The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price has dropped by almost 20% since the start of the year. It begs the question: could the ASX blue chip share now be a buying opportunity?

A business isn’t necessarily a buy just because it drops in value, but it can help improve the margin of safety. In the investment world, that’s the concept of how much cheaper an investment is compared to what an investor believes the intrinsic/underlying value is. The idea is that a larger margin of safety can reduce the likelihood of a loss with the investment.

Analysts weren’t exactly excited by the company’s FY22 half-year result, which wasn’t as pleasing as expected.

For example, UBS noted that COVID-19 hurt the company with elevated costs and multiple store closures. The supply chain was also severely disrupted and this continues.

What did it report in February?

Excluding “significant items”, Wesfarmers reported that revenue fell 0.1% to $17.76 billion, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) dropped 12.3% to $1.9 billion, and the net profit after tax (NPAT) declined 14.2% to $1.2 billion. Some investors use profit as the metric to value the Wesfarmers share price.

The first half was “the most disrupted period” of COVID-19 for Wesfarmers.

The company continued to provide paid pandemic leave to team members, including all permanent and many casual employee through periods of prolonged lockdown. This was even when there was no meaningful work for them and when they were required to isolate. This totalled $37 million in the half.

The company said that sales momentum improved as lockdowns and other restrictions were eased, though the Omicron COVID-19 variant then had a negative impact on foot traffic.

Wesfarmers also pointed out that ongoing constraints in global supply chains led to delays and additional costs, including higher container shipping expenses during the half. Domestic supply chains were also impacted.

There was a mixed performance in terms of the underlying earnings before tax (EBT) within different divisions. Bunnings EBT was almost flat, down 1.2% to $1.26 billion. Kmart Group (which includes Kmart, Target and Catch) saw EBT sink 63.4% to $178 million, Officeworks EBT fell 18% to $82 million, Wesfarmers chemicals, energy and fertilisers (WesCEF) EBT jumped 36.3% to $218 million, and the industrial and safety EBT rose 10.8% to $41 million.

Is the Wesfarmers share price an opportunity?

Wesfarmers thinks the overall economic conditions in Australia remain favourable, supported by “strong” employment and high levels of accumulated household savings. It’s actively managing increasing inflation pressures and says it will “leverage its scale to mitigate the impact of rising costs”. It’s also going to focus on price leadership for customers.

The company said that retail trading conditions were subdued in January but trading momentum improved in February.

Wesfarmers recently completed the acquisition of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries. This will be the foundation of a new health division, which will also look at the wellbeing and beauty sectors.

The broker Morgans thinks that the Wesfarmers share price is an opportunity, rating it as a buy with a price target of $58.50. Both the broker and management think the company will do well once COVID-19 impacts subside.

On Morgans’ numbers, Wesfarmers shares are valued at 22x FY23’s estimated earnings with a projected FY23 grossed-up dividend yield of 5.3%.

The post Down 20% in 2022, is the Wesfarmers share price a clear opportunity? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why has the Woolworths share price outperformed Wesfarmers so far in 2022?
• Here are the ASX retail share winners and losers of the last quarter
• Should you buy the dip in the Wesfarmers share price?
• Here are 2 excellent ASX 200 shares analysts rate as buys
• Can Wesfarmers shares deliver an attractive dividend yield AND 20% upside in 2022?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended 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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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.

What happened 

Cryptocurrency investors woke up to a down market on Monday, which just happens to also be tax day in the U.S. In a volatile market like crypto, it seems like every day is either up or down big and today the sellers are winning. 

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) had fallen as much as 4.1% as of noon ET, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) dropped up to 5.8%, Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) fell 6.9%, and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) fell up to 8%. The selling was widespread so there’s no reason to be especially worried about any particular cryptocurrency. 

So what 

It’s hard to ignore that today is tax day in the U.S. Crypto traders may be selling in order to pay taxes due, which can be surprising if this is your first time paying taxes on large trading gains. 

