Mandrake Resources Ltd (ASX: MAN) shares are soaring after the gold miner announced it has bought a high-grade copper mine.

At the time of writing, the Mandrake Resources share price is up 42.55% to 6.7 cents.

This is the news that ASX investors have been waiting for after the company requested a trading halt on Wednesday.

In a statement released just after the market opened today, Mandrake described the buy as a “transformational acquisition”.

The junior explorer has executed a binding term sheet to acquire 100% of the Delfin Copper Project in Chile. The mine is located in the world’s most prolific copper-producing region of Antofagasta.

Mandrake will be in fine company with the Escondida2 copper mine jointly owned by BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) nearby.

This is Mandrake’s first acquisition outside Australia. It owns two exploration licences for the Berinka Pine Creek Gold Project in the Northern Territory and the Jimperding PGE-Ni-Cu Project in Western Australia.

More about the Delfin Copper Project

Mandrake will pay staged and conditional consideration for Delfin. This begins with a $1 million loan to the former owner, Atacamoz Pty Ltd, as well as 80 million shares.

The deal is conditional upon the successful completion of a 12-week due diligence phase and regulatory approvals.

The exploration project comprises 84 square kilometres of land with existing infrastructure and year-round accessibility for exploration.

Mandrake notes “multiple spectacular historical drilling intersections … at shallow depths”. It intends to begin an active exploration program early in the second quarter of 2022.

Mandrake said 90% of historical drilling was contained to just a 300m x 100m area.

The first priority for Mandrake is to get a better understanding of the mineralisation of near-surface high-grade targets. The company says it is cashed up with $16.2 million available to help fund its exploration activities at Delfin.

Management commentary

Mandrake Resources managing director James Allchurch said:

Mandrake is excited to have secured the Delfin Project, which provides the company with an advanced high-grade copper project in a first-class mining jurisdiction.

Historic exploration has identified several different zones of spectacular high-grade copper mineralisation including 86m at 4.83% Cu from 121m in DD-04.

We see a clear opportunity to apply modern exploration and interpretation techniques to understand these zones and look to grow them ahead of a maiden JORC resource.

Mandrake Resources share price snapshot

The Mandrake Resources share price is down 58% over the past 12 months. In the year to date, it has risen by 34%.

The ASX gold company has a market capitalisation of $22.65 million based on the current share price.

The post This ASX gold miner just bought a copper mine, and its share price is surging 40% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen owns BHP shares. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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It’s been a big couple of weeks for the Uniti Group Ltd (ASX: UWL) share price, and there’s potential more volatility (of the good kind) could be on the way.

Over the past fortnight, Uniti has been levelled with 2 separate takeover bids.

Tensions behind the scenes could be high. Top brokers are reportedly predicting that a bidding war for the telecommunications company could soon spark.

At the time of writing, the Uniti share price is $4.77, 2.91% higher than its previous close. It’s also a whopping 44.9% higher than it was at the start of the month.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained 0.39% today.

Watch this space: Will there be a battle to win Uniti?

According to yesterday’s reporting by The Australian, both JP Morgan and Bell Potter believe rival bids for the fast-growing telco could boost the takeover offers put to it higher.

10 days ago, Uniti was approached with a $4.50 per share takeover bid by infrastructure and property-focused asset manager, Morrison & Co.

The offer represented a 43% premium on Uniti’s previous closing price and spurred the company’s share price to gain 27.3%.

Then, after much speculation, the company confirmed it had received a second bid yesterday. This time, the offer was worth $5 per share.

The higher bid was lobbed by Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)’s Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Holdings Pty Limited and Public Sector Pension Investment, together dubbed the Connect Consortium.

But JP Morgan reckons the company can do better. It believes Uniti should open its doors to more bidders to bring in higher offers.

In fact, the broker thinks the takeover target could be worth up to $7 per share.

And the latest news on the front might bolster predictions of a bidding war. After yesterday’s close, Uniti announced Canadian asset manager, Brookfield, will be teaming up as a joint bidder with Morrison & Co.

The company also stated that it’s keeping Macquarie’s offer firmly on the table.

Could a bidding war see Uniti offered $7 per share?

“While the reported indicative offer price is 25% above our base-case net present value, we believe it is only fair and there could be further competitive responses,” JP Morgan was quoted as saying in a note to clients, sent prior to Brookfield’s inclusion.

We estimate that $5 per share implies a weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of 6.7%.

This compares to the sales price of Vocus in 2021 at a 5.5% WACC. Applying a 5.5% WACC to Uniti would increase our NPV to over $7 per share.

