On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was back on form and pushed higher. The benchmark index rose 0.6% to 7,205.7 points.

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

ASX 200 to open deep in the red

The Australian share market looks set to give back all of yesterday’s gains following a poor night on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 74 points or 1% lower this morning. In late trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones is down 0.9%, the S&P 500 has fallen 1.4%, and the Nasdaq has tumbled 1.8%. Developments in Ukraine are weighing on sentiment.

Rio Tinto full year results

The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price will be one to watch this morning after the mining giant released a record-breaking full year result. Rio Tinto delivered underlying EBITDA of US$37,720 million, which is up 58% over the prior corresponding period but a touch lower than the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of US$38.5 billion. The miner is paying a total dividend of 1,040 US cents per share, including a 247 US cents per share special dividend.

Oil prices mixed

It could be a subdued day for energy shares including Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) following a mixed night for oil prices. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 0.2% to US$92.10 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is down slightly to US$96.83 a barrel.

Appen full year update

The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price could be one to watch closely today. This morning the artificial intelligence data services company is releasing its highly anticipated full year results. There are concerns that demand from its biggest customers, such as Facebook, could be falling sharply

Gold price edges higher

It could be a decent day for gold miners Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) after the gold price edged higher. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is up 0.1% to US$1,909.4 an ounce. Rising Russia-Ukraine tensions boosted the safe haven asset.

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

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• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
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• Why did ASX 200 shares leap on the latest wages data released today?
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Woolworths impresses but Domino’s crashes after earnings miss

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 Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Appen 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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Among the 200 shares listed on the benchmark ASX 200 index are some of the highest quality companies that Australia has to offer. One of those is CSL Limited (ASX: CSL).

Why CSL shares?

CSL is widely regarded to be one of the highest quality shares on the ASX 200. It is a biotherapeutics company that develops, manufactures, and sells a range of life-saving plasma therapies and vaccines. It is also in the process of acquiring Vifor Pharma for ~$17 billion.

The addition of Vifor is expected to expand CSL’s leadership across an attractive portfolio focused on renal disease and iron deficiency, complementing its existing therapeutic focus areas including Haematology, Thrombosis, Cardiovascular, and Transplant.

But it doesn’t end there. Each year CSL invests in the region of 10% to 11% of its sales back into research and development (R&D) activities. In fact, earlier this month when the company released its half year results, it revealed an R&D spend of US$486 million for the six months. Pleasingly, CSL looks set to soon bear the fruit from its R&D labour. Management advised that a promising cluster of R&D programs are nearing completion.

Is the CSL share price good value?

The team at Morgans see a lot of value in the CSL share price. In response to its half year results, last week the broker put an add rating and $327.60 price target on its shares.

Based on the current CSL share price of $268.89, this implies potential upside of 22% for investors over the next 12 months.

It commented: “CSL – 1H above expectations; the “tide is beginning to turn” 1H results were better than expected, albeit in line with management’s assumptions, with net profit down 5% in cc on 4% revenue growth.”

“While near term challenges remain, the ongoing recovery in plasma collections, coupled with management’s confidence, paints a favourable earnings picture,” it concludes.

The post Here’s why CSL (ASX:CSL) could be an ASX 200 share to buy now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• ASX 200 shares stage comeback amid Russia optimism
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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 CSL Ltd. 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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If you have a penchant for investing in small cap shares, then you might want to look at the two listed below.

Here’s why these are highly rated by analysts right now:

MoneyMe Ltd (ASX: MME)

The first small cap ASX share to watch is MoneyMe. It is a fintech that uses technology and artificial intelligence to deliver highly automated credit products and customer experiences.

The company notes that it originates through a diversified mix of credit products and distribution channels to create significant scale and long-term customer advantages. This will soon include the SocietyOne business, which the company is acquiring for $132 million.

Morgans is positive on the company and believes it has strong long term growth potential.

The broker commented: “In our view, MME continues to deliver strong organic book growth and believe its new, innovative product suite, targeting niche under-serviced markets has the potential to further drive top-line growth. Add maintained.”

Morgans has an add rating and $2.50 price target on the company’s shares.

