The WallStreetBets Reddit army might be at it again – as the AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC) stock soared 95% overnight. Not too long ago this theatre chain company was being written off due to the impacts of COVID-19. Well, the company’s shares have now gained 1,047% in the last night after last night’s gain.

But what’s the story behind this theatre chain’s rise from the ashes? And what are commentators anticipating next?

AMC stock caught in the middle

When it all boils down, the main thrust of AMC’s meteoric rally is the war between Wall Street and Main Street. In other words, retail investors decided to act against the big hedge funds.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) was the frontrunner of a campaign against hedge funds, which were shorting companies into oblivion. Earlier in the year retail investors applied a buy and hold approach, which pushed the share price of GameStop higher. The rise in share price led to a few hedge funds making substantial losses on their short positions.

At the time, AMC was another US company that was receiving the same boost from retail investors. Unlike GameStop, AMC has gone on to surpass its January/February share price highs.

I read this tweet & I’m convinced there are two types of people talking past each other. The experienced investor/analyst is screaming/warning $AMC trading is nuts. The folks trading $AMC either know it’s nuts + don’t care or don’t know + don’t care because they’re making money. https://t.co/tnoCFIATpx

— Andrew Ross Sorkin (@andrewrsorkin) June 2, 2021

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

It appears the retail love has shifted more towards AMC than GameStop. Sentiment data for WallStreetBets over the last 24 hours corroborates this hypothesis. Reportedly, AMC was mentioned 9,130 times with 83% of the comments being positive towards the stock. Whereas, GameStop has received 2,280 mentions with 85% positive sentiment – according to Swaggy Stocks.

Where to from here?

Host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer believes the AMC share price is well into overvalued territory. Furthermore, Cramer thinks the theatre chain will face intensifying competition from the home streaming market as well as from the impact of COVID restrictions.

Commenting on the skyrocketing price of AMC shares, Cramer said:

AMC is fascinating, but now, at $22 billion, with 300 million shares traded out of a float of 500 million, it’s obvious that this is a stock where the sellers have just had to go away. The meme people have two stocks, they have GameStop and they have AMC, and they have nothing else frankly.

Like a cup of water on a raging fire, Cramer’s comments have failed to extinguish the meme stock’s momentum. In after-hours trade, the AMC stock is up a further 8.7% to US$68 a share. The company’s market capitalisation is now US$28.16 billion.

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The Mach7 Technologies Ltd (ASX: M7T) share price has struggled this year, but its management points to a solid outlook in its investor presentation announcement on Thursday.

At the time of writing, the Mach7 share price is trading at $1.03, down 0.5% today and 13.7% year-to-date.

Mach7 develops image management and viewing solutions for healthcare providers. Its solutions consolidate imaging data into a single platform, providing clinicians with fast access to diagnostic images with rich features on any browser or device.

Mach7 share price lower despite solid outlook

The investor presentation included outlook commentary for the imaging market and Mach7 business.

Mach7 observed that the “uncertainty and volatility brought on by the pandemic, hugely disruptive for the imaging IT market, is receding”. Instead, the new era of remote working has put pressure on imaging IT to remove barriers to streamline remote diagnosis for radiologists.

The company believes the “heightened focus on IT healthcare spend” could drive more opportunities for the enterprise imaging solutions market. Mach7 points out that the return of in-person trade shows will be a tailwind to accelerate purchasing decisions and contract wins.

Mach7 revealed that it had received purchase orders from Trinity Healthcare and Adventist Health as both healthcare providers implement their Mach7 solutions across FY22.

Looking ahead, the company believes its pipeline conversion could accelerate as customers begin to “normalise their staffing levels and assign budgets”.

The Mach7 share price so far in 2021

The Mach7 share price started the year strong, climbing ~30% to highs of $1.59. However, its sharp February selloff broadly coincided with the weakness across tech and growth-related sectors.

Its shares were heavily sold off after its February half-year results, with management advising that COVID-19 had caused some disruption to sales and new contracts.

However, its record third-quarter results on 12 April demonstrated a strong bounce back in financial performance. The Mach7 share price jumped 9.2% from $1.26 to $1.375 on the day.

Unfortunately, the bullishness from the quarterly report was short lived, with its shares sliding below $1.26 just a few weeks later.

