The Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU) share price has continued its positive run on Tuesday.

At the time of writing, the immuno-oncology company’s shares are up over 13% to an all-time high of 46 cents.

This latest gain means the Imugene share price is now up 360% since the start of the year.

Why is the Imugene share price charging higher?

There have been a number of catalysts in recent months that have boosted the Imugene share price. They have been covered here recently.

Whereas today’s gain by the Imugene share price appears to have been driven by the release of an announcement which reveals that both its Executive Chairman and its Managing Director and CEO have increased their holdings in the company.

According to the release, Executive Chairman, Paul Hopper has exercised 25 million options and Managing Director and CEO, Leslie Chong has exercised 36.2 million options. The latter also has a further 13.8 million options that are expected to be exercised in the near future.

Insider buying often gives share prices a boost. After all, directors wouldn’t be investing their hard-earned money if they weren’t confident in the direction the company was going.

However, it is worth noting that this is very different to regular inside buying.

Mr Hopper paid a total of $1,070,000 to exercise his 25 million options, which equates to an exercise price of 4.28 cents per share. Whereas Ms Chong paid $1,517,000 to exercise her 36.2 million options, which equates to an exercise price of 4.2 cents per share.

With the Imugene share price closing the day at 41 cents on Monday, the two executives were already significantly in the money with these options.

In fact, Mr Hopper’s 25 million shares now have a market value of $11.5 million and Ms Chong’s 36.2 million shares have a market value of $16.65 million. That’s a paper profit of ~$10.4 million and ~$15 million, respectively.

The key test will be how long they hold onto these shares. If they plan to hold onto these shares for the long term, then that certainly will be a good sign for shareholders. But if they offload them for a quick profit, then all they’ve really done is dilute shareholders.

Time will tell, but there’s no doubt shareholders will be watching closely.

More reading

• Why did the Imugene (ASX:IMU) share price hit a new all-time high today?
• Here’s why the Imugene (ASX:IMU) share price is jumping 5% today

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The Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) share price is rocketing higher, nearing on its all-time high of $4.80.

This follows the biotechnology company’s update on its bone marrow conditioning investigational candidate, TLX66.

At the time of writing, Telix shares are selling for $4.48 apiece, up 12%.

What did Telix announce?

Investors are pushing Telix shares higher after investors digest the company’s latest study results from TLX66.

In its announcement, Telix advised TLX66 has met study objectives in patients with Systemic Amyloid Light Chain Amyloidosis (AL amyloidosis).

The Targeted Radiotherapy for AL Amyloidosis (TRALA) trial is a phase I/2a study currently being conducted by Telix. The program aims to evaluate the safety and toxicity of TLX66 as the sole bone marrow conditioning agent. This is before patients with AL amyloidosis go through an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

A HSCT is a procedure where a patient’s healthy stem cells are collected from blood or bone marrow before treatment. The stem cells are then safely stored and given back to the patient after treatment.

In total, 9 patients with AL amyloidosis were enrolled into the program and received TLX66 before undergoing autologous HSCT. The result demonstrated a favourable safety profile and was well tolerated within each study recruit. Pleasingly, the entire group was successfully engrafted following bone marrow conditioning with TLX66 and autologous HSCT without any chemotherapy.

Disease response, as measured by fall in clonal free light chains (FLC), was seen in 7 of the patients. Of those, two were complete responses (CR) and were five partial responses (PR) within the first 100 days after transplant.

In addition, malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow reduced in 6 of the 8 evaluable patients.

The TRALA trial was sponsored by the University Hospital Southampton in Southampton, United Kingdom. The study ran across 4 different sites and the data was reviewed by the trial’s Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC).

Words from management

Consultant Haematologist at University Hospital Southampton and TRALA principal investigator, Dr Kim Orchard commented:

Compared to the significant toxicity profile typically experienced with conventional chemotherapy-based regimens, molecularly targeted radiation with Y-besilesomab demonstrated a very benign toxicity profile, which may in turn enable a considerably greater proportion of patients with AL amyloidosis to undergo life prolonging stem cell transplantation. The very low toxicity but with demonstrable responses is very encouraging.

