The Resonance Health Limited (ASX: RHT) share price is shooting the lights out on Thursday. This comes after the company announced it has received a 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its newest medical device.

At the time of writing, the Australian healthcare technology and services company’s shares are up 36.36% to 15 cents. In comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is down 0.16% to 7,827.5 points.

What did Resonance Health announce?

The Resonance Health share price is surging today after the company advised the United States FDA has cleared the pathway for it to begin commercialisation for LiverSmart.

LiverSmart is a software medical device that provides a more comprehensive assessment of a person’s liver iron and liver fat. The technology combines two of the company’s existing health products, FerriSmart and HepaFat-AI, into a single multi-parametric MRI session.

Instead of obtaining separate individual reports from either product, LiverSmart saves costs and improves convenience for the customer and clinician.

Furthermore, Resonance Health believes LiverSmart may be eligible for two new US (Cat III) Current Procedural Technology (CPT) codes. It is awaiting definitive determination of LiverSmart’s eligibility for these codes from a US-certified CPT coder.

Obtaining the codes allows reimbursement by government payers such as Medicare and Medicaid, and private payers including private health insurers. This becomes more enticing to a paying consumer as a portion of the expenses is refunded.

It’s expected the codes will be active some time in January 2022.

Commenting on the news driving the Resonance Health share price, chief scientific officer Dr Wenjie Pang said:

We are delighted that the FDA has moved so quickly in clearing LiverSmart, with this being the fastest FDA clearance we have achieved for any of our FDA cleared medical devices, which speaks to the quality and depth of experience we have in navigating the FDA regulatory framework.

LiverSmart is a natural evolution of our existing product offering and responds to the growing trend in software as medical devices (SaMD), for more holistic assessment of organs. We’ve used AI in this device to further evolve our products and to achieve rapid turnaround and enhanced scalability.

Resonance Health share price summary

Over the last 12 months, the Resonance Health share price has lost around 35%.

Based on today’s price, Resonance Health presides a market capitalisation of roughly $62.22 million.

The post Here’s why the Resonance Health (ASX:RHT) share price is rocketing 36% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• What’s going on with the Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL) share price lately?
• 3 fantastic ASX 200 shares to buy in 2022
• Insiders have been buying Nuix (ASX:NXL) and this ASX share
• If you’d invested $5,000 in Amazon in 2015, this is how much you would have today
• Is the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price an opportunity right now?

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 Resonance Health 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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The Australian Clinical Labs Ltd (ASX: ACL) share price is tumbling today, but it’s had a whopping run lately.

At the time of writing, the Australian Clinical Labs share price is $5.87. That’s 1.51% lower than its previous close but 38% higher than it was at the end of last month.

Additionally, it reached a new 52-week high in yesterday’s session, hitting $6.39 in intraday trade.

Let’s take a look at what’s been driving the company’s stock lately.

Australian Clinical Labs share price soars in December

Australian Clinical Labs’ stock took off last week after the company upgraded its guidance for the first half of financial year 2022 (FY22).

It now expects to bring in between $497.3 million and $517.2 million of revenue and net profits after tax of $116.3 million to $128 million.

The boosted expectations followed continuous strong demand for COVID-19 testing, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria. The company’s revenue is also being helped along by the resilience of its non-COVID business.

The company’s CEO Melinda McGrath commented on the company’s new outlook, saying:

We anticipate heightened volumes of COVID-19 testing to continue during the remainder of FY22 due to the impact of new variants and outbreaks, the lifting of travel restrictions and increased demand for both commercial and travel testing.

Thus, this week’s case numbers might have brought the stock some extra attention.

Over the 7 days to 8pm last night, New South Wales had reported 52,775 new cases of COVID-19. Of those, 12,226 were recorded in the previous 24 hours.

Victoria also announced a new record number of new daily cases today, with 5,137 of the state’s residents testing positive for the virus.

While the month so far has been a good one for the Australian Clinical Labs share price, today seems to be telling a different story. The company’s stock is tumbling for no obvious reason this morning.

However, despite the slump, it’s still in the long-term green. Right now, the Australian Clinical Labs share price is 72% higher than it was at the start of 2021.