Nitro Software Ltd (ASX: NTO)

Another small cap ASX share to look at is Nitro Software. It is a global document productivity software company aiming to drive digital transformation in organisations across multiple industries globally.

Nitro’s core solution, the Nitro Productivity Suite, provides integrated PDF productivity and eSignature tools to customers through a horizontal, software as a service and desktop-based software suite.

Goldman Sachs is positive on Nitro and believes the market is underestimating its growth potential as a challenger in a US$34 billion total addressable market across PDF, e-signing and workflows.

It commented: “Nitro is down ~50% since November with the market currently pricing in long-term growth and margin assumptions that understate Nitro’s potential, in our view. We are positive on Nitro’s structural growth opportunity, reflected in our DCF scenario analysis implying an attractive asymmetric risk/reward skew.”

Goldman Sachs has a buy rating and $2.95 price target on its shares.

The post 2 small cap ASX shares getting analysts excited appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nitro Software 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 Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC) traced lower today without any market-sensitive news in correlation.

The group released its full-year results for the 12 months ending 31 December 2021 yesterday. This saw the Costa share price spike by 26 cents to a four-month high of $3.26. That was an impressive 8.6% gain.

Alas, today Costa gave all of those gains back. The share price finished the day at $2.98 — a loss of exactly 8.6% on a trading volume more than double Costa’s four-week average.

Why did ASX investors sell down Costa today?

After a fairly robust set of results yesterday, questions remain as to why ASX investors sold the stock down on Wednesday.

Revenue came in 5% higher at $1.22 billion and EBITDA increased by more than 10% over the course of the year. This carried through to a 5 cents per share dividend fully franked for shareholders at tax time.

However, net profit after tax (NPAT) was weak — slipping 31% compared to 2020 — as cost increases and supply chain headwinds plagued the company’s earnings.

As such, reported earnings per share (EPS) was 22% lower and missed the consensus estimate of analysts by a considerable amount.

It also missed the consensus on revenue by about 30 basis points. Analysts had been banking on Costa recognising $1.225 billion at the top in 2021.

Plus, even though the company grew its earnings throughout the year, it appears that market pundits were expecting far more. As such, analysts have downgraded their earnings estimates across the board on average for FY22 and FY23. Their downgrades extend from revenue all the way down to EPS and free cash flow at the bottom lines.

What does a future earnings downgrade mean for Costa?

These downgrades by analysts are important because as Peter Lynch alludes to in his book, One Up On Wall Street, the market prices stocks on a combination of past earnings and future earnings expectations. Hence, downward revisions of future earnings could impact the market’s view of Costa moving forward.

The downward revisions certainly aren’t good news for the Costa share price, which has been tracking below the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) since May last year.

The ‘crocodile jaws’ pattern, as it is colloquially known, shows no signs of narrowing — as seen on the chart below.

Costa share price snapshot

In the past 12 months, the Costa share price has fallen by 32% and is down 4% this year to date.

Things are looking a bit more positive in the past month though with the shares trading in the green, up 1.36% during this time.

The post Costa (ASX:CGC) share price tumbles 8%, giving back all of Tuesday’s gains. What’s going on? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 recommended COSTA GRP 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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Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) is facing a fresh investigation from the Fair Work Ombudsman after the company admitted it underpaid employees.

Woolworths shares closed the session at $35.68 today, a 1.36% gain. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) climbed 0.62% today.

Let’s take a look at what the company revealed today.

Woolworths in focus

Woolworths has discovered $144 million worth of staff underpayments as part of a payroll review. The supermarket giant revealed the discrepancy in its half-year results today.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) will launch an investigation into the underpayments, The Australian reported today. This is on top of the legal action the ombudsman launched against the company in June 2021.

In its half-yearly results presentation on Wednesday, CEO Brad Banducci apologised for the findings. He said:

We are disappointed to have identified further inadvertent underpayments and unreservedly apologise to our affected team members.

We will continue to fix issues when we identify them and introduce the right controls to prevent them from happening again.

This latest discovery takes the total underpayments to employees to at least $571 million, after a separate review uncovered underpayments of $427 million.

The payroll investigation is ongoing with 85% of Woolworths staff reviewed to date. The company hopes to complete the process by the end of 2022.