Over the weekend there was also news of a $182 million hack of the Beanstalk protocol, a stablecoin credit protocol built on Ethereum. This continues a series of hacks of cryptocurrencies across the industry, which undermines investor confidence in the ecosystem. This is an industry wide problem and it doesn’t seem that there’s a great solution right now.

The stock market overall is down today as well and that has generally meant that more volatile cryptocurrencies will magnify those losses. 

Now what 

Volatility is the name of the game in cryptocurrency and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Search the internet and you can find analysts and investors who are afraid of inflation, or regulation, or hacking, while others are bullish for reasons that range from innovation to crypto being an inflation hedge. 

For today, I don’t see anything to be worried about in any of these cryptocurrencies. Given the trends of the industry, I think Ethereum is the best bet given the real utility that can be built in the ecosystem and the projects being built there already. Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu simply can’t claim the same kind of digital ecosystem. 

If today’s selling is indeed due to tax season or the down stock market this could be a good buying opportunity for investors. Nothing has fundamentally changed about crypto today and we’re seeing the industry build more and more applications every day. We are also likely to get some regulatory updates in the U.S. and Europe this year, which could be a boost to the industry’s development long-term. 

When I see moves like this today I tend to brush them off because nothing about cryptocurrencies is fundamentally different than a day ago. It’s just that current portfolios are a little lower for the time being. 

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

The post Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu dropped today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Travis Hoium owns Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson. 

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

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ASX growth shares could be interesting opportunities after such heavy declines in the ASX share market.

Businesses that are now much cheaper but growing strongly could still be worth looking at.

While revenue growth isn’t the only important thing, it can help with aspects such as operating leverage and re-investment for more growth.

Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL)

The Netwealth share price has fallen by 27% since the start of 2022.

This ASX growth share describes itself as a financial technology services company. It’s a superannuation fund trustee and an administration business. It provides superannuation products, investor-directed portfolio services, managed accounts, and managed funds.

Despite all of the market volatility and disruption, the company continues to experience growth.

In the quarter for the three months to 31 March 2022, its funds under administration (FUA) reached $57.6 billion, a 37.6% increase year on year. During the quarter, it experienced net inflows of $2.6 billion, an increase of 16%.

It also had $13.8 billion of funds under management (FUM) at 31 March 2022. The last quarter saw FUM net inflows of $0.5 billion.

The company boasts of leading the industry for FUA net inflows. It saw the largest FUA net inflows of $13 billion for the 12-month rolling period to 31 December 2021.

Netwealth said its market share increased to 5.5% at 31 December 2021, “up 1.1%” over the 12 months.

In terms of the outlook, the company says its pipeline and win rate for new business remains “very strong” across all market segments. In the fourth quarter, which is between April to June, it said it would launch its new non-custodial administration service, further enhancing its capabilities.

Netwealth still believes its FUA net inflows for FY22 will be more than $13.5 billion.

The ASX growth share says it’s highly profitable, generates “exceptional” cash flow, has very high levels of recurring revenue, very low capital expenditure, is debt-free, and has “significant” cash reserves.

Cettire Ltd (ASX: CTT)

Cettire describes itself as a global online retailer, which sells a large selection of personal luxury goods. It has a catalogue of more than 1,700 luxury brands with more than 200,000 products of clothing, shoes, bags, and accessories.

The Cettire share price has fallen by 74% since the start of the calendar year.

In the first half of FY22, the company grew sales revenue by 181% to $113.7 million and the ‘delivered margin’ increased by 118% to $24.7 million. Operating cash flow rose 43% to $12.3 million.

Its growth continued into the second half of the year, with January 2022 gross revenue growing by 242%.

The company points to several areas of further growth potential. Its mobile apps “provide scope to improve and optimise the transaction flow and support improved conversion rates over time”.

It’s expanding into the beauty and children product categories. The ASX growth share is entering the mainland Chinese market and has gone into a partnership with the huge online retailer JD.com.

