The Magnis Energy Technologies Ltd (ASX: MNS) share price is having a strong finish to the week.

In afternoon trade, the vertically integrated lithium-ion battery company’s shares are up 10% to 48 cents.

Why is the Magnis share price shooting higher?

Investors have been bidding the Magnis share price higher today in response to the release of a positive announcement.

That release included an update on activities at the iM3NY Battery Plant based in Endicott, New York. Magnis is the major shareholder of the project.

According to the release, the overall project completion rate was 63% at the end of February.

This follows the Imperium team collaborating with EPC contractor Ramboll throughout the period and completing several mechanical, civil and electrical works. Progress was also made on several key items, with two new hires made during the month and vacancies for another eleven new positions.

What is the iM3NY Battery Plant?

Once constructed, the iM3NY Battery Plant has aggressive plans to scale up to 32GWh of annual production by 2030.

This will make it North America’s largest home-grown factory in the global Li-ion battery cell manufacturing market. It will also be the only non-China supplier capable of meeting both domestic and global demand.

Management commentary

iM3NY’s CEO, Chaitanya Sharma, commented: “We are working around the clock to meet our target which is on track to begin fully automated production in the next quarter. Potential customers and investors are coming in every week and discussions keep progressing.”

Magnis’ Chairman, Frank Poullas, added: “The shortage of cells in the marketplace continues to grow coupled with the increases in nickel and cobalt prices, timing could not be better for production in 2022.”

The post Why is the Magnis (ASX:MNS) share price leaping 10% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The Magnis (ASX:MNS) share price has lost 18% in a month, but there was some good news today
• The Magnis (ASX:MNS) share price has climbed 5% this week. What’s been happening?

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 legal headwind against Facebook’s owner Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) just got bigger with the Australian competition watchdog commencing court proceedings against the social media giant.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said today it has instituted Federal Court proceedings alleging the company engaged in false, misleading, or deceptive conduct by running scam ads on Facebook featuring prominent Australian figures.

Meta Platforms’ fake celebrity ad scandal piling up

The ACCC’s legal action follows criminal proceedings brought on by Andrew Forrest against Meta Platforms last month.

Forrest, the chairman of Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG), is taking Meta Platforms to court, claiming Facebook published ads using his identity to promote cryptocurrency scams.

While the ACCC is going after the US company for the same crime, its legal action is separate from that of Forrest.

How the Facebook scam was used

The competition regulator believes Meta Platforms’ behaviour breaches Australian Consumer Law. It is also alleged that it could be in violation of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act.

The ads in question purportedly used high-profile Australians to endorse investments in cryptocurrency or money-making schemes without their consent or knowledge. These celebrities include businessman Dick Smith, TV presenter David Koch, and former NSW Premier Mike Baird.

The ads had links that took unsuspecting Facebook users to fake media articles. The articles included quotes from these public figures recommending the investment.

Is Meta Platforms responsible?

“The essence of our case is that Meta is responsible for these ads that it publishes on its platform,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

“It is a key part of Meta’s business to enable advertisers to target users who are most likely to click on the link in an ad to visit the ad’s landing page, using Facebook algorithms. Those visits to landing pages from ads generate substantial revenue for Facebook.”

The ACCC alleges that Meta Platforms was aware these ads were scams but did not take sufficient action to stop them.

This is because these ads continued to appear on Facebook even after public figures around the world who appeared in the ads complained to Meta Platforms.

When something looks too good to be true

“We allege that the technology of Meta enabled these ads to be targeted to users most likely to engage with the ads, that Meta assured its users it would detect and prevent spam and promote safety on Facebook, but it failed to prevent the publication of other similar celebrity endorsement cryptocurrency scam ads on its pages or warn users,” Sims added.

“Meta should have been doing more to detect and then remove false or misleading ads on Facebook, to prevent consumers from falling victim to ruthless scammers.”

The ACCC is aware of at least one consumer who lost more than $650,000 due to the scams. The watchdog is seeking declarations, injunctions, penalties, costs, and other orders.

The post ACCC takes Facebook’s owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB) to court over crypto scam ads appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau owns Fortescue Metals Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Meta Platforms, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Meta Platforms, 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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The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price has been hit hard since the release of its full-year results.