Additionally, it isn’t alone in its recent gains. Fellow pathology companies, Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS) and Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL) have seen their share prices increase 13% and 9% respectively this month.

The post What’s going on with the Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL) share price lately? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Why Australian Clinical Labs, Magellan, Sandfire, and Telix shares are rising
• Why the Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL) share price is up 10% to a record high
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• Analysts are tipping huge gains for these small cap ASX shares

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 Australian Clinical Labs Limited and Sonic Healthcare 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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With a new year on the horizon, now could be an opportune time to consider making some new additions to your portfolio.

To help you on your way, I’ve picked out three ASX 200 shares which have been tipped as buys. They are as follows:

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

The first ASX 200 share to look at is Altium. It is an award-winning printed circuit board (PCB) design software provider. Over the last few years, Altium has earned itself a leading position in a growing electronic design market. But the company isn’t settling for that and is now aiming to dominate this market with its cloud-based Altium 365 product. Analysts at Jefferies are positive on its future. The broker currently has a buy rating and $48.83 price target on its shares.

IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)

Another ASX 200 share to look at is IDP Education. It is a provider of international student placement and English language testing services. While IDP was hit hard by the pandemic, it has bounced back strongly and delivered impressive growth during the first quarter. And although the Omicron variant may stifle its recovery, it has been tipped to ultimately come out of the crisis in an even stronger market position. Morgan Stanley expects this to be the case. As a result, it has put an overweight rating and $40.20 price target on the company’s shares.

NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

A final ASX 200 share to look at is NEXTDC. It is a leading data centre operator with operations across Australia. It has also recently opened up offices in Singapore and Tokyo with a view to expanding into these potentially lucrative markets. This could give its already strong growth a boost, especially thanks to the increasing demand for its services due to the structural shift to the cloud. Goldman Sachs is very positive on its future and is forecasting operating earnings growth of ~20% per annum through to at least FY 2024. Goldman has a buy rating and $14.40 price target on the company’s shares.

The post 3 fantastic ASX 200 shares to buy in 2022 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Is the NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) share price a steal after going nowhere in 2021?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns NEXTDC Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Altium and Idp Education Pty 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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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.

The 2021 year was arguably a breakthrough for alternative “meme” cryptocurrencies like Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE). They were seen as a joke by some, but early investors in these cryptos have made fortunes.

After a year that saw Shiba Inu return 63,000,000% and Dogecoin go up 4,600%, can investors still strike it rich in 2022? Here is what you need to know before buying either of these cryptos.

Understanding Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu is a relatively new altcoin, meaning a crypto other than Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), developed in August 2020 on the Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain. It currently carries a $19.4 billion market cap and is the 10th-most-popular crypto on the Coinbase exchange.

An anonymous group called Ryoshi started Shiba Inu as an experiment in decentralised spontaneous community building. In other words, could Shiba Inu survive with “no centralised team, no funding, and no direct leadership?” according to the coin’s white paper.

Shiba Inu’s gains seem to answer that question, and with a price per coin of fractions of a cent, investors can accumulate large amounts for relatively little money.

Understanding Dogecoin

Dogecoin, often referred to as the original “meme coin”, is an altcoin created in 2013 as a literal joke by its founders. They created Dogecoin to poke fun at the wild speculation around cryptocurrencies back then.

However, Dogecoin is no longer a joke; it’s the ninth-most-popular cryptocurrency on Coinbase and carries a $23.4 billion market cap, making it larger than some of the market’s most popular growth stocks. It also has a relatively small per-coin price of about $0.18.

Like Shiba Inu, Dogecoin uses an easily recognisable logo of a Shiba Inu dog, which has helped feed the coin’s popularity on the internet. Although Shiba Inu is built on the Ethereum blockchain, Dogecoin runs on its own network, the Dogecoin blockchain.

Value built on going viral

It’s important to know what drives the value of a cryptocurrency and how altcoins like Shiba Inu and Dogecoin differ from Bitcoin. Whereas the US dollar is issued and regulated by the US government and central bank, cryptos are not. This detachment from the traditional monetary system (hence the term decentralised) appeals to many crypto investors.