Telix chief medical officer, Dr Colin Hayward added:

The results from the TRALA trial indicate that TLX66 may offer a new approach to bone marrow conditioning in patients who could benefit from HSCT such as those with AL amyloidosis, providing new hope to patients with this rare disease and with few effective treatment options.

TLX66 was well-tolerated, enabling successful engraftment of the patients’ own transplanted stem cells without the need for toxic chemotherapy. With all patients remaining alive, and most not requiring further therapy, we believe these data support taking TLX66 forward into a pivotal registration program in this rare disease indication.

Telix share price summary

It’s been a positive year for Telix shareholders, with the company share price rising over 200% in the past 12 months. While most of the gains occurred late last year, year-to-date performance sits around 15% higher.

On valuation grounds, Telix presides a market capitalisation of roughly $1.2 billion, with 281 million shares outstanding.

More reading

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The Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) share price has had a good start to the trading day today.

Betmakers shares hit a new 52-week high this morning, and at the time of writing are up 3.72% to $1.54 a share.

This latest share price move puts Betmakers up 22% over the past month, 119% year to date, 156% over the past 6 months, and 338% over the past year.

It also means the Betmakers share price is up 812% in 5 years, and more than 5,000% since its all-time low of 3 cents back in 2019. 

What’s behind the company’s new high?

Well, it appears to be the result of some good old-fashioned rumours circulating around the ASX boards today.

These rumours involve fellow gaming company Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX: TAH).

As my Fool colleague Brendon Lau reported this morning, there is speculation that Betmakers may be close to making a merger proposal with Tabcorp. 

Tabcorp is a gaming company worth about $11.32 billion. In contrast, Betmakers currently has a market capitalisation of $1.26 billion.

As my Fool colleague divulged this morning, speculation surrounds Matthew Tripp of Betmakers working with investment bank Goldman Sachs to engineer a potential merger.

According to a report in The Australian, this merger could potentially unlock as much as $5 billion in value for shareholders.

They will have to fight for it though. Tabcorp is no stranger to merger proposals. Apollo Global Management and Entain (owner of Ladbrokes) have reportedly approached Tabcorp for a deal as well.

We might have to wait for an update on 30 June from Tabcorp to see how this will play out. 

About the Tabcorp share price

In contrast to Betmakers, the Tabcorp share price has not been an overly lucrative performer in recent years.

Although Tabcorp shares are up 1.5% today to $5.08 a share, the company is still a long way from the $8 a share levels investors saw way back in mid-2007.

Indeed, you could have picked up Tabcorp shares for the same price as they are going for today back in 2015. In other words, this company has been stuck in the mud, share-price wise, for a while now. 

More reading

• Why Airtasker, Betmakers, Kogan, & Telix shares are charging higher
• Fresh bets placed on Tabcorp (ASX:TAH) takeover speculation
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• ASX winners and losers from the Victorian budget
• Boral (ASX:BLD) share price in focus as it rejects Seven Group (ASX:SVW) takeover bid

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Shares in Australian Potash Ltd (ASX: APC) and Salt Lake Potash Ltd (ASX: SO4) have fallen heavily in the past week after the companies announced respective capital raisings.

Australian Potash has fallen 11.43% this week and is currently trading at 15 cents after the company announced a $10 million capital raise from investors. Meanwhile, Salt Lake Potash is down 8.75% this week trading at 36.5 cents as the company announced plans to raise $28 million.

About the potash industry

Potash is a naturally occurring substance containing large amounts of potassium that is utilised in making fertilisers. The potash these companies mine is predominantly used to manufacture sulphate of potash (SOP.)

Potassium sulphate is the second major form of potash and is seen as superior over the more abundant potassium chloride (known as MOP). Primarily, this is due to the toxic impact chloride has on many food plants and as such SOP demands up to a 40% premium.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review recently, the potash industry is slowly coming back to life as money is being pumped into the sector thanks to the potential of SOP. Thus, the race is on between a number of small-cap potash producers to be the first to turn out SOP in Australia.

Other ASX-listed potash players include Kalium Lakes Ltd (ASX: KLL), Agrimin Ltd (ASX: AMN) and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP). BHP said recently that potash was one of four projects under development this year.