The post The Mach7 (ASX:M7T) share price slips despite strong IT healthcare outlook appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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There are some really intriguing ASX shares out there that might be worth looking into right now.

Businesses that are growing and have longer-term growth plans might be able to produce attractive profit growth over time.

Here are two names to think about:

Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV)

Lovisa is a business that’s currently rated as a buy by the broker Morgans with a price target of $17.95. That suggests a potential increase of over 20% during the next 12 months.

This business is about providing fashionable jewellery at affordable prices. It says that it introduces 150 new styles to stores each week. It’s currently operating in 15 countries.

COVID-19 has heavily affected trading over the last 15 months. The FY21 half-year result saw revenue drop 9.8% to $146.9 million and underlying net profit fell 22.6% to $21.5 million.

However, the business was starting to see a turnaround in the second half of FY21. Lovisa is steadily opening new stores, particularly in the huge market of the US.

Digital growth is an important part of the company’s plans – it saw 335% online growth in the first half of FY21 and wants to keep capitalising on this.

Lovisa has a “strong” balance sheet with cash and debt that can be used to support its global expansion. It has a very quick payback time for each new store that is opened and fully operational.

The broker believes that Lovisa is a good ‘opening up’ investment option, but it also offers good growth potential thanks to the acquisition of the European business called Beeline which it is looking to expand.

However, local restrictions continue to impact stores in certain locations like Victoria and Germany.

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

Kogan is another ASX share that is being disrupted by COVID-19 impacts. It benefited from the COVID-19 boom of online sales.

But now it’s suffering from slower demand as well as excessive inventory. Kogan has also been hit with demurrage costs.

However, prior to these recent issues, management could point to multiple years of growing margins such as the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin.

The business may not be able to report another half-year of growth in a couple of months, but Kogan is expecting to turn things around and achieve longer-term growth.

Kogan is expecting short-term profit margins to be impacted as it aims to return to normal inventory levels with elevated marketing initiatives. It’s now expecting FY21 adjusted EBITDA to be in a range of $58 million to $63 million.

The ASX share said about its outlook:

The board looks to the future with confidence as the business has invested in key strategic initiatives and has a strong level of in-demand inventory heading into the first half of FY22 while observing price inflation through global supply chains. The initiatives that the company has put in place to address the rapid scaling of a large e-commerce company are expected to drive continuous customer experience improvements in FY22. The company has learnt valuable lessons over the last few months, including many key strategies on how to better scale operations of a large fast-growing e-commerce company.

The post 2 compelling ASX shares that could be buys in June 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Shares in Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX: PLL) are gaining today on news of changes to the company’s board. At the time of writing, the Piedmont Lithium share price is 2.31% higher than its closing price yesterday, with shares in the company swapping hands for 89 cents apiece.

The lithium producer’s board is welcoming 2 new non-executive directors, as it says goodbye to 2 of its long-serving leaders.

Let’s take a closer look at the changes.

Piedmont Lithium’s new board

Piedmont Lithium has elected Claude Demby and Susan Jones to its board, as Levi Mochkin and the company’s co-founder Anastasios Arima make their exit.

According to the company release, Jones brings her wealth of legal and leadership experience to the Piedmont board.  

Jones’ most recent role was as executive vice president and the CEO of potash at the world’s largest underground soft rock mining company, Nutrien. Jones has also held positions on the boards of Agrium and TC Energy Corp, as well as several others.

Piedmont chair Jeff Armstrong commented on her appointment, saying:

Susan’s experience leading a global, vertically integrated, commodity company, combined with her extensive background in a variety of operational roles at Nutrien, will be an asset to Piedmont Lithium as we look to expand our business in the future.

The company said that Demby also brought with him a record of strong performance in other leadership positions. He was previously the Noël Group CEO and managing director and is currently president of Cree Inc.‘s LED business.

Of Demby’s suitability for the board position, Armstrong said:

Claude’s work leading the LED products business at Cree, developing technologies and services that have a broad environmental, social, and governance impact, will be extremely valuable to Piedmont given our focus on serving the electric vehicle market.

Armstrong acknowledged the “vision and contributions” of the outgoing board members.

Piedmont Lithium share price snapshot

The Piedmont Lithium share price is having a roaring time on the ASX of late.

Currently, the company’s share price is 139% higher than it was at the start of 2021. It’s also gained a whopping 637% since this time last year.

