It’s a trend that’s taken the United States by storm. CBS News reports Americans who’ve had a COVID-19 jab can be eligible to get free beer, museum entries, and even Super Bowl tickets. Could freebies help encourage Australians to get involved in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout?

In a first for Australia, Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) might soon be offering travel vouchers and frequent flyer points to Australians vaccinated against COVID-19.

Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly appears to agree with the airline’s move. He told a press conference last week that using discounts, merchandise or cash lotteries to motivate Australian’s to get a COVID-19 jab were all “potentially on the table”. He said:

I think we really do need to look for incentives, as many incentives as we can, for people to become vaccinated.

With 16% of Australians surveyed in April for The Essential Report saying they will never get the jab, could businesses offering freebies spur more confidence in COVID-19 vaccines?

Let’s take a look.

Qantas’ offerings

According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Qantas’ chief customer officer Stephanie Tully has said the airline is considering offering rewards to encourage more Australians to get vaccinated.

Qantas hasn’t yet confirmed if it will offer rewards for vaccinated Aussies, but Tully was quoted by the AFR as saying Australia’s vaccine rollout is “the key to keeping our domestic borders open and safely restarting international travel”.

“As a large company that relies on travel to put our people and planes back to work, we’re obviously motivated to help with the national vaccine effort,” she said.

According to the AFR, Qantas is considering offering frequent flyer points, flight vouchers, and other perks as a reward for travellers who have completed their course of COVID-19 jabs.

Normalcy as motivation

Right now, it seems the motivating factor for most Australians to get vaccinated is the chance to return to normality.

Talks of another lockdown in Victoria recently saw a record number of Australian residents getting vaccinated. Last Wednesday 111,388 jabs were given out.

Perhaps the chance to travel internationally – potentially as early as the end of this year – could spur more people to roll up their sleeves.

Previously, Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce has said it’s possible the airline will only let vaccinated Australians fly internationally once borders open.

Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) CEO Geoff Culbert also believes boosting the vaccine rollout is the best way to restart international travel. In March he said:

The faster we get the country vaccinated, the earlier we can talk about opening the border. It’s as simple as that.

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The Mandrake Resources Ltd (ASX: MAN) share price is one of the best performers on the ASX today. This comes after the company announced it will commence a new drilling programme.

During early afternoon trade, the mineral exploration and development company’s shares are up 23.68% to 23.5 cents, a record high.

Mandrake Resources accelerates drill targets

Investors are driving Mandrake shares into new territory after the company provided a pleasing update.

According to the release, Mandrake Resources advised it has received all the necessary permits and land access agreements to begin drilling operations at the Newleyine Prospect.

Located 30 kilometres east of Chalice Mining Ltd’s (ASX: CHN) Julimar discovery in Western Australia, the Newleyine Prospect is a rich PGE-Ni-Cu target. Mandrake controls 100% of a 140 square kilometre exploration licence prospective in the Jimperding Metamorphic Belt.

PGE-Ni-Cu stands for a number of different minerals. The first, platinum group elements (PGE) consist of palladium (Pd), iridium (Ir), osmium (Os), rhodium (Rh) and ruthenium (Ru). Next on the list is nickel (Ni), and then copper (Cu).

The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) approved the Programme of Work (PoW) application for the drilling campaign.

Mandrake Resources will target three electromagnetic (EM) conductor plates that were identified by a fixed-loop electromagnetic (FLEM) survey. The geophysical interpretation suggests the EM conductor plates could be the response of massive sulphide mineralisation.

The company will seek to run a drilling program targeting PGE-Ni-Cu mineralisation similar to the Julimar Project.

A drill contractor has been secured and is scheduled to start work on 14 June 2021.

In addition, Mandrake Resources noted that it has also completed a geological mapping, sampling and portable X-ray fluorescence program across the Jimperding Project. In particular, anomalies were identified by a recent heli-Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) survey.

The company said that it will release the results shortly.

Mandrake Resources share price snapshot

Established in 1986, Mandrake Resources is a mineral exploration company that is focused on the development of PGE-Ni-Cu and gold in Australia.