On 24 February, the artificial intelligence (AI) company’s shares tanked 28.7%, hitting a multi-year low of $6.08.

Currently, the Appen share price is $7.09, up 0.85% for the day. This is a stark contrast from when Appen shares were hovering around the $18.50 mark this time last year.

Below, we take a look to see if Appen shares are a buy at their current price.

Why is the Appen share price near multi-year lows?

Lately, Appen hasn’t replicated the successes it saw during its first five years on the ASX boards. Since COVID-19 hit, the company has struggled to accelerate its growth profile to match the market’s expectations.

In the 12 months to 31 December 2021, Appen recorded a sound business performance. Its global services segment continued to drive the business, while its new markets division also drove up the overall result.

Despite the growth, Appen fell short of its earnings guidance and its share price was consequently smashed.

In its FY21 interim results, Appen downgraded its EBITDA guidance to the low end of US$81 million to US$88 million. It recorded an actual EBITDA of US$77.7 million or US$78.9 million excluding foreign exchange impacts.

In addition, the company reported a decline of 19.9% in statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) of US$28.5 million.

Is Appen a buy?

After reporting its full-year results, a number of brokers rated the company with varying price points.

JPMorgan downgraded its outlook on Appen shares from overweight to neutral. It also cut the 12-month price target for Appen by a sizeable 48% to $7 per share.

Bell Potter and Macquarie also slashed their price targets by 41% to $6.75 and 40% to $5.70 respectively.

Based on the above, this implies a current downside of 4.8% and 19.6% respectively.

The post The Appen (ASX:APX) share price is down 16% in a month. Is now the time to buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Here’s why the Appen (ASX:APX) share price is up 6% today

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras owns Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Macquarie 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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There’s no denying that most commodity baskets are now stuck well within a super-cycle that’s seen huge upswings across the board.

The S&P/ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index (ASX: XMM) is up 5% for the year and is now outstripping the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) by over 7 percentage points in 2022.

Australia, one of the largest exporters of commodities, has long been front and centre of the world’s economic growth with its supply of key elements like iron ore and lithium, used in tasks like steel manufacturing and battery production.

Add in the flavours of conflict in Europe, supply chain and manufacturing bottlenecks due to COVID-19 lockdowns, plus enormous liquidity programs from central banks, and that’s a tasty recipe for commodities to stage a rally in 2022. And as much as that’s been the case this year, momentum had been building for the last 12 months at least.

Now we’ve even seen unfathomed activity in the London Metals Exchange (LME) these past few days as the price of Nickel shot to record highs.

The parabolic move sent the LME into meltdown, prompting its CEO to cancel trades and broker orders so that a fistful of large metals’ players could remain solvent.

But that’s not all – a quick scroll down a list of year on year changes in the prices of global commodities is all but a constant flow of green.

In other words, most segments are up well into the green and energy is leading the pack. TTF Gas futures have risen 497% year on year whilst coal, having just clocked back down sharply in the past week, is up 271%. Agricultural commodities aren’t far behind.

The age of ‘commodity nationalism’?

It’s no surprise that the onset of COVID-19 and now conflict in Europe has global leaders questioning themes like globalisation and self-sustainability.

This could be sending us into a different realm when it comes to essentials like energy and food, according to London-based consultant James Aitken.

The financial expert reckons there is an energy crisis currently in situ, but that the world is finally recognising that “we have a nascent food crisis”, as well, speaking to The Australian Financial Review.

Each of these factors could have dire consequences for emerging markets he says, something that will take time to digest and for leaders to evaluate.

The results could be the nationalisation of commodity sectors, Aitken notes, meaning nations could potentially restrict global supply and concentrate on their own shores instead.

“It’s going to take time to fully understand the consequences of what’s happening in Ukraine and the spill-overs. But I think we could be heading into a world of what you might call commodity nationalism,” he told the AFR.

This kind of scenario is heavily bullish for ASX commodity players, especially given Australia’s reputation on the global scale as a reputable supplier that adheres to code.

