Category: Stock Market

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The cryptocurrency Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) is the talk of the town right now. The digital coin with a cute dog symbol never shied away from its meme-based origins. For example, the official Dogecoin site proudly claims that the currency is “favored by Shiba Inus worldwide.” But trading volumes and coin prices have skyrocketed in recent months.

Is it time to take the doge-themed joke coin seriously?

Dogecoin is still kind of funny

The cryptocurrency was designed as a lighthearted alternative to more serious digital coin platforms such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC). The adorable dog meme was chosen to represent this coin and its underlying community as an approachable symbol. Original designers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer wanted to reach a broader market than the cryptic Bitcoin and Litecoin tokens, so Dogecoin leaned into the humor and graphic appeal of the doge meme with full force.

Even the recent surge of publicity and trading activity has relied on Dogecoin’s cheerful image. When Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk pumped out a bunch of tweets to promote the currency in early February, he aimed right for the funny bone. “Who let the Doge out,” mused one Musk tweet. “No highs, no lows, only Doge,” said another. A third tweet featured a mandrill with Musk’s face lifting a baby doge to the sky in an edited Lion King scene that seemed to ask: Can you feel the love tonight?

And the coin has carried very little actual value for most of its history. Dogecoin prices briefly peeked above $0.01 per token in the crypto boom of 2017-2018 but quickly dove back to fractions of a cent again. At the start of 2021, one Dogecoin token cost just 0.5 cents. The ultra-low prices played into Dogecoin’s joke status.

Things have changed

The semiserious push from Elon Musk and a concerted effort from the Reddit community known as WallStreetBets has shown Dogecoin in a different light. The coin now stands among the ten largest cryptocurrencies by market value and is number four in terms of daily trading volumes. Dogecoin has exceeded parent currency Litecoin, from which the cryptocurrency’s technology was copied with a couple of tweaks, in both of these metrics.

To be clear, Dogecoin’s market cap of $40 billion is comparable to that of auto giant Ford (NYSE: F), and the trading volume of $22 billion in the last 24 hours exceeds that of Wall Street heavy hitters like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and its $13 billion daily trading volume. This humble token is moving a lot of money right now, almost demanding to be taken seriously.

The story doesn’t end there. Retailers are dipping their toes into the Dogecoin waters, accepting DOGE payments for things like online security services, Dallas Mavericks tickets, and of course Tesla cars. In fact, hundreds of merchants will accept Dogecoin since the popular cryptocurrency payments portal BitPay started to process DOGE payments in March. That’s how the Mavs are managing their incoming Dogecoin payments, for example.

Is DOGE the real deal, then?

The rising interest in Dogecoin may actually burnish the token as a legit payment option for the long haul — but we’re not there yet.

Dogecoin’s technical underpinnings were always quite serious, being a near-perfect carbon copy of those of Litecoin, which in turn relies on blockchain technology snagged directly from market leader Bitcoin. The differences are small and technical in nature. Litecoin and Dogecoin rely on a different encryption algorithm from Bitcoin, which calls for a different type of digital mining chip. Furthermore, Dogecoin doesn’t have a hard cap on the total number of tokens that can be mined over time, as the other two currencies do. For most people, none of these changes make much of a difference to the token’s real value.

The value of any cryptocurrency is ultimately determined by its utility as a payment service or store of value, and both of these concepts depend on a widespread market embrace. Therefore, Elon Musk and Mavs owner Mark Cuban may have started Dogecoin on the road to long-term respectability — assuming that their efforts and the skyrocketing asset price inspire lots of retailers and investors to treat the jokey token as a seriously valuable transaction tool.

Only time will tell, of course. For now, Dogecoin remains a bit of a joke, but the digital currency might be going places that call for a suit and tie soon enough. It’s far from my favorite investment idea in the cryptocurrency space, and I would recommend that you keep your Dogecoin moves small until further notice. It’s a long way down to $0.005 per token if this surge fizzles out.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Anders Bylund owns shares of Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Apple, Bitcoin, and Tesla and recommends the following options: short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple and long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple. 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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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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The Fatfish Group Ltd (ASX: FFG) share price is jumping out of the water today. At the time of writing, shares in the tech investment company are trading at 12 cents – up 4.35%. By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is currently just 0.35% higher.