As covered by the Motley Fool earlier, Woolworths reported a 6.5% drop in net profit in its half-year results today. However, group sales were up 8% on H1 FY21.

The company’s performance was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite strong sales growth, Woolworths reported COVID cost the company $239 million.

Woolworths declared a fully-franked interim dividend of 39 cents per share, down 26.4% on the prior corresponding period.

Woolworths share price snapshot

The Woolworths share price has risen 3% in the past year but is down 6% year to date. In the past week, it has gained 4%.

For perspective, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned around 5% over the past year.

Woolworths has a market capitalisation of about $43 billion based on its current share price.

The post Woolworths (ASX:WOW) faces fresh probe as wage scandal balloons to $500m appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Woolworths impresses but Domino’s crashes after earnings miss
• Profit drop: Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price pushes higher despite ‘challenging’ first-half results
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• Own Woolworths (ASX:WOW) shares? Here’s what to expect when the company reports this week
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell next week

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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Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was able to ward off another negative day despite Russia’s push into Ukraine, followed by sanctions from much of the western world. At the end of the session, the benchmark index finished 0.62% higher at 7,205.7 points.

In a change of scenery, the tech sector led the Australian share market higher today with its 2.2% rally. Close behind was a strong performance from communication services. The only sectors unable to keep up with the rest of the market were real estate and utilities, both of which finished in the red.

However, the question is: which shares delivered the biggest returns to investors on the ASX today? Here are the top ten stocks that came through for investors:

Top 10 ASX shares countdown today

Looking at the top 200 listed companies, Pexa Group Ltd (ASX: PXA) was the biggest gainer today. Shares in the online property exchange network operator jumped 13.93% after the company delivered an impressive result for the first half. Find out more about Pexa Group here.

The next biggest gaining ASX share today was Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN). The uranium mining company lifted 9.09% higher today despite there being no official news published. Uncover the latest Paladin Energy details here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made in these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Pexa Group Ltd (ASX: PXA)	$19.38	13.93%
Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN)	$0.72	9.09%
AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ)	$0.785	9.03%
Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)	$2.32	8.41%
Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: NIC)	$1.45	8.21%
APM Human Services International Ltd (ASX: APM)	$2.73	7.91%
Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR)	$1.42	7.17%
Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE)	$9.38	6.83%
Summerset Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SNZ)	$11.00	6.80%
Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN)	$7.09	5.66%

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check-in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why Accent, Healius, PEXA, and WiseTech shares are rising today
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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler 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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ASX lithium stocks were some of the hottest shares on the ASX markets last year. Lithium stocks like Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) and Novonix Ltd (ASX: LVX) managed to give investors returns of over 200%. In Novonix’s case, it was a return north of 600%.

So as we are about to enter the third month of 2022, and with earnings season wrapping up, it might be a good time to see how these lithium stocks have fared more recently.

Firstly, let’s check out the ASX’s lithium poster child, Pilbara Minerals. Pilbara is the ASX’s largest pureplay lithium stock. With its market capitalisation of close to $8.5 billion, it is now a major ASX 200 player.

Well, Pilbara only reported its earnings earlier today, as it turns out. The company divulged a very impressive 394% increase in revenue to $291.7 million, which helped to deliver a massive surge in earnings from $3.2 million to $151.1 million. It seemed that investors weren’t initially sure how to take these numbers, but the Pilbara share price finished the day up 2.15% at $2.85 a share. Unfortunately, that still puts it down 19% in 2022 so far. 

ASX lithium stocks make big moves

Turning to Novonix, and this battery company runs on a different schedule to most ASX shares, and has yet to report its half-yearly earnings for FY2022. However, investors did seem buoyed today, perhaps due to Pilbara’s earnings. Novonix shares ended up finishing the day up a healthy 5.37% at $5.30 each. However, this ASX lithium stock has also had a rough 2022, and is now down a nasty 49.6% year to date. But even so, it remains up 61.1% over the past 12 months.

Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) is another ASX lithium stock that hasn’t been reported this earnings season. However, the company made waves a couple of weeks ago when it announced a major supply deal with the famous US battery and electric vehicle company Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) for lithium spodumene concentrate. However, Liontown shares are also down significantly in 2022, losing more than 18% since the start of the year. That’s despite today’s gain of 7.2%.

AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ) is the final lithium stock to check out today. We also haven’t heard from AVZ this reporting season. However, the company recently announced that an agreement with Suzhou CATH Energy Technologies had been expediated for its joint lithium project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. AVZ shares were also up significantly today, by 9.03% at 78 cents a share. Even though AVZ remains down 10.8% year to date in 2022 so far, it’s still up more than 330% over the past year. 

The post How have ASX lithium stocks been faring this reporting season? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Tesla. 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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Shares in Western Areas Ltd (ASX: WSA) were the centre of attention across the share market today.

During trade, the nickel producer turned over more than 45 million shares, making it the most traded company on the ASX for the day. However, the activity wasn’t accompanied by a decisive view on the Western Area share price. The company’s shares finished the day flat at $3.35 each.

So, why all the excitement? It looks like investors are having a delayed response to the company’s half-year results that were released yesterday.

Let’s take a closer look.

Western Areas shares attract an ASX crowd following half year boom

• Revenue up 48.3% over prior corresponding period to $181.9 million
• Nickel concentrate production up 7.4% to 7,800 tonnes
• Nickel concentrate sales up 14.5% to 8,500 tonnes
• EBITDA increases nearly three-fold to $71.6 million on a 39% margin
• Net profit after tax (NPAT) swings from a $12 million loss to a $18.8 million profit
• Average realised nickel price of $12.57 per pound, compared to $9.83 per pound in prior year

What else happened during the half?

The half-year period ending 31 December 2021 was a busy one for Western Areas and its mining operations.

As the increasing demand for nickel has been met with constrained supply, the company took advantage of the opportunity. According to the release, ASX-listed Western Areas upped its production and recovery to yield a 14.5% increase in sales volume.

However, the company notes that an 820-tonne shipment recognised during this reporting period was predominantly produced in FY21.

Additionally, a 28% uplift in the realised nickel price assisted the company’s cash flows during the first half. Specifically, cash flow from operations skyrocketed 140% to $66 million.

Despite pouring $68.6 million into growth and capex towards the Odysseus nickel project, costs rose a marginal 7.7%. Part of the increase in costs was attributed to a tight labour market in Western Australia.

What did management say?

Highlighting the achievements at the Odysseus project, Western Areas managing director Dan Lougher said:

We are very pleased to see Odysseus continue to hit important milestones, not least of which included first ore from Odysseus South, along with the raise bore shaft continuing to meet specifications as it is extended. Works for the winder house associated with the shaft are well underway, and refurbishment of the existing mill has commenced. In all, we have significantly de-risked the Odysseus development during the half, passing a number of key milestones without incident.

However, it seems Western Areas will also feel the pressures of inflation. Lougher said:

In the context of the tight labour market conditions in Western Australia, we have been focussed on managing costs and maximising productivity to take maximum advantage of the very strong nickel price for the half. However, cost inflation and labour shortages mostly associated with COVID-19 are likely to impact the second half of FY22 performance.

What’s next?

There are two important items ahead for ASX-listed Western Areas. The first development will see IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO) takeover Western Areas in a deal priced at $3.36 per share.

The deal looks likely to proceed after Andrew Forrests’ Wyloo Consolidated backed the acquisition last week.

Secondly, the company revised its FY22 guidance due to COVID-19-related productivity issues. As a result, Western Areas now expect nickel concentrate production of between 15,200 tonnes and 16,200 tonnes compared to 16,000 and 17,000 previously.

How have Western Areas shares performed on the ASX?

Shareholders of Western Areas shares can count themselves as outperformers over the past year. While the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) returned 6.3%, the nickel producer delivered a 29% gain.

The resilient commodity market has carried over into 2022, with the company’s shares continuing to hold up better than the broader Australian share market.

The post Why did Western Areas (ASX:WSA) shares see so much action today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler 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 Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price ‘zipped’ higher today despite no news having been released by the company.

But whatever the reason, its surge has likely eased the minds of anxious investors. Before today, the company’s stock had hit a new 52-week low every day for 4 trading days.

