The Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV) share price has rocketed in early trade on Thursday after the company reported its half-year results.

The stock for the jewellery retailer is up 9.5% in the first few minutes after market open.

What did the company report?

• Revenue up 18.2% to $373 million
• Comparable store sales down 4.4% from 1H23
• Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) up 16.3% to $81.6 million
• Net profit after tax (NPAT) up 12% to $53.5 million
• Interim dividend 50 cents per share, 30% franked (38 cents in 1H23)

What else happened in the first half?

The big activity for Lovisa was the continued expansion of its store network. The company reported Thursday that 74 outlets had opened during the half-year, to take the total to 854 by the end of December.

A significant milestone was achieved when the first stores in China and Vietnam were opened during the half, in Guangzhou and Ho Chi Minh City respectively.

Despite this growth, the reduction in comparable store sales late last year triggered critics to question the size of chief executive Victor Herrero’s $30 million salary package. Short positions now reportedly make up around 4% of Lovisa shares.

What did Lovisa’s management say?

The company has continued to deliver solid sales and profit growth and invested in the structures to support our steady global expansion. This positions us strongly to move forward with growth in both existing and new markets.

Lovisa chief Victor Herrero

What’s next for Lovisa?

The company emphasised that the first seven weeks of the second half showed comparable store sales had stabilised, up 0.3% year-on-year. Total sales are 19.6% up, and Lovisa has already opened nine new stores since the start of 2024, including its first in Ireland.

“We continue to focus on opportunities for expanding both our physical and digital store network, with structures in place to drive this growth in existing and new markets and expect store rollout to continue,” stated the board’s report.

“Our balance sheet remains strong with available cash and debt facilities supporting continued investment in growth.”

Lovisa share price snapshot

Before trade on Thursday, Lovisa shares had soared 37% since late November. The retail stock has returned an impressive 155% over the past five years.

The post Lovisa share price soars after opening 74 new stores in first half appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo has positions in Lovisa. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Lovisa. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Lovisa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price is under significant pressure on Thursday.

In morning trade, the lithium miner’s shares are down 19% to 5.2 cents.

Why is the Sayona Mining share price sinking?

Investors have been hitting the sell button today after Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL) revealed that it has offloaded its entire holding in the company.

According to the release, Piedmont Lithium has agreed to sell 1,152.2 million Sayona Mining shares for 5.2 Australian cents per share through a secondary block sale via Canaccord Genuity. The sale will result in gross proceeds of approximately $59.9 million, or US$39.4 million.

While its selling price represents a premium to the 20-day volume weighted average price (thanks to a recent rally), it is still a huge discount to where the Sayona Mining share price last traded.

The lithium miner’s shares ended Wednesday’s session at 6.4 cents, which means the sale price is a whopping 18.75% discount.

Following this transaction and some smaller recent public market share sales, Piedmont advised that it will no longer hold any shares of Sayona. But, importantly, the sale has no impact on Piedmont’s joint venture or offtake position with Sayona Quebec.

Why is it selling?

Management advised that the decision to divest its Sayona Mining shares aligns with its commitment to maintaining a prudent balance sheet while simultaneously minimising dilution of Piedmont’s shareholders.

It believes this action strategically positions Piedmont for the long term. CEO Keith Phillips said:

This transaction underscores our commitment to delivering long-term value for Piedmont shareholders. We acquired our initial Sayona shares as part of our strategic investment in the Sayona Quebec joint venture and will recognize a meaningful gain on the investment.

We remain fully committed to our joint venture with Sayona, with a particular focus on the ongoing ramp up of North American Lithium, the largest lithium operation in North America. Our 25% joint venture interest and associated offtake agreement are core assets of Piedmont, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our partners at Sayona to supply IRA-qualified lithium resources critical to the U.S. electric vehicle supply chain.

The post Sayona Mining share price crashes 19% after Piedmont Lithium says sayonara appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares are falling on Thursday morning after investors responded negatively to the miner’s full-year results.

At the time of writing, the mining giant’s shares are down 2% to $123.08.

Rio Tinto shares fall on results release

For the 12 months ended 31 December, Rio Tinto reported a 3% decline in revenue to US$54,041 million and a 9% reduction in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to US$23,892 million.

The latter was a touch short of the consensus estimate of US$24,024 million.

This appears to have overshadowed Rio Tinto’s underlying earnings of US$11.8 billion and US$2.58 per share final dividend, which were either in line or a touch better than expected.

For the full year, Rio Tinto’s dividend came in at US$4.20 per share, which is down 12% year on year.