But there are significant differences between Bitcoin and altcoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Bitcoin’s scarcity and growing acceptance have played a key role in driving its increase in value over the years. There is a maximum supply of 21 million Bitcoins; there can never be any more.

Bitcoin has also gotten notable traction in gaining acceptance in the broader economy. Some merchants accept Bitcoin as payment, some athletes take their salaries in Bitcoin, and some corporations are even accumulating it to hold on their balance sheets as an asset.

In contrast, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have no notable economic use at this point. Meanwhile, both altcoins have a much larger supply in circulation than Bitcoin. Dogecoin now has 132 billion DOGE circulating, while Shiba Inu has 549 trillion SHIB. These huge supplies are increasing, which is partly why their per-coin prices are so low. To date, the only way that these coins have gained value is by going viral on the internet; these temporary surges in demand have caused prices to be very volatile.

Managing risk is key

Investments that fluctuate primarily because of hype are speculative, and investing a lot in them is reckless. What goes up, can just as easily come back down, so assets that have appreciated as much as Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have, can significantly drop without much warning.

Shiba Inu is a newer coin and probably has more buzz going for it now, as Dogecoin’s peak seems to have come when Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk was tweeting about it a few months back.

Investors must manage their risk by never investing more than they can afford to lose. With wild swings in speculative cryptocurrencies, it doesn’t take vast sums to make big profits. If you are fortunate enough to strike some significant gains, don’t be afraid to take profits.

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

The post Better crypto to own in 2022: Dogecoin or Shiba Inu? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. 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.

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

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It can be useful for investors to keep an eye on which shares have experienced meaningful insider buying.

This is because insider buying is often regarded as a bullish indicator, as few people know a company and its intrinsic value better than its own directors. If they are buying, it suggests that they are confident in the direction the company is heading.

With that in mind, listed below are a couple of ASX shares that have reported meaningful insider buying recently. They are as follows:

Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL)

According to a series of change of director’s interests notices, a number of insiders have been buying this investigative analytics and intelligence software provider’s shares in December. This includes the company’s CEO, Jonathan Rubinsztein. He picked up a total of 35,000 shares through on-market purchases on 21 and 22 December, more than doubling his holding to 65,000 shares. The CEO paid a total of $77,647 for the shares, which equates to an average of $2.22 per share.

Also buying shares this month have been non-executive directors Robert Mactier and Sue Thomas. They bought 100,000 shares and 67,000 shares, respectively, through on market trades. These purchases set the directors back $214,800 and $149,372.

Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)

One of this toll road operator’s independent non-executive directors has been topping up their holding this month. According to the change of director’s interests notice, Rob Whitfield AM picked up a total of 10,000 shares via on-market trades on 21 and 22 December. He paid approximately $13.57 per share or a total consideration of ~$136,000. These purchases doubled Mr Whitfield’s holding to 21,112 shares.

One broker that would support these purchases is UBS. It currently has a buy rating and $15.25 price target on the company’s shares.

The post Insiders have been buying Nuix (ASX:NXL) this ASX share 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 recommended Nuix Pty 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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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.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has generated massive multibagger gains since its initial public offering (IPO) on May 15, 1997. The stock went public at $18, or a split-adjusted price of $1.50 per share. If you had invested just $5,000 in that IPO, your stake would be worth nearly $11.4 million today.

Investors might be kicking themselves for missing out on those life-changing returns, but Amazon has also generated multibagger gains for investors who bought shares long after it became the 800-pound gorilla of the e-commerce market. In fact, a $5,000 investment in Amazon on the first trading day of 2015 would still be worth about $55,000 today.

Let’s see why Amazon experienced such a growth spurt over the past seven years, and if that momentum will continue in the future.

What happened in 2015?

2015 marked an inflection point for Amazon because the company finally started breaking out Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) revenue and operating profits in its quarterly reports.

Amazon launched the first version of AWS in 2002, but investors didn’t know how fast the cloud infrastructure platform was actually growing or if it was even profitable. Amazon answered both questions in the first quarter of 2015: AWS was generating high-double-digit percentage revenue growth, with much higher operating margins than its e-commerce business.