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

More reading

• Netwealth share price falls after third quarter update disappoints
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• Guess which 2 ASX shares were the best and worst All Ordinaries performers of the quarter
• Here’s a look at the laggards from ASX tech shares last quarter
• These were the worst 3 ASX All Ordinaries shares to hold during the March quarter

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Cettire Limited and Netwealth. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Netwealth. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cettire 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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Many investors are keen to hunt for ASX dividend shares on the Australian Stock Exchange.

As always, some businesses are thriving while others are experiencing share price declines.

However, a share price and a dividend can behave differently. Businesses can often have the capability of providing a fairly consistent payout to investors despite fluctuations in the share price.

With that in mind, here are two ASX dividend shares to think about:

Ansell Limited (ASX: ANN)

Ansell describes itself as a world leader in providing superior health and safety protection solutions. The company has two main business segments: industrial and healthcare. It claims to be the market leader with operations across the world and customers in more than 100 countries. One of its main products is protective gloves.

The company recently declared an interim dividend of US 24.25 cents per share, representing a dividend payout ratio of around 40%. This was consistent with the company’s dividend policy.

Ansell’s last two dividends amount to a dividend yield of 3.7%.

Since the start of 2022, the Ansell share price has fallen by 23%.

The company’s FY22 half-year result included some mixed numbers.

Sales increased by 7.6% to $1 billion, with the healthcare division seeing organic growth of 14.8%. Surgical and life sciences continued to see revenue growth, however, exam and single-use sales volumes dropped and pricing reduced.

The industrial unit saw organic sales decline by 2.9%. A “positive” performance from mechanical was more than offset by lower sales of chemical protective clothing due to a reversal of COVID-19 related benefits.

Ansell’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 24.3% in the half-year. It was impacted by factors including having to sell high-cost examination and single-use inventory from outsourced suppliers at lower prices, COVID-related manufacturing disruptions, and higher freight costs.

The ASX dividend share is expecting some improvement in the second half, with outsourced supplier costs expected to reduce. It’s also expecting COVID manufacturing impacts to be less in the second half of FY22 compared to the first half.

In the longer term, the company is expecting volume growth as end-user and distributor inventories normalise. It also said “longer-term margins should benefit with greater contribution from in-house differentiated manufacturing”.

Ansell also said that it expects continued favourable demand conditions for the surgical and life science businesses and success with strategic growth initiatives for the industrial segment.

Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)

Rural Funds is an agricultural real estate investment trust (REIT). It owns a diversified portfolio across different sectors including cattle, almonds, macadamias, vineyards, and cropping (cotton and sugar).

The business has a key goal of growing its distribution to investors by at least 4% per annum. It has been successful with this goal each year since it listed several years ago.

One of the drivers of increasing distributions from the ASX dividend share is its organic rental increases that are built into the contracts. Some contracts have fixed rental increases, while others are linked to CPI inflation. Some of these contracts have periodic market reviews.

Another way that Rural Funds can grow its distribution is through investing in productivity improvements at the farms. Examples of that include increased water access, improved irrigation, orchard development, and grazing areas.

In FY22, it’s expecting to pay a distribution of 11.73 cents per unit. That translates into a distribution yield of 3.8% for FY22.

The post 2 top ASX dividend shares to think about appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns RURALFUNDS STAPLED. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended RURALFUNDS STAPLED. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Ansell Ltd. 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 fund managers at Wilson Asset Management (WAM) have told investors about two compelling ASX shares that are in the portfolio.

WAM operates several listed investment companies (LICs). Some, like WAM Leaders Ltd (ASX: WLE), focus on larger companies.

WAM Capital Limited (ASX: WAM) targets “the most compelling undervalued growth opportunities in the Australian market”.

The WAM Capital portfolio has delivered an investment return of 15.8% per annum since its inception in August 1999, before fees, expenses and taxes. This gross return outperformed the All Ordinaries Total Accumulation Index (ASX: XAO) return of 8.7% per annum over the same time frame.

These are the two ASX shares that WAM Capital outlined in its most recent monthly update:

ALS Ltd (ASX: ALQ)

ALS is described by WAM as a business that provides laboratory testing, inspection, certification, and verification solutions and services across multiple industries in more than 65 countries.