Commenting on the result, Goldman Sachs said:

RIO reported 2023 underlying EBITDA/NPAT of US$23.9bn/US$11.8bn, in-line with our estimates and Visible Alpha Cons. The company generated an average ROCE of 20% in the year and generated nearly US$8bn of FCF. While all divisions were broadly in-line, there was a decent reduction in Primary aluminium costs. The final dividend of US$2.58/sh (75% payout) was in-line with our US$2.59 estimate taking the FY payout to 60%, at the top end of the 40-60% policy. Net debt of US$4.2bn was above our US$2.9bn estimate due to differences in leases and other investments. Capex came in at US$7.1bn in-line with guidance.

Should you invest?

Goldman believes that the Rio Tinto share price is good value at the current level.

Its analysts have retained their buy rating with a trimmed price target of $138.30. This implies potential upside of 12% based on where it trades today.

In addition, the broker is forecasting a US$4.40 per share dividend in FY 2024. This represents an attractive fully franked 5% dividend yield, bringing the total potential return to 17%.

The post Rio Tinto shares fall on FY23 earnings decline and dividend cut 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 positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) stock looks set to have a very good session tonight on Wall Street.

In response to the semiconductor company’s quarterly update, its shares have jumped 10% in after-hours trade.

Nvidia stock jumps on quarterly update

For the three months ended 31 December, Nvidia reported the following (in USD):

• Revenue up 265% year on year to $22.1 billion
• Data Centre revenue up 409% to a record of $18.4 billion
• Gross margin up 12.7 percentage points to 76%
• Net income up 769% to $12.3 billion
• Earnings per share up 765% to $4.93

The company also released its full-year results with this fourth quarter update. It reported:

• Full-year revenue up 126% to a record of $60.9 billion
• Gross margin up 15.8 percentage points to 72.7%
• Net income up 581% to $29.76 billion
• Earnings per share up 586% to $11.93

What happened during the quarter?

During the quarter, Nvidia reported explosive sales and earnings growth after AI hit a “tipping point.”

Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, explained:

Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point. Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations.

Our Data Center platform is powered by increasingly diverse drivers — demand for data processing, training and inference from large cloud-service providers and GPU-specialized ones, as well as from enterprise software and consumer internet companies. Vertical industries — led by auto, financial services and healthcare — are now at a multibillion-dollar level.

Looking ahead, management is guiding to first-quarter revenue of $24 billion (+/- 2%) with a gross margin in the range of 76.3% to 77%.

How does this compare to expectations?

The good news for owners of Nvidia stock is that both its result and guidance are comfortably ahead of the market’s expectations.

In respect to its earnings for the quarter, the market was expecting earnings per share of $4.64. Whereas for its revenue, analysts were forecasting $21.9 billion for the quarter.

‘An insane result’

Saxo Head of Equity Strategy, Peter Garnry, was blown away by the result. He said:

This is just an insane result, and the guidance is strong. The wording ‘tipping point’ is the strongest forward-looking indication the company has provided so far since generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) took off. I have never seen anything like this in my career. However, it will be increasingly difficult for Nvidia to exceed expectations, and this could be the last insane quarter.

The post Nvidia stock pops 10% after-hours following ‘insane result’ 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 positions in and has recommended Nvidia. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Australian share market traditionally offers a dividend yield of approximately 4%. But you don’t have to settle for that.

Not when there are ASX dividend stocks like the two listed below. Here’s what sort of yields analysts are expecting from them:

Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)

This footwear retailer’s shares could be a good option for income investors.

That’s the view of analysts at Bell Potter, which believe the HypeDC and The Athlete’s Foot owner is well-placed due to “continuing casual footwear trends and as sports, fitness & wellness related spending remains a priority.”

The broker expects these trends to support the payment of fully franked dividends per share of 12 cents in FY 2024 and then 14.1 cents in FY 2025. Based on the latest Accent share price of $2.20, this represents dividend yields of 5.45% and 6.4%, respectively.

Bell Potter has a buy rating and $2.80 price target on its shares.

Deterra Royalties Ltd (ASX: DRR)

Another ASX dividend stock that analysts are feeling bullish about is Deterra Royalties.

It manages a portfolio of mining royalty assets across a range of commodities. This includes royalties held over BHP Group Ltd’s (ASX: BHP) Mining Area C, its cornerstone asset, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The team at Morgan Stanley remains positive on the company and continues to forecast some big dividends in the near term. For example, it is expecting fully franked dividends per share of 37 cents in FY 2024 and then 34 cents in FY 2025. Based on the current Deterra Royalties share price of $5.08, this will mean yields of 7.3% and 6.7%, respectively.

The broker currently has an overweight rating and $5.65 price target on its shares.

The post Analysts say these high-yield ASX dividend stocks are buys 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 recommended Accent Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) dividend was declared yesterday after the ASX had closed, along with the company’s FY23 results. The dividend is the final payment of FY23.

Rio Tinto dividend

The ASX mining share declared a final dividend of A$3.9278 per share, fully franked. This was an increase of around 20% compared to last year.