Given the potential for even more interest and a likely competitive process, we believe it may be in the best interest of shareholders to open the data room to other players.

JP Morgan in a broker’s note to clients, as quoted by The Australian.

The post Could a bidding war be on the cards for Uniti (ASX:UWL) shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• 2 ravaged ASX shares that will rise again: expert
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• Uniti (ASX: UWL) share price surges 11% to record high as Macquarie bid appears confirmed

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 Macquarie Group Limited and Uniti Group 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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Markets are rangebound today with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) trading 29 basis points higher at 7,408 and the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) up 30 points to 7,691.

Leading the pack today are the Aussie miners in a trend that’s been in situ since the beginning of 2022. Whilst the broader market edges forward, the S&P/ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index (ASX: XMM) has spiked 1.4%.

You may assume most professional money managers are positioning themselves to benefit… but that’s not necessarily the case.

Some experts are steering clear of the sector and focusing on long-term fundamentals versus current market trends.

When ASX mining shares run, they ‘tend to run hard’

Commodity markets are gliding in 2022 — that’s no secret. Brent Crude futures are up 19 points today as Brent Crude oil charges to US$119 a barrel again.

Gold has spiked back towards its previous highs after testing the US$1,920/t.oz mark three times in the past week. Other commodities such as coal, copper, natural gas, and wheat are all in the green today as well.

In fact, the entire market has been propped up by financials and resources in 2022.

Near-term gains are being driven by “macro themes such as inflation, supply chains, and input price”, says fundie Richard Ivers. He’s the portfolio manager for Prime Value Asset Management’s Emerging Opportunities Fund.

“Not investing in small resource stocks has been a headwind over the last six months,” Ivers told The Australian Financial Review.

“When resources stocks run, they tend to run hard, like we are currently seeing,” he added, referring to the enormous gains commodity traders have racked up in 2022.

But Ivers isn’t focused on the near term.

Capital preservation over the long term

Whilst it may have been hard to sit on the sidelines and watch the rally from a distance, Ivers says he prefers companies with pricing power versus those who rely on market conditions.

“We have a clear mandate to prioritise capital preservation over the long term, which means resources and speculative stocks are not our focus, even if that means we leave some short-term returns on the table,” he said.

“Ultimately, we prefer companies which are price makers, rather than price takers – resource company earnings are driven by commodity prices which are unpredictable and influenced by macro factors, which are very difficult to forecast”.

Ivers notes the fund focuses on companies with predictable earnings and robust fundamentals versus secular trends. The fund uses an absolute return benchmark of 8% instead of chasing an index.

Top picks for ASX shares

Ivers hammers in the old finance adage that cash is king and valuations do matter for the long run.

“We’re not traders. We are high conviction investors and prefer companies with a high certainty of future earnings and cash flows. This makes future value more certain.”

Futures on various commodity baskets have already started to cool off. Their parabolic charts are receding towards long-term averages.

Not only that, it appears tech names are starting a revival, with the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) soaring 2% higher this week and 11% over the past month.

The fundie said some of his firm’s favourite picks are Kelsian Group Ltd (ASX: KLS) and News Corporation (ASX: NWS).

The post Why this fundie is steering clear of ASX mining shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
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• Buyback bonanza! Why the Southern Cross Media (ASX:SXL) share price is up 8% today
• Is the Appen (ASX:APX) share price on the comeback trail?

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) share price has continued its positive run on Friday.

In morning trade, the retail giant’s shares hit a new record high of $55.26.

The JB Hi-Fi share price has since pulled back a touch but remains up 3.5% to $54.86 at the time of writing.

Why is the JB Hi-Fi share price racing higher?

Investors have been bidding the JB Hi-Fi share price higher today after brokers responded positively to the retail giant’s sales update.

That update revealed that business has been booming during the second half for JB Hi-Fi.

Management advised that for the period 1 January to 23 March 2022, it continued to see heightened customer demand and strong sales growth. This led to the JB Hi-Fi Australia business reporting total sales of 11.3% quarter to date, with both its New Zealand and The Good Guys businesses also reporting solid sales growth.

Morgans says buy JB Hi-Fi shares

One broker that was particularly impressed was Morgans. In response to the update, the broker retained its add rating and lifted its price target on the company’s shares to $58.00.

Based on the current JB Hi-Fi share price, this implies potential upside of almost 6%. This increases to almost 11% if you include the $2.77 fully franked dividend the broker is forecasting in FY 2022.