The lithium producer has a market capitalisation of around $510 million, with approximately 1.5 billion shares outstanding.

The post Why the Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL) share price is lifting today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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At lunch on Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on form again and charging higher. The benchmark index is currently up 0.65% to 7,264.6 points.

Here’s what is happening on the market today:

Wesfarmers update

The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price is trading lower following the release of its strategy briefing this morning. At the briefing, the company provided the market with an update on current trading. Management advised that its retail businesses have been cycling the impacts of COVID-19 in the prior year from mid-March. This has led to significant volatility in monthly sales growth results. It also revealed that online sales growth has moderated and its Catch business has experienced a decline in sales since March.

Worley share price jumps

The Worley Ltd (ASX: WOR) share price is on fire on Thursday after brokers responded positively to investor day event from yesterday. One broker that was pleased with what it saw was Goldman Sachs. This morning the broker retained its conviction buy rating and $15.60 price target on the engineering company’s shares. Elsewhere, Citi has retained its buy rating and lifted its price target to $12.60.

Pro Medicus signs deal with Mayo Clinic

The Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price is charging higher today after announcing a multi-year research collaboration agreement with healthcare giant Mayo Clinic. According to the release, the agreement will serve as the framework for collaboration between the two parties to facilitate development and commercialisation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), leveraging the Visage AI Accelerator platform.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Thursday has been the Worley share price with a 7.5% gain. Investors have been buying its shares after analysts responded positively to its investor update. The worst performer has been the Zimplats Holdings Ltd (ASX: ZIM) share price with a 3% decline. This is despite there being no news out of the platinum miner.

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Australian home appliances maker Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG) has been slammed for inventing a product that seems to be “illogical”.

Consumer advocacy body, Choice, judged Thursday that the Breville FoodCycler turns a simple environmental task into something far more energy-consuming and annoying.

The appliance is designed to crush down and dehydrate kitchen food waste to produce odourless chips that can be put in the bin or used in the garden.

Choice was perplexed why the simple process of composting – just allowing food waste to decompose – had turned into a high-energy activity.

“If you’re someone who is environmentally conscious and looking for an easy way to compost your food scraps, this is one of the poorest choices you could make,” said Choice kitchen expert Fiona Mair.

“Each cycle takes about 4 to 8 hours, and due to the device’s small capacity you can really only fit about one meal’s worth of scraps in there at a time.”

The appliance’s low capacity leads to extraordinary running costs, which cancels out all the environmental benefits of composting.

“Our performance tests found that if you ran the unit 7 times a week, it would cost you $86 a year in energy running costs,” said Mair.

“You also need to replace the filters every 3 to 4 months, which adds up to $159.80 a year. The separate bucket lid carbon filter needs to be replaced every 6 months, at a cost of $63.20 per year. The total running costs for the FoodCycler add up to over $300 a year.”

The Motley Fool has contacted Breville for comment. 

Bloody hell, it’s noisy as well

Choice’s testing also found the FoodCycler “intermittently emits an irritating, high-pitched sound”.

“The sound the FoodCycler produces while it’s running was so annoying that we had to move it out of the kitchen lab while we were waiting for the cycle to finish,” said Mair.

“You just can’t deal with a noise like that for the 4 to 8 hours it takes to get through a cycle.”

And to top it off, the outputted “eco chips” have to be stored for months before they can be used in some gardens.

“You have to wait 90 days before using the ‘eco chips’ on soil you grow food in to minimise potential health risks according to Breville’s instructions,” Mair said.

“Unlike simple composting, you need to keep the output of the FoodCycler around for three months in some cases before they’re useful.”

Choice reviewer Rebecca Ciaramidaro recommended Australians interested in recycling their food waste just go for traditional composting.

“If you live in an apartment or have limited outdoor space but still want to do your part to reduce the amount of food waste going into landfill, a bokashi bucket is a great alternative to electric composting,” she said.

“Alternatively, if you have a garden then a compost bin is the best option to create soil you can use in your garden.”

Breville shares were up 0.25% on Thursday morning, to trade at $27.65. The stocks have been something of a COVID beneficiary, rising from the high teens at the start of 2020.

UBS currently rates Breville shares a “buy” with a price target of $35.70.