However, in US dollar terms, the final dividend of US$2.58 only increased by 14.7% year over year.

The dividend is determined in US dollars but paid to Aussies in Australian dollars.

This final dividend brought the full-year dividend to A$6.5367, which was a reduction of 8% compared to FY22. In US dollar terms, it’s a full-year payment of US$4.35 (reduced by 11.6%).

How much profit is Rio Tinto going to pay out?

The ASX mining share said the dividend payout ratio is used to decide how much it pays out. Rio Tinto aims to pay 40% to 60% of underlying earnings to shareholders as dividends on average through the cycle.

Rio Tinto has decided to payout 60% of its underlying earnings – it generated underlying earnings per share (EPS) of US$7.25 (which was down 12%).

The reported net profit after tax (NPAT) fell 19% to US$10 billion and free cash flow declined 15% to US$7.66 billion.

Rio Tinto was pleased to say that its balance sheet strength enables it to continue to invest with discipline while also paying the total dividend amounting to US$7.1 billion.

Ex-dividend date

To gain entitlement to the dividend, investors need to make sure they own Rio Tinto shares before the ex-dividend date.

The ex-dividend date is 7 March 2024, so investors have until the end of trading on 6 March 2024.

This dividend is going to be paid on 18 April 2024, so investors will need to wait just over a month.

Management comments

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said:

We will continue paying attractive dividends and investing in the long-term strength of our business as we grow in the materials needed for a decarbonising world.

Rio Tinto share price snapshot

Over the past year, Rio Tinto shares are virtually flat compared to a year ago.

The post Everything you need to know about the Rio Tinto dividend 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 Scott Phillips.

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The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price will be in focus today.

This follows the release of the lithium miner’s eagerly anticipated half-year results.

Pilbara Minerals share price on watch

• Revenue down 65% to $757 million (from $2,180 million)
• EBITDA down 77% to $415 million (from $1,812 million)
• Underlying profit after tax down 78% to $273 million (from $1,242 million)
• No interim dividend for FY 2024
• Cash balance of $2.1 billion

What happened during the half?

For the six months ended 31 December, Pilbara Minerals reported a sharp drop in both revenue and profits.

The company’s revenue was down 65% to $757 million after a 67% reduction in its average realised price offset a 7% lift in sales volumes.

Things were even worse for Pilbara Minerals’ earnings, with EBITDA falling 77% to $415 million and its underlying profit after tax dropping 78% to $273 million.

In light of this profit decline, the company’s board elected not to pay an interim dividend for FY 2024.

Management commentary

Pilbara Minerals CEO, Dale Henderson, was pleased with the result given the tough trading conditions. He said:

The first half of the financial year represents a strong set of operational outcomes and successful project milestones that continue to advance the Company’s growth strategy as an emerging lithium materials leader.

Strong EBITDA margins of 55% were delivered during the period despite the softer pricing environment for lithium. Although pricing has reduced significantly from the prior year record highs, the Company finds itself in a position of strength. Our strong balance sheet positions the business to navigate any period of softer pricing and provides a competitive advantage relative to many peers within the sector.

Commenting on the company’s decision not to pay a dividend, the CEO said:

To further reinforce the balance sheet, prudent steps were undertaken to further preserve capital including the decision to withhold any interim dividend payment.

Outlook

Henderson remains positive on the future, noting that the company’s low costs leave it well-positioned in the current environment. He said:

With the Company’s low unit-cost structure and strong balance sheet, Pilbara Minerals is uniquely placed to better withstand periods of softer pricing whilst continuing to build-out the production base to capitalise on improved pricing conditions.

Management also advised that its FY 2024 capital expenditure guidance is down slightly to $820 million to $875 million.

The Pilbara Minerals share price is down 14% over the last 12 months.

The post Pilbara Minerals share price on watch amid 78% half-year profit decline and no dividend 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 Scott Phillips.

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Are you on the lookout for some new additions to your income portfolio? If you are, then read on.

Listed below are three ASX 200 dividend shares that brokers have recently named as buys.

Here’s what sort of dividend yields you can expect from them in the medium term:

QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE)

Goldman Sachs remains bullish on this insurance giant’s shares following the release of its full-year results.

It was pleased with its performance and feels its guidance is conservative. It believes that it “does not fully reflect the extent of underlying ex CAT improvement noting rate v inflation trends flagged for FY24.”

Goldman has a buy rating and $18.65 price target on the company’s shares.

In addition, with Goldman forecasting a 62 US cents per share dividend in FY 2024 and a 61 US cents per share dividend in FY 2025, investors can expect to receive yields of 5.6% and 5.5%, respectively.

Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP)

Over at Citi, its analysts believe that this residential and land lease developer and retail, logistics and office real estate property manager could be an ASX 200 dividend share to buy.