Salt Lake Potash winning the race

This week, Salt Lake Potash announced it had completed an institutional placement to enable a final debt drawdown. The $28 million raised at 35 cents a share also enabled access to additional funding through a bank guarantee provided by Sequoia. However, the news has not stopped the Salt Lake Potash share price from plummeting as the company also provided a Lake Way update.

According to the company, the project is on schedule for production in June 2021 with the first sales coming shortly after. As such, plant commissioning is more than 50% complete. However, the capital budget for the works has now increased by $5 million to $269 million in order to de-risk the salt production.

Nonetheless, the company still looks like it will be the first Australian company to both produce and sell SOP across the world.

Australian Potash equity raising

The Australian Potash share price has also fallen significantly this week as the company announced a $10 million capital raise for institutional and sophisticated investors.

The funds similarly to above will be used to progress its Lake Wells SOP project. There are several pre-development activities including building the Lake Wells village.

Australian Potash managing director and CEO Matt Shackleton said:

The heavy institutional and sophisticated investor demand for the offer reflects well on the Lake Wells SOP Project’s very robust financial metrics, and supports our transition into development. The LSOP (Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash) still carries the largest 100% measured JORC compliant SOP resource across the space, which speaks to the technically de-risked nature of the development.

In addition to the LSOP, we look forward to unlocking the inherent value in the Laverton Downs nickel sulphide targets with a maiden diamond program scheduled to commence in May.

More reading

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• The BHP (ASX:BHP) share price keeps falling, could it be an opportunity?
• ASX 200 up 0.1%: Aristocrat results, Zip’s global expansion continues

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The Element 25 Ltd (ASX: E25) share price is firmly in positive territory today. This comes after the company announced that it has finalised an agreement in preparation for its first manganese concentrate shipment.

During early afternoon trade, the mineral exploration and mining company’s share price is fetching for $2.24, up 2.75%. In comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is also travelling higher at 7,318 points, up 0.6%.

Details of the Element 25 update

Investors are pushing Element 25 shares higher after the company achieved an important milestone for its future operations.

According to its release, Element 25 advised it has executed a Multi User Access Agreement with the Pilbara Port Authority. Therefore, the company will be allowed to use the Port Hedland Utah Point facility to export in bulk its manganese product. A crucial ingredient for electric vehicle batteries, the mineral will come from Element 25’s wholly-owned production facility at the Butcherbird Project.

Furthermore, the Utah Point facility is considered to be well equipped to handle multi-user bulk and loading operations.

Element 25 did not disclose the commercial terms of the agreement but stated that they are in line with normal operating terms. This also includes covering the company’s capacity requirement of up to 390 kilotons per annum for its first stage of operations.

E25 managing director, Mr Justin Brown commented:

This is another important milestone on the way to our first sale of manganese concentrate, and we are excited to be closing in on our first shipment of Butcherbird’s material to our offtake partners.

About the Butcherbird Manganese Project

The Butcherbird manganese project is an open-pit mining development located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The project is believed to contain the largest onshore manganese resource in the country.

A pre-feasibility study was completed in May 2020, and highlighted significant growth beyond the initial Stage 1 production volumes. Current JORC estimates put the project to produce 263 million tonnes of manganese ore.

Element 25 share price review

Over the past 12 months, Element 25 shares have accelerated to more than 500%, with year-to-date performance above 50%. The company’s share price reached an all-time high of $2.90 in late March before investors took profit off the table.

Based on today’s price, Element 25 presides a market capitalisation of roughly $339 million, with 148 million shares on issue.

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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed the lead of US markets and is pushing higher. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.5% to 7,082.4 points.

Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are charging higher:

Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)

The Airtasker share price has returned from its trading halt and jumped 12% to $1.21. This morning the online marketplace for local services announced the successful completion of a private placement to raise $20.7 million. These funds will be used partly to expand into the US market through the acquisition of US-based local services marketplace Zaarly. Some of the proceeds will support its UK expansion as well.

Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET)

The Betmakers share price has risen 4% to $1.54. This has been driven by speculation that the betting technology company is planning a major acquisition. The Australian is reporting that Betmakers is interested in acquiring Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX: TAH). The transaction could unlock $5 billion in value for shareholders in the combined entity according to the report. 