Not only that, but Australia also has an abundance of different commodities as well, ranging from grains like wheat to LNG, iron ore and of course coal.

“We have so much of what the world needs. We are a reliable supplier…we [even] have wine”, he said.

Interest rates are now a factor again

After a period of record low interest and base rates over the past few years, the US Federal Reserve finally raised its federal funds rate and terminal funds rate this week.

The terminal rate hadn’t been revised since June 2019 and was hiked to 2.8% – around 40 basis points higher than what the market was pricing.

These figures are important as the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency and US interest rates are quoted in numerous financial calculations as well. Not only that, but the US is the world’s biggest economy, at almost $21 trillion in GDP – ahead of China at $15 trillion.

In fact, there’s a saying – “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold” – that highlights the economic might the US has.

The Fed’s chair Jerome Powell is raising rates to combat hot running inflation, which is now at risk of outrunning the Fed’s interest rate curve into the future.

Over-inflation isn’t something that goes away overnight and the Fed is likely to continue tightening its policy in 2022-2023, Aitken said.

“The market’s thinking that the Fed will barely get back to 2%, and I think they’re going to go a lot beyond that.”

A jump above 2% would, in fact, return interest rates to levels not seen in years over in the US, something that is already being considered by the Reserve Bank of Australia amid surging house prices as well.

This sets the scene for commodity markets to rise further, he added, because investors will need to own more tangible assets and commodity stocks instead of the tech-heavy decade that’s just been.

The post ‘We have so much of what the world needs’: Why James Aitken is so bullish on Aussie commodities appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 3 rising cryptos that are up more than 10% over the past week
• No sale? What you need to know about the most recent ASX outage
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Energy shares rise on oil price jump, Megaport sinks
• Has the bottom been and gone for EML (ASX:EML) shares?
• Are AGL (ASX:AGL) shares worth buying prior to the planned demerger?

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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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.

It’s not just the stock market that’s showing signs of life these days. Many of the market’s leading cryptocurrencies have also started to push higher.

Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK), Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX), and Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT) have all posted double-digit gains over the past week, up between 11% and 13% over the past seven days as of Thursday morning. Let’s take a closer look at some of the leaders of the latest crypto rally. 

Chainlink: Up 11%

There’s a world of opportunity in decentralized finance (DeFi) for crypto that can bridge gaps and make other digital currencies more useful. Chainlink is a decentralized blockchain oracle network — built on Ethereum — that helps with the transfer of data between blockchains and platforms that don’t speak the blockchain language.

Chainlink is a pioneer in making smart contracts smarter, allowing for the tamper-proof transfer of external market data to a blockchain. It also isn’t afraid to lean on tech gurus to turn heads. It has brought leaders of popular companies in as advisors, including DocuSign founder Tom Gonser and more recently the former CEO of Alphabet‘s Google, Eric Schmidt.

A sticking point in crypto transactions is the high fees that users can incur, but Chainlink is getting better on that front. Last month it introduced Chainlink VRF, a verifiable random function that can lower gas fees by as much as 60%.

Chainlink as a leader in the recent crypto rally is the break that its investors have needed. Chainlink had been a laggard before this past week’s bounce. It has shed more than half of its value over the past year, and even with this week’s pop it’s still down 8% over the past month. With an important role in some non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and other DeFi applications it could finally be Chainlink’s chance to shed its label as an underperforming cryptocurrency.

Avalanche: Up 11%

It’s not just Chainlink making smart contracts more efficient. Avalanche’s claim to fame is that it offers nearly instant finality — that, unlike the platforms gloating about their lightning-quick processing speeds, is when a transaction is actually completed to the point of no return. Avalanche stands out by having three interconnected blockchains, each one performing a dedicated task to nail the race to the finality finish line without skimping on scalability or security.

Avalanche is a rising star in the DeFi world. It had $11.2 billion in total value locked (TVL) across 184 different protocols as of Thursday morning, according to blockchain tracker Defi Llama. TVL is the sum of assets deposited in DeFi apps, and Avalanche is the fourth-largest crypto in TVL despite being only the world’s tenth-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization.                          

