• Worley (ASX:WOR) share price continues to fall despite second contract win

    A stockmarket chart on a red background with an arrow going down, indicating falling share price

    It has been a disappointing day for Worley Ltd (ASX: WOR) shares, having spent the entire day in the red. This comes despite the company announcing a contract award with Celanese, and now a deal with international fuel supplier, Shell.

    During late afternoon trade, the global engineering company’s shares are down 0.47% at $10.51 apiece.

    Let’s take a close look at what the company updated the ASX with today.

    Second contract win

    In its announcement, Worley advised it has won a contract from Shell for a green hydrogen hub in the Netherlands.

    This marks an important project for Worley as it supports the development of a new 200-megawatt electrolysis-based hydrogen plant in Rotterdam. Worley prides itself on being a part of sustainable projects, creating cleaner energy for customers around the world.

    The new plant will be powered by renewable energy from an offshore windfarm that is currently in development. Once complete, the green hydrogen plant will be one of the largest commercial green hydrogen production facilities in the world.

    The green hydrogen hub is expected to be operational by 2023, producing between 50,000 and 60,000 kilograms of green hydrogen each day. Initially, the clean fuel alternative will be used to decarbonise Shell’s nearby refinery in Pernis, and support the heavy transportation industry.

    Under the services contract, Worley will provide early engineering services for the green hydrogen plant. This includes integrating with other assets such as offshore wind, pipelines, electrical grids and Shell’s Pernis refinery.

    The project will be managed by Worley’s offices in The Hague, Netherlands. Furthermore, ongoing support will derive from the company’s hydrogen subject-matter experts and Global Integrated Delivery team in India.

    Comments from the CEO

    Worley CEO, Chris Ashton welcomed the deal with Shell, saying:

    As an Australian company operating globally, we are pleased to be working with Shell on this first-of-its- kind project. We look forward to supporting Shell’s strategy to be a provider of net-zero emissions energy products and this project is an example of how Worley can help our customers achieve their goals and own purpose of delivering a more sustainable world.

    Worley share price update

    Regardless of today’s dips, Worley shares are still more than 20% higher from this time last year.

    The company is ranked 93rd in terms of the largest market capitalisation on the ASX, with $5.4 billion.

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  • Why the Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price was sold off in May

    An ASX investor looks devastated as he watches his computer screen, indicating bad news

    The Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) share price continued its disappointing decline in May.

    The ecommerce company’s shares lost 8% of their value during the month. This meant the Kogan share price was down 60% from its 52-week high.

    And that’s despite the company’s shares rebounding 17% after hitting a 52-week low during the month.

    Why did the Kogan share price tumble in May?

    The Kogan share price was sold off last month following the release of a disappointing trading update.

    According to the update, Kogan is expecting to report adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $58 million to $63 million in FY 2021. This represents growth of just 16.7% to 27% on FY 2020’s adjusted EBITDA of $49.7 million.

    This is a significant slowdown on what it was reporting early on in the financial years. For example, during the first half, Kogan reported adjusted EBITDA of $51.7 million. This was up a massive 184.4% on the prior corresponding period.

    In addition to this, the company’s FY 2021’s result also includes the Mighty Ape business, which was acquired for $122.4 million last year. When announcing the acquisition, management was expecting the business to contribute EBITDA of A$14.3 million in FY 2021.

    If Mighty Ape has contributed this, then it would mean the core Kogan business has actually posted a decline in EBITDA in FY 2021.

    Why is Kogan underperforming?

    Management revealed that it has struggled with its inventory management in FY 2021. It appears to have been anticipating that the heightened sales activity would last longer and therefore loaded up on inventory.

    Unfortunately, sales slowed and Kogan was left with a significant excess of inventory across its warehouses. Things were so bad that the company incurred millions of dollars in demurrage costs at ports for inventory it didn’t have room for.

    This had a threefold impact on the company’s operations. As well as the extra storage costs, the company is discounting product to shift it and increasing its marketing spend to boost sales.

    Shareholders will no doubt be hoping that June is kinder to the Kogan share price.

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  • Why the Nuix (ASX:NXL) share price fell 30% in May

    An ASX investor looks devastated as he watches his computer screen, indicating bad news

    The Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) share price has finished a dramatic month 30.23% lower than where it started.

    Over the course of the month, the software company faced a series of investigative reports and its second revenue downgrade for 2021.