With that revelation, Amazon’s long-term strategy became clear: It could support the expansion of its lower-margin retail business with its higher-margin cloud business. That business model enabled Amazon to expand its retail business by launching new perks for its Prime members, selling cheap hardware devices, opening new brick-and-mortar stores, and pursuing other loss-leading strategies to tether more shoppers to its ecosystem.

That’s why Amazon aggressively rolled out its Echo speakers across the U.S. in 2015, why it bought Whole Foods Market in 2017, and why it continues to launch new hardware devices and fund the development of new streaming content and video games for Prime members.

Between 2015 and 2020, AWS’ annual revenue increased from $7.9 billion to $45.4 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.9%. During those five years, the segment’s annual operating income rose from $1.9 billion to $13.5 billion, which represented a CAGR of 48.9%.

AWS controlled 32% of the global cloud infrastructure market in the third quarter of 2021, according to Canalys. Microsoft‘s Azure ranked second with a 21% share, while all of the other competitors held single-digit slivers of that growing market.

AWS accounted for 59% of Amazon’s operating profits in 2020, compared to 41% of its operating profits in 2015. The overall impact of AWS on Amazon’s revenue, operating profits, and net income is very easy to see:

Source: YCharts

Without AWS, Amazon probably wouldn’t have been able to consistently sell its products at low prices or expand its Prime ecosystem to lock in more than 200 million paid members worldwide.

Simply put, it’s the bedrock of Amazon’s business, and gives it a killer advantage against other retailers. That’s probably why Jeff Bezos chose Andy Jassy, the CEO of AWS at the time, to be his successor in early 2021.

But will Amazon maintain its momentum?

The past seven years were transformational for Amazon, but its stock has only risen about 4% over the past 12 months as investors fretted over the decelerating growth of its retail business in a post-pandemic market. Amazon’s commitment to ramping up its investments in new digital media projects also sparked concerns about its near-term earnings growth.

With a market cap of $1.7 trillion, I think it would be very difficult for Amazon to replicate its multibagger gains of the past seven years. That said, I still believe Amazon could double in value over the next few years as AWS continues to expand and lock in more businesses — and that expansion should feed the continued growth of its retail and Prime ecosystems. In other words, Amazon is still a rock-solid core holding for long-term investors. 

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

The post If you’d invested $5,000 in Amazon in 2015, this is how much you would have today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• Why are Aussies going mad for this $0 revenue company?
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• ‘Close your eyes’: ASX share you can buy and forget
• What do Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) and Amazon.com have in common?

Leo Sun owns Amazon. Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, 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 Amazon and Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon. 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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The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price is in focus after a period of strong growth from the effects of COVID-19. But now, is the conglomerate a buy?

Wesfarmers is a diversified business with some major retail brands including Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart, Target and Catch. However, it also has other lesser known divisions including its businesses in chemicals, energy and fertilisers, and industrial and safety products.

What has been going on with the Wesfarmers share price?

Wesfarmers shares have risen by around 30% since the pre-COVID peak in February 2020.

However, Wesfarmers is down by around 9% from the 52-week high in August 2021, which was the latest reporting season.

In that result, Wesfarmers said that its continuing operations revenue rose 10% to $33.9 billion and underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) grew 16.2% to $2.4 billion. ‘

Total divisional earnings before tax and excluding significant items increased 23.7% to $3.54 billion. There were two divisions that drove profit significantly higher. Bunnings grew EBT by 19.7% to $2.2 billion and Kmart Group’s EBT surged 69% to $693 million.

However, the August trading update showed year on year sales declines across all of its retail divisions. Bunnings sales were down 4.7%, Kmart and Target sales were down 14.3%, Catch’s gross transaction value fell 8.5% and Officeworks sales were down 1.5%.

Management said that COVID-19 lockdowns were impacting the business and it was also cycling against strong sales in the prior corresponding period. In other words, Wesfarmers was finding it difficult to beat the sales in the corresponding times in the 2020 calendar year.

Recent trading

On 21 October 2021, Wesfarmers released a trading update at its annual general meeting (AGM). Recent trading can have an impact on investor thoughts regarding the Wesfarmers share price.