The fund manager noted that last month ALS revealed an upgrade to its guidance for FY22. The underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) guidance is now for a range between $260 million and $265 million.

WAM noted that the midpoint of this net profit guidance represents a 6.3% increase on the previous guidance. The cause of the increased guidance was “strong” geochemistry sample volume growth and price improvements within the ALS minerals division. There was also additional volume growth above pre-pandemic level volumes in the ALS life sciences division.

Wilson Asset Management’s outlook for the company remains “strong,” and it believes the ASX share will continue to benefit from increased demand for mineral exploration services over the medium-term.

Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW)

Brickworks was the other business named by WAM. It makes a diverse range of building products in Australia and North America.

In March 2022, Brickworks announced its FY22 half-year result which included a record half-year statutory NPAT of $581 million. This was a 720% increase from the prior year and was reportedly better than what the market had been expecting.

WAM also noted that the ASX share’s building material manufacturing division in Australia saw earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) jump by 66% to $27 million. The fund manager pointed out this was due to increasing sales momentum after COVID-19 lockdowns.

The fund manager believes that the industrial trust that Brickworks owns half of with Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) continues to be undervalued by the market even though there has been sustained growth which has been fuelled by the stronger tailwind for e-commerce.

Wilson Asset Management is positive on Brickworks, particularly because further sales of land into the property trust will lead to a large rise in rental income, helping grow earnings by double-digits for this division.

The post 2 ASX shares rated ‘buy’ by this top fund manager appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Brickworks. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Brickworks. 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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With finance and mining dominating the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), agriculture and related sectors hardly get a look in from investors.

But UBS Group AG (SWX: UBSG) just named a couple of such ASX shares among its “best ideas”.

Market Matters portfolio manager James Gerrish agree with UBS’ picks, so let’s take a look at why he rates them as buys at the moment:

You must be nuts to ignore this stock

Falling almond prices have punished the Select Harvests Limited (ASX: SHV) share price, to the tune of a 33% drop since September 2021.

The shares went into the Easter long weekend at $5.96.

Gerrish likes the risk-reward balance for the stock if you can pick it up for less than $6.

“As we know, agriculture is a very cyclical game, and low prices tend to work themselves out,” he said in his newsletter.

“Major almond growing regions in California are now in the grips of a tough drought, and while global supply chains remain an issue, improvement here would be a positive catalyst.”

UBS and Gerrish aren’t the only ones bullish on the almond grower.

According to CMC Markets, all four analysts surveyed rated Select Harvests shares as a “strong buy”.

You must be drunk to ignore this stock

What a crazy couple of years Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE) has had.

Just as the share price was recovering from the March 2020 COVID-19 market crash, it was hit by a negative force beyond its control.

Australia challenged China to allow an independent study on the pandemic’s origins, and China retaliated with punitive trade tariffs.

It brought local businesses that export to the biggest market in the world to their knees.

Gerrish remembers it well.

“Treasury Wines has had its challenges over the past few years, largely a result of its reliance on the Chinese market that saw the company caught up in a diplomatic spat that quickly whipped ~60% off its share price.”

The company has since sought to diversify its geography, and the latest reporting season showed this was successful.

“In February, they reported improved trends, particularly in America — while their high margin, premium brand business did particularly well,” said Gerrish.

“Since then, the market has lost some interest. However, we think Treasury Wines will emerge from a difficult period with a stronger business overall that will enjoy better returns as the world gradually gets back to normal.”

The Treasury share price is now just 13% down from its pre-China crisis high.

It went into the Easter weekend at $11.10.

Gerrish likes it as a buy at around the $11 mark.

“While it doesn’t ‘scream value’ on an estimated P/E of 24x, earnings have been depressed and [year-on-year] growth from this new base of 20% is very achievable.”

The post 2 ASX shares ripe to buy at current prices: expert appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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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 recommended Treasury Wine Estates 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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Shares in Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) have weakened in 2022 and are now trading at 52-week lows as trading resumes this week.