    After starting the month at $4.15, the Nuix share price closed yesterday trading for $2.78.

    May was the second month in a row that saw a poor performance from Nuix shares. The Nuix share price was driven 19.8% lower over April after the company downgraded its 2021 financial year guidance only weeks after reaffirming it.

    Let’s take a closer look at the troubles the Nuix share price has faced in May.

    Manic May for the Nuix share price

    Last month, before its major troubles had even begun, the Nuix share price had fallen 16%. The drop appeared to be a delayed reaction to its April downgrade.

    Nuix’s real trouble started on 17 May.

    Investigations

    That morning, Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd‘s (ASX: NEC) Australian Financial ReviewThe Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald began publishing a series on a joint investigation into Nuix.

    The series involved 5 articles that ran daily over the course of a week.

    Within the articles, the media outlets claimed Nuix had been poorly governed and had a history of bad financial disclosures.

    Most of the claims were related to Nuix’s co-founder and former chair Tony Castagna, and his 2018 money laundering and tax evasion charges. Castagna was acquitted of the charges in 2019.  

    The publications claimed Castagna left Nuix’s board the day its prospectus was released, meaning many Nuix investors wouldn’t have known Castagna was involved with the company.

    They also made allegations about an options package, given to Castagna in 2005.

    According to the publications, Castagna was issued 300,000 shares in Nuix for $3,000 in 2005, but only one piece of paperwork noted the options’ existence until 2011.

    The options were supposedly cashed out for $80 million during Nuix’s ASX debut.

    The publications questioned if the options were given to Castagna in 2011 and backdated to 2005.

    The AFP has begun an investigation into the options package. But, they haven’t stated exactly what about the package is suspicous.

    Nuix cut its ties with Castagna on Friday, sending its share price falling once more.

    Class action lawsuit

    A second option package has kept Nuix on its toes recently.

    The three Nine publications claimed Niux’s former CEO, Eddie Sheehy, is taking legal action against Nuix over his 2008 remuneration package.

    Apparently, Sheehy was told options within his remuneration package weren’t applicable for a 50 for 1 share split, which Nuix conducted in 2017. Sheehy claims the share split cost him $118 million.

    Another 2 class actions are also being evaluated by law firms. They mainly relate to prospectus forecasts that were missing during Nuix’s first year on the ASX.

    Another downgrade

    Yesterday saw May’s final blow to the Nuix share price.

    The company delivered yet another downgrade. This time it stated its pro forma revenue will be between $173 million and $182 million for the 2021 financial year.

    Nuix’s previous guidance (its April downgrade) stated its pro forma revenue would be between $180 million and $185 million over the 2021 financial year.

    Nuix share price snapshot

    The poor month’s performance has added to the Nuix share price’s recent woes.

    Currently, the Nuix share price has fallen 65% since its initial public offering (IPO) on the ASX in December.

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  • 2 top ETFs to buy in June 2021

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    Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can be an effective way for investors to get exposure to a region or sector of the share market.

    Technology businesses are often the businesses that are creating the products of ‘tomorrow’, so it might beneficial to get exposure to that sector. These two ETFs are potential options:

    Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)

    This investment is about giving investors exposure to 100 of the largest businesses on the NASDAQ. This is a stock exchange in the US.

    You’ll find many of the world’s most well-known tech companies in this portfolio including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Facebook, Alphabet, Tesla, Nvida, PayPal, Adobe and Netflix.

    But this ETF is more than just a tech ETF. It has plenty of other global leaders in its portfolio like PepsiCo, Costco, Mondelez, Moderna and Kraft Heinz.

    As a group, the NASDAQ 100 has performed strongly, even after the management fee of 0.48% per annum.

    Over the prior five years, the Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF has produced an average return of 26.4% per annum. That’s higher than the long-term average return of 10% per annum.

    This could be an effective way to diversify ASX-focused portfolios considering almost half of the NASDAQ 100 is weighted to technology businesses, whilst technology only accounts for a single digit percentage on the ASX.

    Investors also get a lot of global diversification from the underlying earnings. Businesses like Microsoft and Facebook generate earnings from almost every country in the world.

    Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASX: ASIA)

    This is an ETF where the idea is for investors to be able to get exposure to many of the biggest technology businesses in Asia, outside of Japan.

    It has a total of 50 holdings. You may have heard of some of the largest portfolio allocations including: Tencent, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Alibaba, Meituan, Pinduoduo, JD.com, Sea, Infosys and Netease.