Today’s price gains come as the company announced an increased stake in a buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s developments.

Fatfish gets fatter

In a statement to the ASX, Fatfish announced it was “raising its stake in the Singapore BNPL provider [Smartfunding] to 89.4% from 78.7% earlier.” Fatfish Group will now own 39.95% of stock directly and its Swedish subsidiary, Abelco, owns a 49.4% stake. Fatfish bought the extra shares under a rights issue worth $300,000.

As Smartfunding is headquartered in Singapore, Fatfish needed to seek the permission of the Singapore Central Bank to increase its ownership of the company under Singaporean law. The Central Bank subsequently gave its approval for the purchase.

Smartfunding is a fintech platform licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It recently launched a BNPL platform for small and medium enterprises throughout Southeast Asia.

The increased investment is going down well with investors, judging by today’s Fatfish share price moves.

Speaking on the news, Fatfish CEO Kin W. Lau commented:

Smartfunding is pioneering the BNPL service for SMEs in Southeast Asia. By increasing our direct stake in Smartfunding, we will be in a stronger position to drive the business forward and to provide Smartfunding with all the support it needs to succeed.

This is not Fatfish’s first foray into the BNPL industry. It recently announced the acquisition of Malaysian BNPL provider, Forever Pay.

Fatfish share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Fatfish share price has increased by a massive 1,025%. It is, however, around 74% lower than its all-time high of 43 cents a share. The record was briefly achieved in intraday trading on 17 February this year, with the company’s shares ending that day at just 18 cents. This also followed huge gains in the value of Fatfish shares during the prior day’s trading session. 

Fatfish has a current market capitalisation of around $108 million.

More reading

• Fatfish (ASX:FFG) share price jumps 12% on BNPL acquisition update
• Why the Fatfish (ASX:FFG) share price is soaring today
• Fatfish (ASX:FFG) share price jumps 9% on positive update
• Down 20% with no news, what’s with the Cirralto (ASX:CRO) share price?

Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous 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 Impedimed Limited (ASX: IPD) share price was off to a flying start this morning, up 13% at market open.

The positive price movement came as the medical technology company announced it received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for a new heart monitoring device in the United States.

At the time of writing, shares in the company are up 8.7%, trading at 12.5 cents. By comparison, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is 0.08% higher.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news and what it means for the Impedimed share price.

Impedimed’s new product

In a statement to the ASX, Impedimed advised it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its SOZO device to include a heart failure index (HF-Dex) as a monitoring tool for patients living with heart failure.

The 510(k) clearance is a requirement for launching new medical products in the US.

Impedimed says the HF-Dex can measure fluid levels in people using a 30-second, non-invasive test. According to the company, the product presents the data in graphical format for a quick assessment and is most useful in conjunction with other clinical data.

In addition, the Impedimed said the product “has been demonstrated in peer-reviewed publications and abstracts accepted at internationally renowned cardiology conferences”, such as the American College of Cardiology and the Heart Failure Society of America.

What did management say?

Commenting on the news, Impedimed CEO Richard Carreonsaid said:

We are very pleased with this expanded clearance for SOZO that includes our heart failure index. This is a major step forward in SOZO becoming the standard of care for the management of heart failure patients.

The use of HF- Dex will provide clinicians unparalleled insights into the extracellular fluid accumulation in heart failure patients that has not otherwise been readily available to them before.

Impedimed share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Impedimed share price has increased 212%, although it’s up just 4% year-to-date. Today’s news regains the ground lost yesterday when the company’s shares fell 11.5%.

Impedimed has a market capitalisation of $171.5 million.