The company said that since August, its sales growth had improved in Bunnings, Officeworks and Catch, whilst results in Kmart and Target had continued to be impacted by temporary store closures.

In the key Bunnings division, its sales have been “robust” with sales growth from commercial customers partially offsetting the impact of lower consumer sales growth.

It said that it has seen strong sales growth in stores in affected areas that had started to re-open, which management said demonstrated pent-up demand in those areas.

Online sales have remained strong, despite capacity constraints in some online distribution channels. Over half of Officeworks’ sales had been online in the year to date, whilst Kmart and Bunnings had online penetration of 21% and 6% respectively.

Is the Wesfarmers share price a buy?

Wesfarmers is focused on a number of strategic initiatives at the moment.

One priority is to develop a leading data and digital ecosystem which will help deliver better value and experiences to customers, as well as create new growth opportunities.

It’s looking to increase its investments in its businesses for long-term growth. Most of that investment will be ‘organic’, but it is also open to acquisitions. Recent examples include the Mt Holland lithium project, the acquisition of Catch, and the bolt-on acquisitions for Bunnings such as Beaumont Tiles.

Most brokers have a neutral/hold rating on the business at the moment, such as UBS and Morgans.

Whilst Citi likes the attempt by Wesfarmers to buy Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: WES), it currently rates it as a sell with the valuation being a bit too expensive. The price target is $50.

However, Ord Minnett currently rates Wesfarmers as a buy with a price target of $64 because it thinks that 2022 could be another good year for some retailers.

The post Is the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price an opportunity right now? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here’s why December is being kind to the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price
• 2 strong ASX 200 dividend shares to own for income
• Invested in Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) shares? Here’s what to watch in 2022
• Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price rises as boss courts API pharmacists
• Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price rises amid latest push for API

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

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The South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) share price seems to have recovered from a rocky November to post a significant gain this month.

Over the course of December so far, the company’s stock has soared 13.88%. That’s despite no price sensitive news having been released by the company.

At the time of writing, the South32 share price is $4.02 – 9 cents higher than it ended November.

Additionally, it hit a new 52-week high in intraday trade yesterday when it was swapping hands for $4.08.

Let’s take a look at what’s been going on with the mining company this month.

South32 share price surges 14% in December

The South32 share price has had a great month despite no price sensitive news from the company hitting the market.

However, the company made headlines earlier this month when the NSW Government overturned a previous decision to block a proposed extension of its Dendrobium coal mine.

The mine is a part of the company’s Illawarra Metallurgical Coal operation.

The state’s deputy premier, Paul Toole and planning minister, Rob Stokes declared the mine ‘state significant infrastructure’ on 4 December. Toole stated:

Dendrobium is a critical source of coking coal for the Port Kembla steelworks…

This decision recognises the proposal’s potential economic benefits, with the mine already contributing $1.9 billion to the State’s economy each year, employing 4,500 workers, and supporting another 10,000 jobs across the Illawarra.

In February, the NSW Independent Planning Commission blocked the extension on concerns it risked causing irreversible damage to Sydney’s water supply.

South32 also announced a new revolving credit facility in December.

The new facility is a refinancing of its multi-currency revolving syndicated credit facility. It leaves the company with US$1.4 billion of commitments from lenders for a five-year term.

The facility was established as a sustainability-linked loan. It links to the company’s emissions reduction commitments and energy and water use efficiency.

December’s gains have added to the South32 share price’s strong long-term performance. Right now, it is 60.8% higher than it was at the start of 2021.

The post Why has the South32 (ASX:S32) share price surged another 14% in December? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• What are experts saying to expect for the South32 (ASX:S32) share price in 2022?
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Monday

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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The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price has been on the move in December.

When looking at the past month, the conglomerate’s shares have gained around 5.1%. By compassion, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has lifted by roughly 3.3% over the same time frame.

Below, we take a closer look at what’s been happening with the Wesfarmers share price.

What’s up with Wesfarmers?

Investors have been buying up on Wesfarmers shares as the company battles out with Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) for Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).