    It’s not just the West that gives exposure to large tech businesses that have involvement in things like e-commerce, cloud computing, semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Asia has those businesses too. 

    Almost three quarters of the portfolio is invested in businesses that are listed in China and Taiwan. Another fifth is allocated to South Korean companies. The only other meaningful country allocation is a 5.7% position in Indian businesses.

    The annual management fee of this ETF is 0.67% per annum. Despite the fee, since inception in September 2018, the ETF has delivered an average net return per annum of 30.5%.

    However, past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

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  • Why CSL (ASX:CSL) and this ASX healthcare share are rated as buys

    rising medical asx share price represented by excited doctors dancing in ward

    The healthcare sector has been a great place to invest over the last five years. Since this time in 2016, the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care index has risen an impressive 98%.

    This compares to a ~34% gain by the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over the same period, excluding dividends.

    While there’s no guarantee that the sector will continue this outperformance over the next five years, there are a number of positive tailwinds that are supportive of growth. This could make it worth considering a long term investment in the space.

    But which ASX healthcare shares should you consider? Here are two that are rated highly:

    CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)

    CSL is one of the world’s leading biotherapeutics companies. Its shares are up approximately 150% over the last five years due to a number of factors. This includes successful acquisitions, its high level of investment in research and development (R&D) activities, its growing plasma collection network, and its leading therapies and vaccines.

    In respect to its therapies, CSL’s portfolio includes lucrative and life-saving products such as Privigen, Hizentra, Idelvion, and Afstyla. These will be added to in the coming years thanks to its almost billion-dollar annual investment in R&D.

    One broker that sees value in the CSL share price at present is Credit Suisse. The broker currently has an outperform rating and $315.00 price target on its shares.

    Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME)

    Pro Medicus is a healthcare technology company. It provides healthcare organisations with radiology information systems (RIS), picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), and advanced visualisation solutions.

    Thanks to its industry-leading technology and the structural shift away from legacy systems, Pro Medicus has been growing at a strong rate in recent years. Pleasingly, this has continued in FY 2021. For example, during the first half, the company reported a 7.8% increase in revenue to $31.6 million and a 25.9% jump in underlying profit before tax to $18.76 million.

    Looking ahead, the company still has a large pipeline of sales opportunities that could be converted in the near future and drive further growth over the next decade.

    Goldman Sachs is a fan of Pro Medicus. It currently has a buy rating and $53.80 price target on its shares.

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  • Yikes! Is Bitcoin about to get dethroned?

    Falling ASX share price represented by shocked Investor looking at phone

    Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) remains the best-known cryptocurrency in the world. It also claims the largest market cap. That currently sits at US$689 billion (AU$895 billion), according to data from CoinDesk.

    But just because it’s held the number 1 spot since, well, forever, doesn’t mean it might not get dethroned. Indeed, a valid contender is nipping at its heels.

    Namely, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

    Ethereum is gaining ground

    Ethereum currently has a market cap of US$308 billion. Yes, that’s less than half of Bitcoin’s market valuation. But Ethereum is closing the gap as it’s suffered less during the recent broader crypto sell-off than the world’s number 1 token.

    Whether that trend continues is hotly debated among the world’s crypto experts.

    Tegan Kline is the co-founder of blockchain software company Edge & Node. As Bloomberg reports, Kline believes Ethereum “will likely exceed Bitcoin at some point in the future, as Ethereum will be superior when it comes to innovation and developer interest”.

    Then there are Goldman commodity strategists Mikhail Sprogis and Jeff Currie. The pair don’t believe Bitcoin’s dominant position is written in stone. In fact, they wrote that the token may well “eventually lose its crown as the dominant digital store of value to another cryptocurrency with greater practical use and technological agility”.

    Sounding off in support of the world’s current number 1 digital token is Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at Oanda Corp.

    According to Moya, “Bitcoin will still remain king of the cryptos.” He added it “had too big of a lead for Ethereum to catch and has one major advantage, a fixed supply of only 21 million coins.”

    Bitcoin and Ethereum price snapshot

    Bitcoin is enjoying a strong rebound today, up 7.7% in the past 24 hours to US$ 36,887. Year-to-date the price has gained 27%.

    Ethereum is also surging today, up 15.1% over 24 hours to US$2,653. Though well down from its mid-May all-time highs of US$4,383, the Ethereum price is up 256% so far in 2021.