The company’s share price has jumped by more than 840% over the past year, and is 170% higher year-to-date.

Based on today’s price, Mandrake Resources commands a market capitalisation of roughly $85 million, with 363 million shares outstanding.

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The News Corporation (ASX: NWS) share price is falling lower during Monday’s session. At the time of writing, shares in the media giant are trading for $32.99 – down 2.4%. By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is currently sitting 0.23% higher.

News Corp comes into focus as the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reports the company is in talks to launch a new bet making service in Australia.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s report.

Some investors aren’t betting

Investors are driving the News Corp share price lower after SMH reported the company is in talks with a consortium backed by BetMakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) major shareholder Matthew Tripp to launch FOX Bet in Australia. The betting division would be run by News Corp.

While Mr Tripp is tied to the proposal via the partnering consortium, according to SMH, BetMakers may also be involved by providing “the back-end systems” necessary for the FOX Bet launch in Australia.

Today’s news comes on the back of BetMakers’ $4 billion bid to acquire the wagering and media arm of Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX: TAH). According to today’s SMH report, if BetMakers’ bid for the Tabcorp division is successful, the former would takeover FOX Bet from News Corp after it is launched, and then run both betting companies as separate brands within the group.

When BetMakers announced its bid for Tabcorp, its share price sank. Judging by today’s News Corp share price falls, it looks like a similar story is playing out today. It seems many investors are not willing to take a punt on these latest moves in the gaming industry.

BetMakers, which is at this stage only speculatively involved in the rumours, is seeing its share price collapse today. The online bet maker’s shares are currently down a staggering 16.42% to $1.12. The Tabcorp share price is down a comparatively minor 0.68% to $5.135.

News Corp declined to comment when approached by SMH.

News Corp share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the News Corp share price has increased by around 84%. In the last 6 months alone, the company’s value has increased by around 37%. News Corp shares are only slightly off their all-time high of $34.33.

Given its current valuation, News Corp has a market capitalisation of $1.22 billion.

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The Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price is pushing higher on Monday.

At the time of writing, the cloud-based accounting and business platform provider’s shares are up 2% to $132.80.

This latest gain means the Xero share price is now up over 52% since this time last year.

Why is the Xero share price rising today?

Today’s gain in the Xero share price appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Morgan Stanley this morning.

According to the note, the broker has retained overweight rating and lifted its price target by 1.5% to $137.00.

What did Morgan Stanley say?

The note reveals that Morgan Stanley has been looking at the results of its arch rival Intuit.

It believes Intuit’s third quarter update points to a quicker than anticipated recovery in the global market for accounting software. It feels this bodes well for Xero.

This is particularly case given that Intuit’s update showed that there was strong growth in the take-up of additional products and services such as payroll and payments. It appears optimistic Xero is benefiting in this way also.

Morgan Stanley notes that Xero has been busy adding to its offering over the last 12 months with the bolt-on acquisitions of Planday, Tickstar, and Waddle. These have expanded its capabilities into accounting-adjacent services.

What else has been happening?

Morgan Stanley isn’t the only broker that has been looking at Intuit’s result and the implications it could have for Xero.

According to a note out of Citi on Friday, based on management commentary, its analysts suspect that Xero could be outperforming Intuit’s Quickbooks offering in the UK market.

However, it isn’t enough for the broker to change its rating. It continues to believe the Xero share price is fairly priced and has held firm with its neutral rating and $136.00 price target.

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The Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING) share price has been a positive performer again on Monday.

In afternoon trade, the poultry producer’s shares are up 3.5% to $3.53.

This means the Inghams share price is now up 12% over the last two trading sessions.

Why is the Inghams share price charging higher?

Investors have been bidding the Inghams share price higher since the release of its FY 2021 guidance on Friday.

For the 12 months ending 25 June, Inghams is forecasting statutory earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $438 million to $448 million and statutory net profit after tax of $80 million to $87 million. This has been driven by the benefits derived from operational efficiencies implemented throughout the year and improved trading conditions.

Management also noted that the guidance was well-ahead of the analyst consensus estimates.