Polkadot: Up 13%

The third major digital currency sporting a double-digit gain over the past week is Polkadot. It’s another tool in the crypto toolbox helping the revolution improve the speed and scalability necessary for blockchains and the Web3 movement to go mainstream. Polkadot’s popular as the intermediary in applications where different blockchains can run independently in a single network.

There’s value in being the equivalent of a translator in the crypto universe. Polkadot’s parachains — short for parallel blockchains — let data flow easily between Ethereum and another rival blockchain. Parachains also can take the load off of processing demand from the larger cryptocurrencies that still have some work to do in terms of improving cost and bandwidth efficiencies.

Chainlink, Avalanche, and Polkadot are crypto leaders over the past week. The leadership bears watching since only Avalanche is trading higher over the past year. All three digital currencies have momentum in their corner right now, and it’s something that they — and their investors — don’t want to squander. 

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

The post 3 rising cryptos that are up more than 10% over the past week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ‘We have so much of what the world needs’: Why James Aitken is so bullish on Aussie commodities
• No sale? What you need to know about the most recent ASX outage
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Energy shares rise on oil price jump, Megaport sinks
• Has the bottom been and gone for EML (ASX:EML) shares?
• Are AGL (ASX:AGL) shares worth buying prior to the planned demerger?

Rick Munarriz owns Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Avalanche, DocuSign, Ethereum, and Polkadot. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Chainlink, DocuSign, and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Alphabet (C shares) and has recommended the following options: long January 2024 $60 calls on DocuSign. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). 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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Yesterday the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) suffered an outage. As a national institution and a foundation of one of the pillars of wealth in Australian society, it is of obvious importance that it runs efficiently and smoothly. Thus, any time there is an outage, it is always, to put it colloquially, a big deal.

But if you didn’t notice any outages or issues of any kind yesterday you wouldn’t be alone. See, it wasn’t the ASX’s share trading mechanisms that were interrupted. ASX investors were able to buy and sell shares as they normally would. Rather, it was ASX24, the exchange’s futures and options market, which experienced the issue.

Although derivatives like futures and options are an important part of our financial system, they are not nearly as commonly traded among the general Australian population as shares are. Most retail shareholders (like you or I) would likely go their whole life without buying or selling a derivative. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t important.

So what happened?

ASX hit by derivatives outage

Well, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), ASX24 trading was halted just before 10am AEDT. Trading only resumed at 1.40pm. It was only after 2pm that the ASX’s operators confirmed ASX24 was “fully operational, all contracts are open and ASX is operating as normal”.

ASX Ltd (ASX: ASX), the company that runs the Australian Securities Exchange, reportedly blamed the outage on a “hardware fault, which has been resolved”.

As the article noted, the timing of this outage was rather unfortunate. Over the night prior, the US Federal Reserve released its interest rate decision for March, which is an important event for many derivatives traders, given its impact on global financial markets. What’s more, the Fed announced the US’s first interest rate increase since 2018.

Not only that, but Australian unemployment data was also released yesterday, at 11.30am to be precise. Due to the outage, derivatives markets could not price these events in properly as they happened.

A “senior executive at a large broker” told the AFR that the outage was “extremely inconvenient”. Here’s some of what they said:

There was news overnight and employment [data] today and clients wanted to express views and trade, but they weren’t able to. Internally, we have people with risk and positions, and they need to hedge and you’ve got markets moving around.

So not the ASX’s finest hour, one could say. But these things do happen from time to time. What matters is that the ASX is now back to full functionality and financial life can go on.

The post No sale? What you need to know about the most recent ASX outage appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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. 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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At lunch on Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a small gain. The benchmark index is currently up 0.2% to 7,267.4 points.

Here’s what is happening on the ASX 200 today:

Energy shares rise

It has been a good day for energy shares such as Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) on Friday. They are on course to end the week on a high after oil prices surged higher overnight. Traders were bidding oil prices higher after the IEA warned that supply is expected to fall more than demand.

Megaport shares sink on chairman share selldown

The Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) share price is sinking on Friday after the network as a service provider revealed that its founder and chairman, Bevan Slattery, has offloaded 3 million shares. Mr Slattery sold the shares for a discount of $13.05 per share, which equates to a total consideration of approximately $39 million. The chairman advised that he remains confident on Megaport’s future and was selling shares to fund other investments.