Morgans was pleased with JB Hi-Fi’s update and believes its shares are undervalued based on its current performance. It commented:

“JB Hi-Fi continues to experience strong sales growth driven by ‘heightened customer demand’. Its latest trading update shows comparable sales growth accelerated in February and March, with JB Hi-Fi Australia particularly robust.

We have increased our comparable sales growth forecast at the group level by 200 bp from a decline of (0.3)% to positive growth of +1.7%. This, combined with higher margin estimates, pushes up our FY22 EBITDA forecast up by 5%.

We see JBH as a well-run retailer with good cost discipline, a robust balance sheet and a strong market position. We regard JBH as undervalued at current multiples despite its good sales momentum and reiterate our ADD rating.”

The post Top broker says JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) shares are ‘undervalued’ appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why Allkem, Firefinch, JB Hi-Fi, and Piedmont Lithium are charging higher
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The share price of BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL) is currently up 4.4% to $21.32, making it the third-best performer on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far today.

The steel price has been rising amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the Chinese lockdown of some of its steel-producing regions. China is trying to limit the spread of COVID-19 cases. Russia, currently facing widespread sanctions, reportedly accounts for around 10% of the global steel trade, and Ukraine is responsible for a further 4%.

Huatai Futures analysts suggested that big buyers of steel will need to look for other suppliers.

Could the BlueScope Steel share price keep rising?

The broker Ord Minnett thinks so. It recently set a price target on the steelmaker of $25, suggesting an upside of around 17%. The current prices allow BlueScope to achieve strong profit and cash flow in the medium term.

In the recent FY22 half-year result, it delivered a record underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $2.2 billion and a reported net profit after tax (NPAT) of $1.64 billion.

Management noted there was good demand in key segments, especially in building and construction, coupled with “robust” margins driven by the increased steel prices in Asia and the US.

In February 2022, it said that its second half FY22 EBIT was expected to be in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.35 billion.

The Bluescope Steel share price is up almost 15% over the past year, 2.5% this year to date, and 12% over the past month.

The post Why is the BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL) share price surging? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) now has a special place on the ASX share market. With the departure of buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer Afterpay from the ASX, and into the arms of Block Inc (ASX: SQ2), Zip is now the ASX’s largest pureplay BNPL share. But that hasn’t stopped the Zip share price from having a pretty horrible year thus far.

It’s only March, but Zip shares have lost close to 65% of their value in 2022 alone. Over the past 12 months, the losses now stand at almost 80%.

Yet investors seem to be paying more attention to Zip lately. It was only ten days ago that Zip hit a new 52-week low of $1.40 a share. But since then, the company has gained around 10%.

So with investor interest in Zip seeming to rise of late, many investors might be asking the question: do Zip shares pay a dividend. After all, Zip is quite a large ASX share, with a market capitalisation of over $1 billion. It’s also in a growing space in BNPL, and has been clocking some healthy growth numbers in recent years. In its most recent earnings report, the company reported revenue growth of 89%, as well as a 147% rise in transaction numbers. 

Do Zip shares pay a dividend?

Well, unfortunately, the answer is a resounding no.

Zip does not pay a dividend. In fact, Zip shares have never paid a dividend. And probably won’t for some time.

See, for a company to pay a dividend, it first needs to break even on its bottom line. Dividends are typically paid out of earnings or profits. And although Zip did report some arguably impressive growth figures in February, it also reported a loss before tax of $214.2 million for the half. 

Dividends are arguably one of the worst ways a company can spend money from a growth perspective. When a company pays a dividend, the money goes out the door to shareholders, never to return. The cash can’t be reinvested, used to pay down debt, shore up finances or otherwise benefit the company in any other way. It only benefits shareholders at the time. Thus, companies that typically pay out dividends tend to be consistently profitable, and have spare cash left over after accounting for needs like the ones listed above. 

Since Zip is not even profitable yet, it doesn’t have the capacity to even fund a dividend. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Zip is still in its ‘growth phase’ and is choosing to use its revenues and capital for other purposes, like expansion. Thus, its shareholders are probably not expecting to receive income from their Zip shares anytime soon. 

Perhaps Zip will be an ASX 200 dividend share one day. But that day is not today. 