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  • Here’s what happened to the Appen (ASX:APX) share price in May

    tech shares represented by woman holding hand out to touch icons on digital screen

    It certainly was an eventful month for the Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price in May.

    During the month, the artificial intelligence (AI) data annotation products and solutions provider’s shares lost 14% of their value.

    This was actually a decent result, as the Appen share price was down as much as 32% month to date at one stage during the month.

    Why was the Appen share price under pressure in May?

    The Appen share price came under significant pressure early on in the month following the release of a presentation which provided colour on industry conditions.

    Although management spoke positively about its position in the industry, it also revealed that its customers were changing the ways in which they develop projects. This has resulted in changing data volumes on a handful of large projects, impacting Appen’s revenue.

    This, and management’s failure to comment on its guidance for FY 2021, spooked the market and sent its shares crashing lower.

    The rebound

    In response to this, later in the month Appen announced that it would be restructuring its business to align to its product-led growth strategy and distinct customer propositions.

    This will see the company operate with four customer-facing business units – Global, Enterprise, China, and Government. Management expects the changes will provide greater visibility of the drivers and performance of the business. And judging by the significant rebound in the Appen share price following this update, the market appears to agree.

    Also going down well with investors was management finally commenting on its guidance for FY 2021.

    As it turns out, there was nothing to fear here. It has reiterated its guidance and is forecasting underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$83 million to US$90 million in FY 2021. This represents constant currency growth of 18% to 28% year on year.

    Where next for its shares?

    According to a note out of Ord Minnett from late last month, it believes there is significant upside for the Appen share price over the next 12 months.

    The broker currently has a buy rating and $24.75 price target on its shares, which implies potential upside of 90%.

    All in all, shareholders will be hoping this broker is on the money and the Appen share price has a much better month in June.

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  • Why are Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) shares dropping today?

    miner has his head down disappointed with the share price

    The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) isn’t having a crash hot kind of day today. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has slipped 0.2% and is sitting at 7,147 points.

    One ASX share that is contributing to this dip today is the Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC) share price. Lynas shares are close to topping the ASX 200 losers today and are down a hefty 4.71% to $5.26 a share at the time of writing. This move pulls Lynas down to the lower side of the range it has been trading in since February. It also means that Lynas is now more than 22% below the new 52-week high of $6.82 that the rare earths company hit back in March.

    Even so, the Lynas share price is still well ahead when you zoom out a little. Year to date, the company is still sitting on a pretty solid 25.8% gain. It’s also up a pleasing 154% over the past 12 months.

    So why are Lynas shares down in the dumps today?

    Lynas share price drops

    At first glance, it’s not really clear why Lynas shares seem to be on investors’ bad side today. There are no official news or announcements out of the company today, or since 18 May for that matter.

    As such, it might be that some investors are simply taking some profits off of the table today. Despite the lacklustre month or two that Lynas shares have had, many long-term investors would still have some pretty solid green figures in their ledger for this company. Perhaps after the ASX 200 hit a new all-time high last week, investors woke up this morning with a mind to take some capital off the table.

    What else is going on with Lynas?

    Back in mid-May, Lynas did tell the markets that it had run into some issues with its rare earths processing plant in Malaysia. These are largely related to the coronavirus pandemic, and involve nationwide lockdown restrictions. Although the company assured investors that it would continue to operate under “standard procedures”, it nevertheless spooked investors at the time and resulted in a large drop in the Lynas share price. Perhaps this situation is still on investors’ minds today.

    Whatever the reason, Lynas shareholders probably won’t be too happy with what the market has dished up to them today. At the company’s current share price, Lynas has a market capitalisation of $4.74 billion and a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 337.5.

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  • Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) share price rebounds on positive update

    The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price spent most of the day lower, before slightly rebounding during late-afternoon trade. This comes despite the company announced an update at its wholly-owned Finniss Lithium Project located in the Northern Territory.

    At the time of writing, the emerging lithium producer’s shares are flat 24 cents.

    What did Core Lithium announce?

    According to its release, Core Lithium advised it has recommenced drilling operations at the Finniss Lithium Project. The diamond core drilling campaign kicked off this week, focusing on resource expansion drilling and exploration activity. A Reverse Circulation (RC) rig and Rotary Air Blast (RAB) rig is expected to commence follow-up drilling later this month.