The post Breville (ASX:BRG) panned for invention that makes no sense appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price has had a pretty nice fortnight or more after a year most of its shareholders might like to forget. A2 shares have been one of the worst-performing shares on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) in 2021 so far.

The company last topped out at $20.05 a share back in August last year. Since that high, it has more or less been downhill for the company ever since. A series of earnings guidance downgrades and ongoing issues at A2 Milk have seen investors bail out of A2 shares. The company reached a new 52-week (and multi-year) low of $5.04 by the middle of last month – a fall of close to 80% from last year’s highs.

But perhaps the A2 share price has finally found a bottom. In the fortnight or so since finding those new lows, the A2 share price has rallied considerably. A2 shares are today going for $5.72 apiece, which is a good 13.5% higher than the $5.04 low that we saw in mid-May.

Got milk?

Why this sudden reversal of sentiment regarding A2 Milk? Well, as the Fool discussed on Monday, it might have something to do with the changing face of China’s birth control regulations. Once famous for the ‘one-child policy’, the Chinese government has now embraced the idea of a ‘3-child policy’, mostly as a measure to counter China’s rapidly ageing population.

More births in China means more mouths to feed – and A2 Milk infant products have historically been a favourite choice of Chinese parents. Well, at least that’s what the markets seem to be thinking on this matter, which might have substantially contributed to the shares’ revaluation from the market over the past fortnight.

After this ‘recovery rally’ of sorts, shareholders might be wondering today if the A2 share price has even further to climb from here.

Where to next for the A2 Milk share price?

Well, as my Fool colleague James Mickleboro reported last month, one broker that is optimistic about A2 shares is UBS. The broker retained its ‘buy’ rating on A2 Milk, with a 12-month price target of $12.50 a share. UBS reckons A2 is dealing with its inventory issues well and is placed to recover from here. Only time will tell if this does come to pass. No doubt shareholders have their fingers crossed.

The post Up 13% in 2 weeks: Has the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price got further to climb? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Dateline Resources Ltd (ASX: DTR) share price is putting the likes of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC) and GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) to shame this morning.

AMC impressed market analysts as retail traders again drove shares 95% higher yesterday (overnight Aussie time).

And yes, that’s an impressive daily gain.

But it pales compared to the Dateline Resource share price today, up 4,066% in early trade.

Below, we look at what’s driving the surge in investor interest in the ASX gold minnow.

What did Dateline Resources report this morning?

Dateline Resources’ share price is rocketing after the company reported promising interim results from its geological review of historic exploration data at its recently acquired Colosseum Gold Mine Project. Dateline announced its acquisition of Colosseum, located in the US state of California, in March this year.

According to the release, Colosseum produced around 344,000 ounces of gold between 1988 and 1993 from two open pits. Back then an ounce of gold was trading for US$350 per ounce, compared to today’s US$1,907 per ounce. The site has not been explored in 25 years.

In the 1980s, BP Minerals defined a combined resource of 1.1 million ounces of gold down to an average depth of 850 feet (260 metres) below the surface, at 0.5 gram per tonne cut-off grade.

Dateline reports that gold is hosted in two “well defined and steeply dipping breccia pipes”, both measuring around 800 feet by 400 feet. It said that data from BP Minerals confirms both breccia pipes continue for another 1,750 feet below the defined resource shell.

Along with detailed satellite imagery, the company said it has received more than 140 boxes of information on Colosseum from Barrick yet to be reviewed and digitised.

Commenting on the historical data, Dateline Resources Managing Director, Stephen Baghdadi said:

Based on the records, less than 400,000 ounces of gold was mined from a 1.1 million ounce resource which was drilled out by BP Minerals. The BP Minerals resource is defined down to 800ft in the East pipe and 900ft in the west pipe for an average of 850 feet.

We now know 2 deep diamond core holes were put down in 1972 in search of molybdenum. Both deep holes confirmed that the breccia pipes are still present at 2,600 feet below the surface, which is an average of 1,750ft below the bottom of the BP Minerals defined resource shell. This increases our confidence in the upside potential of the project.

Dateline Resources said it is continuing to digitise the historical data and will provide additional updates on its 2021 field program plans.

Dateline Resources share price snapshot

Dateline Resources shares have been all over the map this past year, currently up 317% over 12 months. By comparison the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 24% in that same time.