The post Do Zip shares pay dividends? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The Zip share price is down 7%, close to March 2020 lows
• Why Aurelia Metals, Janus Henderson, ResMed, and Zip shares are dropping
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Brickworks impresses, Uniti confirms takeover approach
• Why is the Zip share price getting smashed so much more than other BNPL stocks in 2022?
• Leading the pack! ASX tech shares storm higher on Wednesday

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Block, Inc. and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Block, Inc. 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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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to finish the week on a positive note. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is currently up 0.35% to 7,412 points.

Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are charging higher:

Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE)

The Allkem share price is up 3.5% to $11.03. This morning the team at UBS retained its buy rating and $12.40 price target on this lithium miner’s shares. Although the broker expects Western Australian miners to struggle with COVID-19 related disruption to their workforce, UBS expects high commodity prices to help offset this.

Firefinch Ltd (ASX: FFX)

The Firefinch share price is up 6% to 95 cents. Investors have been buying this gold and lithium explorer’s shares following the release of an update on its gold operations. According to the release, recent drilling activities have led to a substantial resource increase for the Viper and N’Tiola Satellite deposits at the Morila Gold Project in Mali.

JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH)

The JB Hi-Fi share price is up 3.5% to $54.83. Investors have been buying this retail giant’s shares after brokers responded positively to its sales update. One of those brokers is Morgans, which has retained its add rating and lifted its price target on the company’s shares to $58.00. Its analysts believe JB Hi-Fi’s shares are undervalued.

Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL)

The Piedmont Lithium share price has jumped 9% to $1.01. This morning the lithium developer announced the closing of a capital raising which has raised gross proceeds of US$130.8 million. The company intends to use the proceeds to restart operations at North American Lithium in Quebec and support exploration activities at Eyowaa in Ghana.

The post Why Allkem, Firefinch, JB Hi-Fi, and Piedmont Lithium are charging higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here’s why the Firefinch (ASX:FFX) share price is blazing 8% higher today
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• Could the Firefinch (ASX:FFX) share price have 130% upside? Broker weighs in
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns Orocobre Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has 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 Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price has been on a rollercoaster ride of late.

Last month, the banking giant’s shares were hovering around the $28 mark before plunging 12% to $24.65. The sudden fall came despite ANZ not making any announcements to the market.

A likely catalyst was the weakness in the banking sector following the US-led sanctions on the Russian financial system. As a result, the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ) fell 4% over the month up until 7 March.

Nonetheless, the ANZ share price has quickly rebounded and is currently at $27.75, up 0.11% for the day.

Let’s take a look at the latest announcement from the bank this week.

Bank launches ANZ Plus

In Wednesday’s media release, ANZ announced it has launched a new digital banking service, ANZ Plus.

Built on a new banking platform, ANZ Plus is an everyday account featuring an array of benefits for customers.

The latest product offering from the bank is designed to give Australians more visibility and control of their money. With no monthly account fees, ANZ Plus is being touted as a ‘multi-goal savings account’.

Some of the new features include:

• Categorising spending within the app, allowing customers to track spending habits more easily.
• Upcoming expenses, like regular bills and subscriptions, can be predicted and planned for; and
• Customers can set and track multiple financial goals without having to open additional accounts.

Is the new digital offering worth the investment?

While there has been criticism about the slow pace of the project, customers are likely to welcome any improvements to their banking.

The biggest drive is for users to better understand where their money is spent and help with savings goals. This approach is to provide the necessary tools to improve a customer’s financial wellbeing.

ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott commented:

The release of ANZ Plus marks the beginning of a multi-year plan to provide modern, digital products and services for our customers, and significantly better systems and processes for ANZ.

Now we have these scalable new technology platforms in place, we can adapt to the needs of customers quickly and add new features and functionality on a regular basis, including new products.

Elliott hopes the new platform will help ANZ shed its reputation as a technology laggard, The Australian reported. There are also plans to add mortgages and credit cards to the platform down the track as the bank revamps its digital approach.

About the ANZ share price

The ANZ share price has continued to move sideways and is trading roughly the same as this time last year.

Despite registering a 4% gain in the past month, when looking at year to date, its shares are also flat.

ANZ has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15.82 and commands a market capitalisation of approximately $77.83 billion.

The post Is the new ANZ digital offering all it’s cracked up to be? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why are ASX 200 bank shares underperforming on Thursday?
• Own ANZ shares? Here’s why today was a big day for the bank
• NAB, ANZ and CBA shares in focus as top broker tips extra $5b share buyback
• The ANZ share price has gained under 4% in 3 years. Have the dividends been worth the wait?

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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Crypto investors have no shortage of choice these days.

By some estimates there are more than 18,000 different crypto assets in virtual circulation.