With a 71% loss this year to date, it’s no wonder why investors are shying away from the BNPL sector and shunning names like Zip.

More bad news to come for the Zip share price?

Not helping the situation is newly-acquired Block – nee Afterpay – reporting extensive losses in its interim results last week.

Bought on a hefty sum of $39 billion (Australia’s largest ever public buyout), Block’s share price fell immediately after the purchase.

Zip Co when ahead an then purchased BNPL peer Sezzle, Inc. a short time afterwards, albeit at a shave of the price.

In 2022 cash earnings are becoming more important than ever, and from its consolidated statement of income, Afterpay printed a pre-tax loss of $502 million for the half year to 31 December 2021 – no improvement from a circa. $76 million loss last year.

Analysts at Macquarie have become less constructive on the sector and have noticed some shifting trends amongst consumers.

It believes there are “red flag[s] for the BNPL industry” based on its assessment of website visits – a key driver of growth, analysts say.

“This is the first time we’ve seen negative growth since tracking the data series,” it wrote in a recent note to clients.

“We consider BNPL more of a customer acquisition tool, and in the case of declining customer numbers the value of BNPL diminishes.”

Macquarie values Zip $1.85 and urges its clients to sell, alongside 45% of coverage, according to Bloomberg data.

Its average price target is $2.95, however, helped by bullish positions from Ord Minnett and Jarden valuing Zip at $4 and $5.75 apiece respectively.

Hence the sentiment appears mixed amongst those analysts covering the company, but either way Zip has a long ways to go before its share price returns to former highs.

In the last 12 months the Zip share price has fallen more than 86% into the red.

The post Is there more bad news in store for BNPL shares like Zip, with Macquarie analysts ‘becoming more cautious’? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why Bank of Queensland, Iluka, New Hope, and Zip shares are falling today
• Could the Zip share price ever actually go to zero?

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. 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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The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price has fallen by 9% over the past six months. Could it be time to go for the ASX travel share?

Some investors seem to think so, since 11 April 2022 the Webjet share price has risen by more than 10%.

As one of the ASX’s travel shares, it has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 and the related effects.

However, the analysts now think that it could be a reopening idea to think about.

Buy ratings on the Webjet share price

Multiple brokers now call Webjet a buy. Last week, Citi called the Webjet share price a buy, with a price target of $6.50. It thinks that the business model will allow its profit to scale quickly, with the company capable of taking market share. Management has talked up this potential.

Based on a return to profitability in FY23, the Webjet share price is valued at 33x FY23’s estimated earnings, according to Citi.

Ord Minnett also thinks that the Webjet share price is a buy, with a price target of $7.51. That implies a potential rise of almost 30%. This broker is also expecting a medium-term recovery for Webjet, with the potential to capture an increased share of the market.

The latest update

It’s been a while since the latest update from the company, which was the FY22 first half result.

Management said that the business was turning around as global travel markets started to reopen. It pointed to positive working capital delivering $3.5 million per month of a cash surplus.

It said that WebBeds had been profitable since July 2021, with costs down 30% compared to pre-COVID and it was on track to be 20% more cost-efficient at scale. The November 2021 total transaction value (TTV) was 63% of pre-COVID volumes, before many key markets had reopened.

The Webjet online travel agency (OTA) segment returned to profitability in October 2021.

It also said it was seeing a rapid return to high booking volumes as markets reopened. The third quarter was tracking ahead of the second quarter.

Webjet noted that it has expanded its geographic presence with WebBeds in the “key” North American market, added “significant” domestic inventory globally, and signed a range of new domestic and OTA customers. This means it has a “materially larger” opportunity for growth than was targeted before COVID-19.

The ASX travel share also said that Webjet OTA was positioned for growth and has a “genuine opportunity” to increase market share as consumers shift to buying online. It also noted that the innovations offered by the Trip Ninja technology would play a key role in growing market share of the international flights market.