Yesterday – which saw the Zip share price tumbling 9.7% – brought the stock to an intraday low of $2.11. That’s the lowest it’s been since April 2020.

Fortunately, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider’s stock rebounded today. As of Wednesday’s close, the Zip share price is $2.32, 8.41% higher than it was at the end of Tuesday’s session.

It wasn’t the only one in the green today. The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) and S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech Index (ASX: XIJ) both ended the session 2.1% higher.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gained 0.5%.

Let’s take a look at what might be going on with the driven the BNPL giant’s stock lately.

Zip share price soars ahead of earnings release

The Zip share price rebounded on Wednesday as the company prepared to release its earnings for the first half of financial year 2022.

They will drop sometime tomorrow. Luckily, or unluckily, the market has already had a chance to digest some of what its results will contain.

On Monday, Zip dropped a ‘preview’ of its earnings. Within the release, it reported that it expects the first half to have brought $302.2 million of revenue – representing an 89% increase on that of the prior comparable period and a new record.

Of course, that revenue was brought about by surging transaction numbers and transaction volumes – up 147% and 93% respectively.

However, Zip said its bad debts have increased to 2.6% of transaction volumes whiles its earnings before tax, depreciation, and amortisation is expected to come to a $108.1 million loss.

Additionally, the company announced it’s still in discussions to acquire ASX-listed rival Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL).

The Sezzle share price also took off today, gaining 8%. Meanwhile, the Block Inc CDI (ASX: SQ2) share price gained 4%.

The potential it could acquire Sezzle was confirmed by Zip late last month. News that the talks are still ongoing likely bolstered investors’ hopes that things between the two are progressing well.

There have been rumours circulating around whether Zip would have to undergo a capital raise to afford the acquisition.

Though, such talks might be premature as the companies still haven’t confirmed whether they’ll go forward with the acquisition.

All in all, this week has been a particularly dramatic one for the Zip share price.

No doubt, all eyes will be on it once more tomorrow as the market awaits the release of the company’s half year earnings.

The post Why did the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price zoom 8% higher today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 tech shares take a hammering as Ukraine fears escalate
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• Why Nanosonics, Superloop, Uniti, and Zip shares are tumbling today
• Own Zip (ASX:Z1P) shares? Rumours are circulating the company may be set for a capital raise

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. 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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The Calix Ltd (ASX: CXL) share price was a very strong performer on Wednesday.

The environmental technology company’s shares ended the day 11% higher at $5.67 after investors responded positively to its half year results.

Calix share price surges higher following results

• Total sales revenue grew 6.5% to $9.8 million
• US gross margins improved from 31.4% to 36.4%
• Operating loss of $5.2 million
• Loss after tax of $7.5 million
• Cash balance of $26.3 million with a further $8 million in grant income to come

Management commentary

Calix’s Managing Director and CEO, Phil Hodgson, commented: “FY22 is the year we accelerated on technology development, given the growing tailwinds that have transformed the financial markets since early 2021.”

“As a result, we have invested aggressively in people, capital and external expertise. This is starting to pay off. The investment by Carbon Direct into our cement de-carbonisation technology in September ratified this strategy, providing look-through value into just one arm of our business. The opportunities continue to build across all our lines of business, and we are well resourced and positioned to capitalise on them,” he added.

Outlook

No guidance was given for the second half. However, management has provided the market with its plans for the half and beyond.

It said: “The Company will continue working towards the FY22 targets across each line of business. Particularly, with a rapidly growing pipeline of opportunities in the CO2 and sustainable processing business, there is significant potential to convert existing relationships into licensing / project agreements, which Calix anticipates reporting in the near term.”

Management also provided an update on a scoping study that was undertaken with Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) to assess Calix’s renewably powered technology as part of a local lithium salt production process.

The results from the scoping study remain subject to both the Calix and Pilbara Minerals’ Boards’ approvals to proceed further, possibly with an even higher capacity plant than first considered. Planning for the full hydro-metallurgical pilot trials is underway, and discussions on a joint venture between the parties to commercialise the process are on-going in parallel to the technical development work.

The post Calix (ASX:CXL) share price jumps 11% following half year update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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

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