More reading

• Why the Fatfish (ASX:FFG) share price is jumping today
• What’s happening with the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price today?
• Why the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price hit a multi-year low today
• Why the Sequoia (ASX:SEQ) share price is racing 15% higher today
• Splitit (ASX:SPT) share price edges higher on new product launch

Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous 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 Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price is falling slightly today. However, in positive news for the company’s New Zealand employees, Kmart has reached a “living wage” agreement with the country’s retail workers union, FIRST Union.

The Wesfarmers share price is down 0.52% to $55.59 at the time of writing.

Wesfarmers is a diversified business. It’s broad operations including home improvement and outdoor living, apparel and general merchandise, and office supplies. In addition, the company has an industrials division with businesses in chemicals, energy and fertilisers, and industrial and safety products.

Wesfarmers subsidiaries include household names such as Bunnings Warehouse, Kmart Australia, Officeworks, and more.

Wesfarmers ‘living wage’ agreement

FIRST Union says the pay rise for Kmart workers is a retail industry landmark. It’s a recognition by the major Wesfarmers brand to uphold living wage benchmarks. These are set by an independent economic advisory panel in New Zealand. 

According to the union, the deal will mean hundreds of sales assistants will move to living wages.  In addition, there will be wage increases for longer-serving staff, a new CA allowance for union members, and a commitment to staffing health reviews.

New employees at Kmart will now receive at least the current living wage of NZ$22.10 per hour after six months of experience. Pay rates will also increase for Coordinators and DC Team Members as well as sales workers.

FIRST Union is New Zealand’s second-largest private sector trade union. It has been negotiating with Kmart and Bunnings over pay raises for its staff. According to the union, fellow Wesfarmers brand, Bunnings, is still holding out on providing a living wage for its staff.

What FIRST Union said

FIRST Union Secretary for Retail and Finance, Tali Williams, said it was a significant step for New Zealand retail workers:

Kmart have recognised that their workers are the ones who’ve kept the business afloat and profitable throughout the pandemic year, and are doing the right thing by ensuring workers are paid a living wage. I’m proud of our negotiating team, who made their claims clear and approached the bargaining calmly and with unity.

Major retailers like Kmart have not experienced the drop in profitability that many predicted, and this offer shows that these companies are more than capable of paying their staff a living wage even during a year of crisis.

Wesfarmers share price snapshot

The Wesfarmers share price has been a powerful performer as Australia and New Zealand’s economies rebound and retail spending increases. The company’s share price is up more than 9% the past month and 51% over the past 12 months.

More reading

• Why the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price is edging higher
• Top broker thinks Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price is good value
• Latitude (ASX:LFS) makes a splash on its ASX debut
• 2 of the best ASX dividend shares to buy
• Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price climbs 10% in a month amid ‘favourable momentum’

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Wesfarmers 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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The A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price is edging lower today.

In early afternoon trade, the infant formula and fresh milk company’s shares are down 0.5% to $7.68.

At one stage today, the a2 Milk share price hit a multi-year low of $7.58.

Why is the a2 Milk share price edging lower?

Investors have been selling the company’s shares today after one of its biggest supporters began to doubt its recovery.

According to a note out of Morgans, the broker has downgraded a2 Milk’s shares to a hold rating from add and slashed the price target on them by almost 20% to $8.34.

The broker made the move after its research indicated that prices in China are not improving and retailers in the local market are discounting inventory ahead of use by dates. Morgans fears that its excess inventory could be a bigger problem that it previously anticipated.

Based on this, the broker believes that a2 Milk is unlikely to achieve its guidance for FY 2021. This would be bitterly disappointing given how the company has downgraded its guidance numerous times since it was first given to the market.

What else is weighing on its shares?

Morgans isn’t the only broker talking about a2 Milk today. This morning Citi reiterated its sell rating and $7.15 price target on the company’s shares.

It also has concerns over discounting as excess inventory nears its use by dates. But as well as this, the broker’s research appears to indicate that Chinese consumers are now preferring domestic brands for consumer products. This includes athletic brands, vitamins, and, unfortunately, infant formula. It feels this could impact demand in the key market.