Wesfarmers’ biggest competitor, Woolworths tabled a cash offer price of $1.75 per API share by way of a scheme of arrangement. This translates to a total equity value of $872 million.

Notably, the proposed offer price represents a premium of 20 cents per share or 12.9% over the price agreed between API and Wesfarmers on 8 November 2021.

However, Wesfarmers owns a 19.3% stake in API, and will undoubtedly reject any scheme of arrangement between Woolworths and API.

In addition, the company has been busy navigating its way through COVID-19.

Wesfarmers reported tough trading conditions at its annual general meeting (AGM) held in late October.

In particular, the company stated that some of its businesses such as Bunnings, K-mart and Target were impacted by store closures. Although, strong online sales managed to offset the loss of potential revenue.

On the other hand, Officeworks thrived as customer demand for technology and office furniture accelerated. This was attributed to more people working from home due to government-mandated restrictions.

The Wesfarmers chemicals, energy and fertilisers division continued to grow on the back of ammonium nitrate and favourable LPG pricing.

Although, a possible driving force behind the Wesfarmers share price could be from a broker update.

American multinational investment bank, JPMorgan upgraded its outlook on Wesfarmers shares to “overweight” from a “neutral” position.

Its analysts raised the price target by a sizeable 21% to $64.00 per shares. Based on yesterday’s closing price of $59.94, this implies an upside of about 6.5%.

Wesfarmers share price snapshot

Since the beginning of the year, the Wesfarmers share price has gained almost 20%, surging past pre-pandemic levels. The company’s shares reached a record high of $67.20 in August before treading lower in the couple of months ahead.

Wesfarmers commands a market capitalisation of around $67.96 billion, making it the 8th largest company on the ASX.

The post Here’s why December is being kind to the Wesfarmers share price appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 2 strong ASX 200 dividend shares to own for income
• Invested in Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) shares? Here’s what to watch in 2022
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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. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price has moved in circles during the month of December. This comes despite the company providing investors with a positive business update three weeks earlier.

At yesterday’s market close, the insurance giant’s shares recovered some of its losses by rising 1.41% to $4.33 a pop.

What’s got IAG in a tailspin this month?

While management reported its revised targets on margin and gross written premium (GWP) growth, IAG shares pushed higher.

The company is forecasting low single-digit increases on GWP and an insurance margin guidance range of between 10% to 12%. Previously, the insurance margin level was in the 13.5% to 15.5% range.

The seasonally unexpected claims made year to date forced IAG to downgrade its FY22 GWP and insurance margin guidance.

The company revealed that it is expecting a significant rise in net natural perils claim costs for FY22. Severe storm and hail activity experienced in South Australia and Victoria during October were being blamed for the increased costs.

In total, net natural perils claim costs for the current financial is forecasted to be around $1,045 million. This is a hefty amount from the company’s previous estimates of $765 million. It is worth noting that this includes $510 million for perils events for the remainder of the financial year.

What do the brokers think?

A number of brokers have rated the company with comparable price points since the release of its business update on 7 December.

Leading Australian investment firm, Macquarie cut its 12-month price target by 3.7% to $5.20 for IAG shares. Following suit, Swiss investment bank, UBS had a more bearish stance, reducing its rating by 21% to $4.20.

It appears investors are more in tune with UBS’ outlook on the IAG share price

IAG share price review

Over the last 12 months, the IAG share price has lost around 10%, with year-to-date down 8%. It’s worth noting however that the company’s shares have lost 50% since July 2019, particularly when COVID-19spread across Australia.

Based on today’s price, IAG presides a market capitalisation of roughly $10.67 billion, with approximately 2.47 billion shares on issue.

The post Why is the IAG (ASX:IAG) share price diving in December? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Is the IAG (ASX:IAG) share price too cheap to ignore?
• Why is the IAG (ASX:IAG) share price underperforming QBE in 2021?
• Why is the IAG (ASX:IAG) share price heading south today?
• What are experts saying to expect for the IAG (ASX:IAG) share price in 2022?
• It’s trading at around 9-year lows, could the IAG (ASX:IAG) share price be a takeover target?

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 owns and has recommended Insurance Australia 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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