Year-to-date the Dateline Resources share price is up 150%. As for investors who bought at market close yesterday, they’re sitting on gains of 4,066%.

The post Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR) share price rockets 4,066%! Here’s why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Value investors may want to keep an eye on the Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP) share price as a leading broker reckons the property group is about to re-rate.

The news comes as ASX property shares lag the broader market recovery from the COVID-19 mayhem.

The Stockland share price rallied over 20% from mid-March last year, while the Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) share price added around 7% and GPT Group (ASX: GPT) share price dipped by 8%.

In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) has bounced by close to 30% over the same period.

Why the Stockland share price could outperform

But the Stockland could soon play catch-up if Morgan Stanley is on the money.

“We focus on Sydney dwelling price movement vs. SGP’s P/E [price-earnings] multiple over a 20-yr history and find SGP generally re-rates and de-rates in line with the residential cycle,” said the broker.

Stockland’s leverage to the Sydney housing market is fortuitous. The latest housing stats showed that Australia’s largest residential market is leading the property boom.

Stockland’s share price correlation with Sydney house prices

P/E expansion to drive Stockland’s share price higher

What’s more, there is lots of room for the Stockland share price to re-rate given that it’s trading on a relatively modest P/E.

Using Morgan Stanley’s FY22 forecast earnings per share (EPS) for the group, Stockland’s P/E stands at around 13.8 times.

If Stockland’s P/E were to revisit the peaks in 2007, it would imply a 30% upside for the stock.

Better leverage to Sydney housing market

“Residential development contributes c.35% of SGP’s earnings, and SGP is Australia’s largest land developer,” said Morgan Stanley.

“As such, dwelling price momentum may be supportive of potential re-rating (or in a down-cycle, the de-rating) of SGP.”

The broker has yet to factor in the re-rating. It’s 12-month price target on the Stockland share price is $5 a share but it recommends investors buy the shares now.

Does Stockland have an edge over its peers?

In case you are wondering, Stockland is more leveraged to the rising Sydney housing market than its peers. Mirvac is largely exposed to apartments in Sydney and this segment of the property market is lagging.

And while GPT is exposed to the housing market, it’s significant portfolio of shopping malls is seen as a drag in this current environment.

The post This ASX share could be the next to get a re-rating boost appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Magnetic Resources NL (ASX: MAU) share price is rising this morning. At the time of writing, the ASX gold explorer’s shares trading for $1.52, up 1.33%.   

Below we take a look at the company’s latest drilling results.

ASX gold share defines new range of targets

Magnetic Resources shares are gaining in morning trade. This comes after the ASX gold explorer reported it had defined multiple new gold targets at its Lady Julie project in Western Australia. The new targets are located across 9 areas totalling 14 kilometres.

The company combined its own recent 2D seismic survey with historical drilling data and results from its recent major drill campaigns to define the new targets. Areas that were not previously tested returned “new significant intersections”.

It also reported the best-looking target as the 3-kilometre long HN9 mineralisation. Other potentially juicy targets are the 3.4 kilometre long Lady Julie North and 1.5 kilometre long Lady Julie Central.

At Lady Julie North, Magnetic Resources reported intersections including 18 metres at 2.1grams/tonne gold from 32 metres and 13 metres at 1.37g/t Au from 3 metres.

The ASX gold explorer said numerous untested areas remain. Magnetic Resources has also planned additional drilling at an area labelled Lady Julie North 2.

According to the release, the results represent completed assays from 55% of the total metres drilled in the exploration program. Another 117 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes have assays pending.

A new rig has already started on the site. Additionally, Magnetic Resources also plans to drill 79 holes for 7,844 metres to test and extend all 9 of the identified targets “with the aim of ultimately converting to an Indicated Resource”.

With the gold price rising strongly over the past month, ASX gold explorers are getting near historic highs for any of the yellow metal they do uncover. One ounce of gold is currently worth US$1,908 (AU$2,478) per ounce. As recently as 30 March gold was down at US$1,685 per ounce.

Magnetic Resources share price snapshot

Magnetic Resources shares have gained 27% over the past 12 months, edging ahead of the 24% gains posted by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).

Year-to-date the ASX gold explorer’s share price is up 30%.

The post Why ASX gold explorer Magnetic Resources (ASX:MAU) shares are lifting appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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