For the same reason, the broker retained its sell rating and 35 cents price target on Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB) shares.

Following today’s decline, the a2 Milk share price is now down approximately 59% over the last 12 months.

More reading

• Declining birth rates could threaten the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• Is the worst over for the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price?
• China’s dairy stocks rise: What does this mean for the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price?
• A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price sours amid international student uncertainty

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended A2 Milk. 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 Sequoia Financial Group Ltd (ASX: SEQ) share price is on the rise in early afternoon trade. This comes after the company announced a trading update and revised guidance for FY21.

At the time of writing, the financial services company’s shares are fetching for 52 cents apiece, up 15.5%.

Sequoia performance snapshot

Investors are driving Sequoia shares within a whisker of reaching a new multi-year high following the company’s positive release.

In its announcement, Sequoia advised it is strongly performing to date with growth across key sectors.

A number of factors during the current financial year has led revenue to surge past what the company was anticipating.

The company attributed the increase to a number of factors including the successful integration of transactions. This includes:

• Business and adviser acquisitions achieving better than expected results (including Panthercorp, Phillip Capital Advisers and Total Cover);
• Surge in monthly trading volumes in Morrison securities;
• Robust growth in brokerage and commissions from the financial planning and stock broking businesses;
• Improved performance in the self-managed super fund (SMSF) administration and document businesses.

Sequoia noted that it is continuing to explore acquisition opportunities to add better value to its core customers.

Significant updated guidance

In further news boosting the Sequoia share price, the company provided an update guidance for FY21.

Previously in February on the release of its half-year results, Sequoia forecasted $110 million in revenue, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $7 million.

However, after reporting strong trading conditions, the group is projecting an increase in revenue and EBITDA for FY21.

Revenue is predicted to soar between $110 million and $120 million, compared to the $84.5 million achieved in FY20.

EBIDTA is envisaged to exceed original estimates by roughly 25%, to come in the range of $8.5 million and $9 million. In the prior comparable period, EBITDA stood at $4.82 million.

Sequoia share price summary

Sequoia shares have skyrocketed over the last 12 months, gaining more than 180% on the back of positive investor sentiment. The company’s shares reached a multi-year high of 53 cents in the middle of February, before treading lower until now.

Sequoia has a market capitalisation of about $67 million, with 130 million shares on issue.

More reading

• What’s happening with the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price today?
• Why the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price hit a multi-year low today
• Splitit (ASX:SPT) share price edges higher on new product launch
• Why the Blackmores (ASX:BKL) share price is under pressure today
• ASX 200 up 0.2%: AMP sinks, Redbubble crashes, Megaport jumps

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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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Splitit Ltd (ASX: SPT) shares are edging higher after the company announced the launch of a new payment gateway designed exclusively for instalment payments. At the time of writing, the Splitit share price is trading 0.63% higher at 80.5 cents.

Let’s take a closer look at the company’s latest news.

What’s driving the Splitit share price?

The Splitit share price is in the green today after the company announced that, following a successful beta phase, it has launched ‘Splitit Plus’ to merchants across the United States. A wider global rollout is expected to commence in the second half of this year. 

Splitit shares have been struggling this week after the fintech released what some believed to be a less than impressive first-quarter update yesterday. 

The new platform, Splitit Plus, is an integrated payment gateway that has been built through leveraging the company’s partnership with US payment processing giant, Stripe.

According to Splitit, the technology “provides merchants an all-in-one platform combining Splitit’s instalment payment technology with a card processing solution for the instalments”. This allows for a more seamless activation process in which merchants can offer instalment payments on credit cards to customers on the same day. 

Splitit CEO Brad Paterson commented on the new feature, saying:

We created Splitit Plus with a customer-first approach to provide an exceptional merchant experience with Splitit. This innovation of a payment gateway built exclusively for installments makes it a fast, simple solution for merchants of any size to begin accepting installment payments in minutes.

