australia has had a close look at the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price.

The judgement is that NAB is a leading investment candidate in the banking sector to consider.

What’s going on with the NAB share price?

The NAB share price has continued to rise since the low of the COVID-19 crash.

In 2022 to date, NAB shares have risen by 2%. In the past year it has gone up by 14.5%.

The bank has experienced volatility in the last couple of months, just like most ASX shares on the share market.

The latest business insight that investors have had about NAB was its FY22 first-quarter update.

Quarterly update

It generated $1.8 billion of cash profit – this was up 9.1% year on year. Cash earnings before tax and credit impairment charges were up 6%.

NAB explained that asset quality remained “benign” and it’s experiencing “good momentum” across the business despite the environment remaining competitive.

In Australia over the three months to December 2021, home lending grew by 2.6% and SME (small and medium enterprise) business lending increased by 3.4%. It gained market share in its core lending and deposit products. New Zealand loan growth was 2.2%.

Looking at how that profit growth occurred – revenue rose 8%, reflecting higher volumes. Expenses increased 2%, mainly reflecting higher salaries and leave costs, combined with investment to support growth, partly offset by productivity benefits. It’s targeting broadly flat expenses in FY22.

Profit and profitability can have a sizeable influence on the NAB share price in the eyes of some investors.

The net interest margin (NIM) – a key banking profitability metric – saw a decline of 5 basis points to 1.64%. Part of that decline happened because of competitive pressures and the housing lending mix.

NAB’s ratio of loans that are more than 90 days past due decreased 13 basis points to 0.81%.

The NAB CEO Ross McEwan said:

We remain optimistic about the outlook of Australia and New Zealand and are well positioned to continue to grow with a strong balance sheet and disciplined execution of a clear strategy.

Is the NAB share price a buy?

Ord Minnett certainly thinks so, with an ‘accumulate’ rating. It has a price target of $33.50, which offers an upside of around 10%.

The broker thinks that NAB will be able to offer better earnings growth than its competitors like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC).

Ord Minnett thinks that NAB will pay a grossed-up dividend yield of 7% in FY22.

The post Is the NAB (ASX:NAB) share price a buy? Top broker expects sector-leading earnings growth appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why this broker has big doubts over Westpac’s (ASX:WBC) cost cutting plans
• 2 excellent ASX dividend shares analysts rate as buys
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• Is the Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price the cheapest bank to buy right now?
• Broker names 2 high yield ASX dividend shares to buy right now

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 recommended 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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Investing in the small side of the share market carries more risk than other areas. However, if your risk tolerance allows for it, having a bit of exposure to this side of the market could be a good thing for a balanced portfolio given the potential returns on offer.

For example, listed below are two small cap ASX shares that have been tipped to shoot materially higher from current levels. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Hipages Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: HPG)

The first ASX small cap share to look at is Hipages. It is a leading online platform and software as a service (SaaS) provider that connects consumers with trusted tradies. The Hipages platform helps tradies grow their business by providing job leads from homeowners and organisations looking for qualified professionals, while also enabling them to optimise their operations through its SaaS product.

Goldman Sachs is a very big fan of Hipages. It believes that “HPG presents a compelling long term growth opportunity as it scales to become the leading trade services marketplace in Australia.”

The broker currently has a buy rating and $3.60 price target on its shares. This compares to the latest Hipages share price of $2.19.

Silk Laser Australia Limited (ASX: SLA)

Another small cap ASX share to watch closely is Silk Laser. It is one of Australia’s largest specialist clinic networks, offering a range of nonsurgical aesthetic products and services. Silk’s five core offerings comprise laser hair removal, cosmetic injectables, skin treatments, body contouring, and skincare products. These services have remained popular during the pandemic, resulting in strong sales growth since its listing.

A note out of Wilsons last week reveals that it continues to rate Silk Laser highly. The broker was impressed with the company’s strong growth during the first half in challenging trading conditions and remains positive on its long term growth potential.

Wilson has an overweight rating and $5.25 price target on the company’s shares. This compares to the current Silk Laser share price of $2.94.

The post 2 buy-rated small cap ASX shares analysts believe have 60%+ upside appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 3 fantastic ASX growth shares analysts rate as buys
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• High risk, high reward: Analysts tip 2 small cap ASX shares for big things
• Hipages (ASX:HPG) share price plunges 6% on half-year loss
• 3 excellent ASX growth shares to buy before it’s too late

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 Hipages Group Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended SILK Laser Australia Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Hipages Group Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended SILK Laser Australia Limited. 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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