Zip shares jump

The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price has continued its recovery on Friday. The buy now pay later provider’s shares have charged higher for a second day in a row. This is despite the rest of the tech sector having a subdued day. Investors appear to believe the Zip share price could have bottomed now.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Friday has been the Zip share price with a 5.5% gain on no news. Going the other way, the worst performer has been the Megaport share price with a 7% decline. This follows Bevan Slattery’s $39 million share sale this morning.

The post ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Energy shares rise on oil price jump, Megaport sinks 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. owns and has recommended MEGAPORT FPO and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Shares in EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) closed the day at $2.52 apiece on Thursday after a 7% gain on the day. They are currently up a further 0.79% today at $2.54.

After a difficult start to the year, during which shares have collapsed 22%, the trend reversed this week when prices bottomed at $2.22 and snapped back to current levels.

Now it seems market pundits are backing the company once more after it released a key announcement on Wednesday advising on its expansion into the employee benefits market (EBM) in Europe.

So have we hit a bottom in EML? Or is this just a fake-out that will result in more losses further downstream? Let’s take a look.

EML enters European market

The latest catalyst to move the EML share price is the company’s entrance into the EBM in Europe to cover meal vouchers and employee benefit solutions with Up Spain.

“Globally, the EBM is worth over $88 billion and is expected to grow by $20 billion between 2021 to 2025. Europe represents 35% of this market, or in excess of $30 billion per annum, making it one of the largest prepaid verticals in Europe,” the company said.

Within Europe, Up Spain has more than a million users and around 4,700 corporate clients, including a network of over 30,000 restaurants in the country.

“This contract with Up Spain is a milestone agreement for us given the size of the EBM and the continued transition of meal voucher programs transitioning from physical vouchers to digital payment solutions,” said EML Group CEO Tom Cregan.

The program is expected to go live in Q1 FY23, but the group doesn’t expect the full impacts of the deal to be felt until some time afterwards.

What does this mean for the EML share price?

Investors originally had a fairly muted response to the update, while others appear more constructive on the news.

Several brokers were quick to jump in on the conversation. UBS analysts said the deal gives EML a good base to enter the segment, retaining its $4.55 valuation in a note to clients.

It also said EML could optimise its platform to suit the market, while opening the door for further opportunities downstream.

Meanwhile, analysts at Ord Minnett said the deal only adds further weight to its investment thesis on EML, that earnings are about to bulk up for the payments company.

In a recent note, the broker said the deal’s impact won’t be felt until after FY23, but that’s actually a good thing, as it offers a long-term opportunity.

It values EML at $4.03 per share, slightly off the consensus price target of $4.09 per share.

Ron Shamgar, head of Australian equities at TAMIM Asset Management (which owns EML shares) said on Twitter that the deal “is a big win for [EML], as they enter a new vertical they already dominate in Oz!”

“Up Spain is huge and in Spain alone the opportunity is $3–4B [billion] and over time $30B+!!” he added.

“Investors don’t seem to care but future growth prospects only just got bigger and better”.

According to Bloomberg data, each of the nine analysts covering the firm advocates it as a buy right now. That number is consistent with the same time last year.

Following the EBM announcement, EML shares have started to climb once more, up 2.6% on Wednesday and 7.2% on Thursday.

However, it remains to be seen if EML has resurfaced from the depths entirely, as only time and market fundamentals will tell at this point.

In the last 12 months, the EML share price has fallen more than 52%. It is also down more than 11% over the past month.

The post Has the bottom been and gone for EML (ASX:EML) shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Ampol, EML, Vulcan, and Zip shares are zooming higher
• EML Payments (ASX:EML) share price storms higher on ‘milestone’ European deal
• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• Is the EML (ASX:EML) share price a bargain after falling 30% in a month?
• Glitch! Why are ASX tech shares getting hammered on Monday?

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 EML Payments. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended EML Payments. 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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AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) shares have faced a tumultuous time over the past 12 months. Not only has the company been sensationally sought after by one of Australia’s most prominent tech investors in Mike Cannon-Brookes. But AGL is also grappling with a divisive plan to demerge the company into two separate entities. And there’s the matter of the AGL share price.