Last week, the broker put a buy rating and $5.00 price target on its shares.

As for income, Citi expects dividends per share of 26.2 cents in FY 2024 and 26.6 cents in FY 2025. This represents dividend yields of 5.7% and 5.8%, respectively.

Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS)

Finally, Goldman Sachs is also feeling positive about Telstra following its results release this month.

The broker responded to the result by retaining its buy rating with a $4.55 price target. It continues to see the company’s low risk growth through to 2025 as attractive.

The broker expects this to underpin fully franked dividends of 18 cents per share in FY 2024, 19 cents per share in FY 2025, and then 20 cents per share in FY 2026. This represents yields of 4.6%, 4.9%, and 5.15%, respectively.

The post Buy these ASX 200 dividend shares for a big income boost appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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ASX lithium shares are a problem child for many investors at the moment.

Lithium prices have plunged horribly and that’s meant that pretty much any stock related to the battery ingredient has copped moderate to severe losses.

Back in November 2022, which was only 15 months ago, each tonne of lithium carbonate was going for near enough to 600,000 CNY. Now it can’t even sell for six digits.

And 2024 is off to a poor start.

“New estimates showed that new electric vehicle sales in China plunged by nearly 40% from the previous month in January, stretching the pessimism following the slowdown from the previous year,” stated TradingEconomics.

“The slowdown in electric vehicle sales in China limited lithium demand for battery manufacturers, driving factories to skip their typical restocking season.”

For some miners, extracting lithium has become uneconomic, so they have responsibly shut down their projects. 

But, of course, this exacerbates the downward pressure on their stock price as investors don’t want to have their money parked in a non-productive asset.

This lithium mine is still producing at a profit

Incredibly, amid this bleak situation, experts are still insisting that those willing to invest long-term should pounce on the current low prices.

The fact remains the world will need a lot of lithium to produce all the batteries required for transition to net zero. The electrification of fossil fuel technologies is an irresistible long-term movement.

Recent conflicts in places like Ukraine and the Middle East have only served to remind nations that reducing their dependence on traditional energy sources could be smart politically, as well as environmentally.

The team at Blackwattle Investment Partners is in no doubt as to which lithium stock it is backing from here onwards.

Shares for IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO) have now lost a painful 56.7% since July.

“IGO has been a poor performer due to falling lithium prices,” Blackwattle analysts said in a memo to clients.

“We believe IGO provides investors with exposure to the best lithium mine in the world, Greenbushes, which is producing at a cost still well below current weak spodumene prices.”

The team has done its research to deduce that the current malaise will ease sooner or later.

“Recently we spent some time meeting with downstream lithium converters and cathode manufacturers, and the conclusion was that destocking is gradually easing, and inventories are back down to three months’ supply.

“High-cost Chinese lepidolite supply has also started to reduce given current spot prices.”

According to CMC Invest, nine out of 17 analysts currently rate IGO Ltd as a buy.

The post Buy this ASX stock for ‘the best lithium mine in the world’ appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Scott Phillips.

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On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was out of form and dropped into the red. The benchmark index fell 0.65% to 7,608.4 points.

Will the market be able to bounce back from this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 expected to fall again

The Australian share market looks set to fall again on Thursday following another poor night of trade on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 24 points or 0.3% lower this morning. In late trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones is down 0.35%, the S&P 500 has fallen 0.4%, and the Nasdaq is 1% lower.

Oil prices rise

ASX 200 energy shares Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) could have a good session after oil prices pushed higher overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 1.1% to US$77.90 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is up 0.8% to US$83.01 a barrel. Middle East tensions appear to be behind this rise.

Rio Tinto results

Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares will be on watch today. That’s because the mining giant released its full-year results after the market close on Wednesday. Rio Tinto reported underlying EBITDA of US$23,892 million, which was a touch short of the consensus estimate of US$24,024 million. The miner declared a fully franked final dividend per share of US$2.58 per share.

Gold price edges lower

It could be a subdued session for ASX 200 gold shares such as Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) after the gold price edged lower overnight. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is down 0.25% to US$2,035 an ounce. Comments from the US Federal Reserve put pressure on the precious metal.

Buy Woolworths shares

The team at Goldman Sachs believes investors should be snapping up Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) shares after its selloff on Wednesday. The broker has responded by retaining its conviction buy rating with a trimmed price target of $40.40. Goldman said: “Weak 2H24 guide conceals new growth engine.”

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

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More reading

• 3 ASX 100 and ASX 200 shares I’d buy now for a $1,820 passive income in 2024!
• Rio Tinto share price on watch following FY 2023 earnings miss
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Everything you need to know about the Woolworths dividend
• Why Corporate Travel Management, Iress, Rio Tinto, and Woolworths shares are crashing

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Woodside Energy Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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