Splitit Plus to drive revenues

According to Splitit, the new offering is expected to result in incremental revenues for the company as it will now receive a payment processing fee on top of its existing instalment fees. This will be charged to merchants at a simplified, all-in-one rate. 

Paterson believes the simplified merchant experience and onboarding process should accelerate merchant acquisition in the future. He said:

We believe that Splitit Plus puts us in a strong position to continue our exciting growth trajectory. Offering a faster and simpler onboarding experience and all-in-one fee structure allows us to accelerate merchant acquisition for smaller and larger merchants alike, while meeting the growing demand from merchants to add Splitit to their site or store.

Splitit share price playing catch up

The Splitit share price has been significantly underperforming buy now, pay later (BNPL) leaders such as Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) lately.

The company’s quarterly update on Wednesday revealed negative quarter-on-quarter growth. This signals a diverging performance between Splitit and its BNPL counterparts. Year to date, Splitit shares have fallen by around 38%. However, the company’s shares are still up by around 70% over the past 12 months.

More reading

• Zip Pay (ASX:Z1P) share price rising after ‘global leader’ agreement
• Is the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price a buying opportunity right now?
• High-flying ASX tech shares could fall another 90%: fundie
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• Why Challenger, Nuix, Splitit, & Temple & Webster are sinking

Kerry Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. 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 Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) share price has come under a spot of pressure today.

In morning trade, the health supplements company’s shares are down 2% to $82.82.

Why is the Blackmores share price under pressure?

Investors have been selling Blackmores’ shares this morning following the release of its shareholder briefing presentation.

As well as giving shareholders a rundown on how it performed during the first half, Blackmores provided an update on current trading.

According to the release, inbound spending is significantly down in Australia driven by the absence of international students and tourists (daigou shoppers). This has led to a significant reduction in the share of Australian health supplement sales to Chinese consumers.

At the end of the third quarter of FY 2021, just 10% of Australian health supplement sales were made to Chinese consumers. This is down from ~25% prior to the pandemic.

Management expects this weaker consumption to persist well into 2022 and until regular international travel resumes.

In addition to this, the company notes that a significantly milder cold and flu season has resulted in surplus stocks in the pharmacy channel.

What else is happening?

Another headwind the company is facing is that the Australian vitamin and dietary supplement category has been impacted by structural shifts as a result of COVID-19. Sales in the grocery channel have been growing at the expense of the pharmacy channel. Traditionally, the latter channel has stronger margins, though management didn’t comment on this.

One positive, though, is that Blackmores sees the shift online as an opportunity. In light of this, it is accelerating its digital transformation in order to benefit from the trend.

It has also set itself the bold target of connecting “1 billion people to the healing power of nature through our brands” by FY 2024.

But judging by the Blackmores share price performance today, some investors appear to be waiting to see how long the headwinds it is facing last before focusing on its longer term aspirations.

More reading

• A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price sours amid international student uncertainty
• Why Blackmores, Cleanspace, PointsBet, & Treasury Wine shares are sinking
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• 2 ASX 200 shares impacted by the daigou channel
• Fund managers have been buying Blackmores (ASX:BKL) and this ASX share

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Blackmores 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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At lunch on Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is clawing back some of yesterday’s decline. The benchmark index is currently up 0.2% to 7,010.2 points.

Here’s what is happening on the market today:

AMP sinks

The AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) share price is sinking today following the release of its first quarter update. According to the release, for the three months ended 31 March, AMP posted a $1.6 billion increase in Australian wealth management (AWM) assets under management (AUM) to $125.7 billion. However, this was driven entirely by improved investment markets, which offset net cash outflows of $1.5 billion. Elsewhere, the AMP Capital business saw its AUM fall 1.7% to $186.5 billion during the quarter.

Redbubble Q3 update disappoints

The Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL) share price was added to the ASX 200 index this morning and is having a very disappointing first day. At lunch, the ecommerce company’s shares are down 18% following the release of its third quarter update. For the three months ended 31 March, Redbubble reported gross transaction value of $134 million and marketplace revenue of $103 million. This was up 54% and 79%, respectively. However, its EBITDA came in at just $2.2 million for the quarter. This compares to first half EBITDA of $48.8 million.