    Diamond drilling is a more efficient way for precise sampling and analysis, whereas RC drilling is used for extracting bulk samples. When it comes to speed, RC drilling is the faster method, however, diamond drilling is employed when seeking accurate results.

    Rotary Air Blast drilling, also known as “down-the-hole drilling”, is an open-hole technique that employs a pneumatic hammer with tungsten “teeth” that chew away the rock surface. Debris is then blown up and out through the excess space surrounding the rod.

    The company highlighted that this is the biggest lithium resource expansion drilling campaign in its history at the Finniss Project. It is projected that drilling operations will bring lithium rich pegmatites into spodumene resources in coming months.

    In addition, Core Lithium noted that gold exploration activities are underway in the Northern Territory, at the Bynoe Gold Project. Early-stage geological mapping and geochemical surveys are currently underway before gold discovery drilling programs begin later this year.

    Core Lithium managing director, Stephen Biggins commented:

    We are excited to be recommencing fieldwork at the Finniss Lithium Project, this time being the most extensive exploration and drilling campaign we have ever conducted at our flagship asset.

    We are confident that, through this program, we will be able to significantly upscale the lithium resources and mine life at Finniss, making Australia’s next lithium mine an even more attractive investment opportunity.

    Core Lithium share price summary

    It’s been an impressive 12 months for Core Lithium shares, rising by more than 450%. Year-to-date performance has also presented strong gains, up 60% in 2021.

    Core Lithium has a market capitalisation of roughly $278 million, with approximately 1.1 billion shares on its registry.

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  • What you need to know about the RBA’s rate decision today

    RBA interest rate represented by big green digits 0.10 percent

    The Australia dollar fell after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) gave its strongest hint yet that record low interest rates will stay till 2024 or beyond.

    The Aussie dropped from US77.62 cents to US77.38 cents on RBA’s rate announcement this afternoon. It recovered some lost ground and is trading at US77.50 cents at the time of writing.

    No one would be caught off-guard by the central bank’s decision to leave rates and its bond buying program unchanged. But what caught the market’s attention was its prediction that wages won’t be moving much higher until 2024 at the earliest.

    RBA pours cold water on inflation fears

    This effectively signals that the RBA could be happy to hold the cash rate at 0.1% until then. This is because our central bankers won’t have to worry about inflation until then.

    That will be good news for ASX investors. Global equity markets are on edge due to worries about rising prices.

    The surge in commodity prices and ongoing supply chain disruptions have caused prices of many goods, including food, to jump.

    Why inflation could be the biggest threat to the ASX bull market

    Central bankers around the world, including the US Federal Reserve, have repeated reassurances that rates will stay at an all-time low for the next few years. This is even after the latest quarterly inflation reading shot past the targeted band of 2% to 3%.

    It’s only fitting that the RBA addressed the elephant in the room. If interest rates rise sooner than expected, as some believe, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) could crash.

    The market has not priced in a quicker than expected rise in rates, which lower share valuations.

    Why the RBA won’t lift interest rates till 2024 or later

    While the RBA acknowledged that inflation is likely to overshoot in the near-term but it was unperturbed.

    “Despite the strong recovery in the economy and jobs, inflation and wage pressures are subdued,” said RBA Governor Philip Lowe.

    “While a pick-up in inflation and wages growth is expected, it is likely to be only gradual and modest. In the central scenario, inflation in underlying terms is expected to be 1½ per cent in 2021 and 2 per cent in mid 2023.”

    Are inflationary pressures transitory?

    The RBA’s confidence that the inflation genie hasn’t escaped from its bottle is due to wages growth. For inflation to be “sticky”, wages need to rise meaningfully.

    Not even a faster than expected recovery for jobs and the Australian economy is enough to worry our central bankers. The RBA expects our economy to expand by an impressive 4.75% this year and 3.5% in 2022.

    “Job vacancies are at a high level and a further decline in the unemployment rate to around 5 per cent is expected by the end of this year,” added Dr Lowe.

    “There are reports of labour shortages in some parts of the economy.”

    One area of concern for the RBA in its interest rate call

    But this isn’t to say that the RBA is relaxed about everything. The hot housing market is giving our monetary gurus some pause.

    It admitted that it was keeping a close eye on trends in housing borrowing and stressed the importance that high lending standards are maintained.

    Also important to note, the RBA doesn’t share the same concern about ASX shares even as our market breaks new record highs.

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