AGL shares have lost close to 24% of their value over the past 12 months. Sure, the company is up a pleasing 40% or so since hitting a new multi-decade low of $5.10 back in November. But that wouldn’t exactly be of too much comfort for long-term investors. They have had to watch AGL shares slide by more than 72% over the past five years.

But let’s circle back to AGL’s demerger plans, since the brief Cannon-Brookes chapter of the company’s history seems to be over (at least for now).

AGL plans to split the company in half in June this year. One half will house AGL’s legacy generation assets, most of which consist of coal-fired power plants, and be renamed ‘Accel Energy’. The ‘new AGL’ will house the company’s retail business. This will attempt to insulate investors from some of the ethical and environmental concerns of owning some of the largest greenhouse gas-emitting infrastructure in the country.

Could AGL shares be a buy today?

Some demergers in the past have proved relatively successful in hindsight. Take the Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) split from Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) in late 2018. When Coles shares were spun off, they were done so at under $13 a share. Today, Coles is worth close to $18 a share on recent pricing. Wesfarmers has gone on to record major share price appreciation since the split as well. So that has given long-term investors a two-pronged win.

So could the same happen with AGL shares?

Well, at least one broker doesn’t think so. As my Fool colleague James covered last week, broker Morgans isn’t too enthused about the prospect of owning AGL right now. it is instead urging investors to consider AGL’s rival Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG).

Here’s some of what the broker had to say:

AGL remains a difficult investment proposition ahead of its demerger with its component parts likely to attract investors who have environmental priorities that are at polar opposites… Our outlook for commodity prices suggests ORG could sustain strong dividends in the medium term. We maintain our ADD rating and see 10% upside to our valuation on today’s closing price and potential dividend yield of 5%.

So not exactly a vote of confidence for AGL right now. No doubt shareholders will be hoping a different scenario plays out. But we shall have to wait and see.

At the current AGL share price, this ASX energy utility share has a market capitalisation of $4.76 billion, with a trailing dividend yield of 6.92%.

The post Are AGL (ASX: AGL) shares worth buying prior to the planned demerger? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET and Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The DGL Group Ltd (ASX: DGL) share price is heading north during early trade on Friday morning.

This comes after an important insider recently decided to pick up a big parcel of additional shares in the company.

Founded in 1999 by CEO Simon Henry, DGL manufactures, transports and processes chemicals and hazardous waste.

At the time of writing, the DGL share price is $3.09, up 3.34%.

Founder tops up his DGL shareholdings

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, DGL revealed that Henry recently bought a large parcel of shares.

Henry picked up 500,000 DGL shares through an on-market acquisition between 11 March and 16 March.

The value of his latest purchase is $1.43 million or an average price of $2.86 per DGL share.

This means that the co-founder/CEO now owns almost 150.92 million fully paid ordinary DGL shares.

DGL to join All Ords index on Monday

It appears Henry believes the DGL share price is a bargain. Perhaps this is because the company is about to join the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).

The S&P Dow Jones Indices announced changes in its quarterly rebalance of the S&P/ASX Indices earlier this month.

The All Ords is comprised of the 500 largest ASX companies based on market capitalisation.

Most fund managers are required to adhere to strict in-house guidelines, such as only buying shares within a certain index. Plus, exchange-traded funds (EFTs) also pick up or dump shares to keep in line with their index benchmarks.

So, it’s a big advantage for companies when they grow large enough to enter a major index such as the All Ords or S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

The All Ords changeover will take place on Monday 21 March.

DGL share price snapshot

DGL commenced trading on the ASX in May 2021 after an oversubscribed initial public offering (IPO). The IPO raised $100 million through the issuance of 100 million shares at a price of $1 per share.

The DGL share price moved in circles before gaining good traction in July last year. DGL shares are now trading 209% higher than their IPO price today.

DGL commands a market capitalisation of roughly $833 million.

The post The DGL (ASX:DGL) share price has soared 200% in less than a year, but this insider is still buying up big appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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. owns and has recommended DGL Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended DGL 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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