Can its shares keep on climbing?

One leading broker believes the Inghams share price still has a long way to run from here.

According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts have retained their buy rating and lifted their price target on the company’s shares to $4.50.

Based on its current share price, this implies potential upside of 27% over the next 12 months excluding dividends. And if you include dividends, this potential return stretches to ~34%.

What did Goldman say?

Goldman commented: “The ANZ Poultry market is improving and ING has issued a positive trading update as we head to a close in FY21. We have upgraded our FY21-FY23 EBITDA by +2-5% and EPS by +2-11%. While today’s announcement is specific to FY21 profitability, we expect some flow through to future years from the high earnings base. Our 12-month TP has increased +5% to A$4.50, implying 39% [prior to today] total return potential. We retain our Buy rating.”

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Bitcoin (CRYTP: BTC) miners and cannabis growers may not appear to share much in common at first glance.

But there’s a surprising connection between the 2 emerging assets.

An electric connection, to be precise. As British police discovered last week.

How much electricity do we need?

Indoor cannabis cultivation requires quite a bit of electricity, mainly to power the high wattage lights which are intended to mimic the sun.

In the world’s fast-growing legal cannabis markets, cultivators tend to toe the line when it comes to tapping into the grid. Meaning they do so legally. And they pay their utility bills just like any other business.

Illicit cannabis growers, on the other hand, sometimes do an end run around the utilities by illegally tapping into power sources they’re not monitored for.

Now, with the electric usage of Bitcoin mining skyrocketing, it would seem that some Bitcoin miners are following that same illegal path.

As Bloomberg reports, police using drones in West Midlands, England discovered a warehouse throwing off an unusual amount of heat. “When British police raided a warehouse, they were expecting to find a cannabis farm. Instead they found banks of computers illegally siphoning the electricity needed to mine for Bitcoin.”

All up there were about 100 computers illegally tapped into the grid.

Police Sergeant Jennifer Griffin admitted, “It’s certainly not what we were expecting. It had all the hallmarks of a cannabis cultivation set-up.”

While Bitcoin mining is perfectly legal in the UK, stealing electricity isn’t, and charges may be pending.

So, just how much electricity does Bitcoin mining require?

According to Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C), the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value uses 66 times more electricity today than it did back in 2015. And, as Bloomberg noted, the University of Cambridge “estimates it uses more electricity globally in a year than the Netherlands”.

Bitcoin price snapshot

The Bitcoin price is up 1% over the past 24 hours. One Bitcoin is currently trading for US$34,940 (AU$45,377).

Although the token is now well off its all-time high of US$64,829, set in mid-April, it’s still up 19% year-to-date. And lest we forget, only 12 months ago crypto investors could have picked up a Bitcoin for US$9,423.

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The IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO) share price is trading slightly higher today following the release of an announcement.

At the time of writing, the nickel and lithium-focused mining company’s shares are up to $7.63.

What did IGO announce?

This afternoon IGO announced the successful completion of the divestment of its 30% interest in the Tropicana Gold Mine to Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST).

According to the release, the net proceeds from the divestment totalled $889 million, which comprises $903 million of sale consideration less $14 million of completion adjustments.

In addition, the Tropicana related hedge book has an approximate out of the money mark to market position of $20 million. IGO revealed that it intends to settle these positions progressively during June 2021.

What now?

Management notes that the completion of the divestment has maximised the value of Tropicana for IGO’s shareholders and will allow the company to pursue its strategic focus on commodities critical to enabling clean energy.

It will also allow IGO to complete the transaction with Tianqi Lithium without the need to draw on debt facilities, while retaining a strong balance sheet with pro forma net cash of $300 million.

The Tianqi Lithium transaction will see the company acquire a 49% non-controlling interest in a new joint venture with Tianqi Lithium. This will provide it with a 24.99% indirect interest in the world-class Greenbushes Lithium Mining and Processing Operation and a 49% indirect interest in the Kwinana Lithium Hydroxide Plant. Both are located in Western Australia.