Though the vast majority are tiny. And many are prone to disappearing as readily as they came into existence.

With that in mind, our focus today remains within the top-10 cryptos by market cap.

This crypto left Bitcoin in the dust this week

While most everyone has heard of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) by now, we’d wager far fewer investors are familiar with Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA).

With a total market valuation of US$37.6 billion, Cardano ranks as the world’s 7th biggest digital token.

And Cardano, up 1% today, has now gained 35% since this time last week, currently trading for US$1.12.

By comparison, the Bitcoin price is up 8% in 7 days, while Ethereum has gained 11%.

So, what does Cardano do?

According to CoinMarketCap, “Cardano is a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain platform that says its goal is to allow changemakers, innovators and visionaries to bring about positive global change”.

What’s driving the Cardano price surge?

Addressing the big jump in the Cardano (ADA) price over the past week, Josh Gilbert, crypto analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro, told the Motley Fool:

Attributed to this spike is Grayscale Investments’ recent announcement of the launch of a new fund, which offers exposure to various smart contract networks outside of Ethereum. Cardano topped the list as the fund’s biggest holding, coming out at 25.35%.

Given that Grayscale Investments currently has around US$43.6 billion in cryptoassets under management, it clearly has the attention of ADA’s active community.

Gilbert said that Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, may also have helped drive interest in the token.

Hoskinson “recently tweeted that the crypto asset is scheduled for a hard fork for June 2022. The hard fork aims to help grow the Cardano protocol, and significantly increase its transaction throughput,” he told us.

“It’s currently one of the most popular altcoins at eToro Australia, and was the second most traded crypto asset behind Bitcoin in 2021,” he added.

Gilbert sounded a final note of caution to potential investors:

While ADA has been dubbed an Ethereum challenger for years due to its innovative smart contract platform and other decentralised applications, it may start to face challenges once Eth 2.0 officially launches later this year.

The pending shift to proof-of-stake (PoS) from proof-of-work (PoW) protocols is set to make Ethereum transactions faster, cheaper, and far more energy-efficient.

Despite the big boost for the crypto over the past week, the Cardano price remains down 64% since hitting all-time highs of US$3.10 on 2 September last year.

The post Why this lesser-known crypto left Bitcoin in the dust this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Bitcoin and Coinbase are rising today
• Investing in cryptos? Here’s what you need to know come tax time: expert
• Why Ethereum, Solana, and Dogecoin are surging higher today
• Can Ethereum reach $4,000?
• Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, and crypto stocks are soaring

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.

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The Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) share price is cratering today despite the company’s silence.

The plunge follows yesterday’s tumble that saw the biotech stock close 7.42% lower.

At the time of writing, the Telix Pharmaceuticals share price is $4.09, 13.71% lower than its previous close.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is currently up 0.45%.

The company’s fall comes despite analysts at Wilsons flagging they’re still bullish on the company. They’ve noted its a stock worth looking at, reports The Motley Fool Australia’s Tony Yoo.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what could be weighing on the ASX 200 newbie’s shares on Friday.

What’s dragging on the Telix Pharmaceuticals share price?

The Telix Pharmaceuticals share price is in the red once more today despite no news having been released by the company. However, the market did hear from it on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

First, the company announced that the buildout of its Beligian radiopharmaceutical production facility has begun.

To fund the development, the company has secured an $18.2 million loan and applied for $3 million of grants. The first stage of the build is expected to cost $21.2 million.

Then, it released news its glioblastoma multiforme therapy candidate TLX101 has progressed to the next stage of clinical development – a phase 1 dose escalation study.

The Telix Pharmaceuticals share price gained 1.4% on Tuesday and 2.2% on Wednesday, before plummeting towards the end of the week.

It’s a similar story to the recent performance of the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care Index (ASX: XHJ). It fell 0.61% yesterday and it’s currently down another 0.71%. Telix Pharmaceuticals is the sector’s weight today.

Also worth noting, the company’s short-selling interest has risen from approximately 1% this time last month to 2.25% as of the most recent data. That means more market participants are expecting the stock to go lower.

So far since last Friday’s close, the company’s stock has tumbled nearly 20%. It’s worth noting, it gained 4.5% last week.

Though, the Telix Pharmaceuticals share price is likely used to being in the red. It has fallen 50% since the start of 2022. Still, it’s only 9% lower than it was this time last year.

That’s despite the company taking the place of the formerly-listed Sydney Airport in the ASX 200 in February.

The post Why is the Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) share price plunging 14%? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. 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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