Webjet said that the opportunities are “significant” with pent-up global demand. It thinks it will be back at pre-COVID booking volumes by the second half of FY23.

Webjet share price snapshot

While Webjet has dropped 9% over the last six months, it’s up around 8% since the start of the year. However, the Webjet share price remains heavily down since the pre-COVID price.

The post The Webjet share price has dropped 9% in six months. Is now the time to pounce? 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 recommended Webjet Ltd. 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 Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price has been powering ahead since the beginning of the calendar year.

This comes as the price for commodities has surged in recent times following the Russian war in Ukraine.

At Thursday’s market close, the energy producer’s shares finished 1.1% higher to $8.19 apiece.

When looking at year to date, its shares have risen by almost 30%.

What’s driving the Santos share price higher?

It seems investors are optimistic about the Santos share price, considering its 8% gain over the past month.

Sentiment has strengthened across the sector amid the regional war playing out on Europe’s doorstep. With a possible embargo on Russian oil from the West, this could lead to demand further outpacing supply.

In its full year results released in February, Santos reported revenue of US$4.71 billion, up 39% over the prior corresponding period.

The robust performance was driven by production of 92.1 mmboe (million barrels of oil equivalent) and sales volumes of 104.2 mmboe.

Higher oil and LNG (liquified natural gas) prices were realised along with the 3 weeks contribution from Oil Search’s assets. The latter added weight to Santos’ book on the final stretch of the FY21 period.

Overall, the company posted an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of US$946 million, up 230% year-on-year.

Santos noted that it expects to ramp up production of 100 to 100 mmboe in the new financial year. Furthermore, sales volumes is forecasted to be in the range of 110 to 120 mmboe.

Santos’ dividend yield

Santos paid a fully franked final dividend of US 8.5 cents per share to shareholders in March.

On top of this, the company rewarded shareholders with an interim dividend payment of US 5.5 cents apiece last earnings season.

When factoring in the current share price, this gives Santos a trailing dividend yield of 2.32%.

Santos commands a market capitalisation of roughly $27.79 billion, with more than 3.38 billion shares on its books.

The post What sort of dividend yield do Santos shares currently trade on? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• With oil prices surging in 2022, are Santos shares now ‘significantly undervalued’?

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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The Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price has performed well over the last 12 months, but it’s also been bested by one of its health insurance peers.

The Medibank share price is currently 9.03% higher than it was this time last year, having finished last week’s trade at $3.14.

The NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF) share price, however, has surged an impressive 20.07% over the last 12 months. It’s currently valued at $6.52.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained just 6.48% since this time last year.

So, what pushed NIB’s stock to outperform that of Medibank over the period? Let’s take a look.

Why has the NIB share price outperformed Medibank?

NIB’s stock pulled ahead of Medibank’s this time last year and managed to hold on to that lead for much of the last 12 months.

That push was brought on by a business update and full-year outlook released by NIB in late April.

Then, the company returned to providing guidance after scrapping the notion in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

And it was good guidance, indeed, boosting the NIB share price 10.2% higher.

Though, the NIB share price handed back that gain in August on the release of the company’s full-year results.

The Medibank share price’s year was far less dramatic. And some brokers seemingly expect the gap between the two stocks’ performance to close.

The Motley Fool Australia’s Zach Bristow reported JP Morgan favoured Medibank’s shares over those of NIB in January.

Additionally, Credit Suisse slapped Medibank’s shares with a price target of $3.50 and a ‘buy’ rating, my colleague, Tristan Harrison, reported in March.

Finally, analysts at Morgans upgraded Medibank’s stock to an ‘add’ with the expectation it will reach $3.43 in late February, according to reporting by James Mickleboro.

So far this year, the Medibank share price has slipped 8.45% while the ASX 200 has slumped 0.87%.

At the same time, the NIB share price has tumbled 10.44%.

The post Why is the Medibank share price trailing NIB over the past year? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why did the Medibank share price go backwards in March?
• Why has the Medibank (ASX:MPL) share price lost 11% since early January?

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended NIB Holdings 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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