IGO’s Managing Director and CEO, Peter Bradford, commented: “We are delighted to have successfully divested, and now settled, the transaction with Regis to divest our stake in the Tropicana Gold Mine. Tropicana has been a wonderful asset for IGO however, our strategic focus on clean energy metals and pending lithium transaction with Tianqi meant a divestment at this juncture was the best outcome for our shareholders.”

The Northern Star share price is up 3% to $11.78 today.

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It might be ancient history now, but there was a time when Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) was regarded as one of the most reliable ASX dividend shares on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). This company had managed to increase its dividend distributions every year between 2009 and 2020 And by a wide margin too. In 2009, Transurban paid out 22 cents per share in distributions. By 2019, that had grown to 59 cents per share, an annual compounded growth rate of 10.37%.

This yield seemed very secure too. Transurban operates toll roads, a highly stable and predictable earnings base. Well, that’s what we all thought until COVID-19 came along. It turns out that a global pandemic was one of the few events that could spark a situation where everyone effectively stopped driving. Well, not everyone. But in April last year, Transurban reported that traffic volumes had dropped by close to 50% on some of its roads.

Traffic volumes slowly recovered over 2020, but that wasn’t enough to prevent some serious damage to Transurban’s dividend distribution abilities. In 2020, the company managed to pay out just 47 cents in distribution, breaking its 10-year streak of annual increases. Things have still not recovered today either. Last August, Transurban paid out a distribution of 16 cents per share. Back in February this year, Transurban’s distribution came in at 15 cents a share.

Have we found the bottom for Transurban’s dividend?

In its half-year earnings report that Transurban delivered in February, the company did not expand too much on its future distribution plans. It only told us that the 15 cents per share distribution was “114% covered by 1H21 free cash [flow]”. It went on to say that “FY21 distribution [is] expected to be in line with Free Cash, excluding Capital Releases”.

So how do these dividend distributions translate into yield for Transurban shares? Well, on the current (at the time of writing) Transurban share price of $13.88, Transurban’s last two distribution payments of 16 cents and 15 cents per unit equate to a trailing yield of 2.23% for Transurban shares. 

What does the future hold?

A trailing yield of 2.23% is not what investors were used to before COVID. But this is a Brave New World Transurban is operating in today. Remember, the company told us in February that its traffic volumes between 1 July and 31 December 2020 were down 17.8% against the same period in 2019. Transurban funds its dividends through free cash flow. As such, we would probably need to see these declines reversing and traffic volumes to get close to, or back to, where they were pre-COVID before the company can increase its dividends back to its old levels. 

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Motley Fool Australia Chief Investment Officer Scott Phillips joined Weekend Sunrise on Sunday to discuss the sting in the tail for some workers as Super increases (and preemptively channels Bob Hawke), and celebrates roaring sales for Aussie icon, Akubra.

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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has given back its morning gains and is edging lower. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.1% to 7,173.4 points.

Four ASX shares that have not let that hold them back today are listed below. Here’s why they are pushing higher:

Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX: BVS)

The Bravura share price is up 7% to $3.52. This is despite there being no news out of the financial technology company today. However, as I noted at the weekend, Bravura has been tipped as a share to buy recently by analysts at Goldman Sachs. They see a lot of value in its shares at the current level.

Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC)

The Costa share price is rebounding from last week’s selloff and is up 3.5% to $3.43. Bargain hunters may be swooping in today on the belief that the horticulture company’s shares were oversold last week. Investors were heading to the exits in their droves following the release of an update at Costa’s annual general meeting.

Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING)

The Inghams share price is up 2.5% to $3.50. This morning analysts at Goldman Sachs released a bullish broker note relating to the poultry producer. According to the note, the broker has retained its buy rating and lifted its price target to $4.50. Goldman made the move in response to the company’s solid trading update released at the end of last week.

Propel Funeral Partners Ltd (ASX: PFP)

The Propel share price has risen 6% to $3.62. The catalyst for this was news that the funeral company has entered into an implementation agreement with its manager, Propel Investments. The agreement is intended to internalise key senior management functions. The independent directors stated that they believe the internalisation proposal is in the best interests of Propel Funeral and its shareholders.

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