Santos first quarter update

The Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price is trading lower today following the release of its first quarter update. During the quarter, Santos produced 24.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). This was up 39% on the prior corresponding period and driven by the ConocoPhillips acquisition in May 2020. On a quarter on quarter basis, production fell 2% due to lower gas demand in Western Australia and unplanned maintenance in PNG. Management has, however, retained its guidance for FY 2021.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers

The best performer on the ASX 200 today has been the Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) share price with a 7.5% gain. This follows the release of an impressive third quarter update. The worst performer has unsurprisingly been the Redbubble share price with a decline of 18%. Investors appear concerned by its sharp decline in profitability.

More reading

• ASX 200 shares thrown in the bargain bin: Here’s 3 ideas
• ABS data shows Australians maintained wealth during COVID
• Redbubble (ASX:RBL) share price crashes 12% on Q3 update
• Why the Santos (ASX:STO) share price is in focus
• Megaport (ASX:MP1) share price in spotlight following Q3 update

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MEGAPORT FPO. 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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Despite the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rebounding 33.5% in the last year, there’s still plenty of shares that remain beaten down.

While there are shares on the ASX that look expensive, the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio can be useful to make a rudimentary assessment of value.

So, let’s take a look at a few shares in the ASX 200 that are currently trading on relatively cheap earnings multiples — in addition to having a beaten-down share price.

ASX 200 shares trading at a discount

St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM)

This ASX-list gold mining company has been unloved over the last year. The St Barbara share price is down 12.5% from 12 months ago, and 28% lower in the last 6 months.

Being a gold mining company in the ASX 200, St Barbara’s share price is loosely tied to the value of the precious metal. Comparatively, the gold spot price has fallen 12.6% in the last 6 months. However, the price of gold has risen 5% in the past year.

Furthermore, St Barbara increased its earnings 26.7% from $100.26 million to $127.03 million, between 2019 and 2020. Due to the company’s earnings increasing while its share price tumbled, its earnings multiple has contracted to 11.6 times. For comparison, the metals and mining industry average is 13.3 times.

Austal Ltd (ASX: ASB)

The ASX 200 included Australian shipbuilder has fallen out of favour in recent times. This is reflected in the share price falling 15.8% in the past 12 months, and 22% in the last 6 months.

Austal has been integral in providing the US Navy and Australian Border Force with vessels. Hence, the news of America and Australia withdrawing from Afghanistan might have investors concerned. Regardless, the company is proceeding with the construction of a ship-building facility in Alabama, USA.

In its recent FY21 half-year report, Austal witnessed a 29% increase in its net profits on the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $52.4 million. With growing profits and a declining share price, Austal’s P/E ratio has reduced to 8.8 times — the lowest it has been since 2013 (disregarding negative periods).

Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL)

Another gold miner on the list — Regis has suffered a heft 31% selloff over the last year. On a 6-month timescale, the Regis share price is down 41% — definitely passing the beaten-down criteria.

Looking at the financials, Regis has reasonably stable profits over the last few years. These range between $161 million to $200 million in earnings. During this period the gold miner has managed to grow its revenue from $590 million to $786 million. This has further potential to increase, with Regis acquiring a $900 million stake in the Tropicana gold project.

Analysts at Morgans believe the Tropicana acquisition will be transformational for the company’s long-term outlook. According to a recent note, the broker holds an add rating with a price target of $4.01. At the time of writing, the Regis Resource share price is trading at $2.79. The company is also trading at a discount to ASX 200 peers, trading on a 7.3 times P/E multiple.

More reading

• ABS data shows Australians maintained wealth during COVID
• Why the Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) share price is climbing
• Why the Santos (ASX:STO) share price is in focus
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• ASX 200 dips, Corporate Travel flies, Nuix sinks

Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Austal Limited. 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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