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

The Kogan share price has continued its rebound and is up a further 6% to $10.55. Investors have been snapping up the ecommerce company’s shares following another sizeable decline last week after the release of a disappointing trading update. The Kogan share price is now up over 20% from the 52-week low it set on Friday.

Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX)

The Telix share price has jumped 10% to $4.41. The catalyst for this was the release of an update on its bone marrow conditioning investigational candidate TLX66. According to the release, TLX66 has met study objectives, demonstrating the initial safety profile in patients with Systemic Amyloid Light Chain Amyloidosis.

More reading

• Fresh bets placed on Tabcorp (ASX:TAH) takeover speculation
• Got money to invest? Here are 2 ASX shares that could be buys
• Why the Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price will be on watch today
• The Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price has halved in 2021
• Why the Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price is up 5% today

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The Audio Pixels Holdings Ltd (ASX: AKP) share price is on the move today.

Audio Pixels shares have edged 0.04% at the time of writing to $23.70 per share. That’s after closing at $23.69 per share yesterday and opening at $24.40 this morning.

It was a lot better for Audio Pixels earlier this morning as well. Soon after open, this company got all the way up to $25.35 a share. At the time, that was a gain of more than 7%.

These latest moves in the Audio Pixels share price might come as a relief for investors, who had to watch the shares fall more than 35% between 30 March and 17 May.

A quarterly update the company put out at the end of April did not restore investors’ confidence. Audio Pixels flagged semiconductor supply chain squeezes and packaging issues that were taking a toll on its business.

Investors weren’t impressed at the time, and sent Audio Pixels shares down 10% on the news.

So what’s going right today?

Today’s share price moves can be put down to a presentation the company has released today that was shown as part of its annual general meeting.

In this meeting, Audio Pixels reiterated that it is facing global supply chain and packaging issues.

However, it also announced that its new high-voltage ASIC speaker chip is set to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In addition, the company told investors its production time for manufacturing/fabrication of wafer chips has fallen to record lows.

Back in 2013, it took Audio Pixels 52 weeks to make a wafer chip. By 2020, this had fallen to 10 weeks. It now estimates by the fourth quarter of 2021, it will be at 6 weeks.

About the Audio Pixels share price

Audio Pixels is a company dedicated to manufacturing high-quality speaker technology for small applications, such as smartphone speakers.

The company has had a bumpy ride, share-price wise, since its listing in 2004. Although Audio Pixels shares are up close to 5,000% since then, the company has yet to reclaim the share-price highs we saw back in 2017, when the company reached close to $33 per share.

On the company’s current share price, Audio Pixels has a market capitalisation of $700.5 million.

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• Why is the Audio Pixels (ASX:AKP) share price falling 11% today?

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On Monday I looked at three ASX shares that brokers have given buy ratings to this week.

Unfortunately, not all shares are in favour with them right now. Three that have just been given sell ratings are listed below. Here’s why these brokers are bearish on these ASX shares:

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)

According to a note out of Morgan Stanley, its analysts have retained their underweight rating and lifted the price target on this banking giant’s shares to $89.50. Morgan Stanley notes that CBA appears to be winning in business banking, with above-system volume growth and good margin management potentially supporting pre-provision profit growth for the first time in four years. In addition to this, the broker points out that the bank’s balance sheet is very strong. However, despite all the many positives, Morgan Stanley can’t look beyond its stretched valuation and holds firm with its underweight rating. The CBA share price is fetching $99.11 this afternoon.

Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN)

Analysts at Credit Suisse have retained their underperform rating and $4.15 price target on this airline operator’s shares. According to the note, the broker has been looking at rival domestic routes. It suspects that the increasing competition will offset some of the benefits from the $1 billion cost savings Qantas is making. In addition to this, Credit Suisse believes the company will need to invest heavily in its aircraft due to its ageing fleet. The Qantas share price is trading at $4.70 today.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

A note out of UBS reveals that its analysts have retained their sell rating and $6.75 price target on this buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares. According to the note, the broker believes that the company’s expansion into mainland Europe and the Middle East will provide it with a significant market opportunity. However, it notes that its acquired businesses are at a relatively early stage and could require significant capital in order to scale up. The Zip share price is fetching $7.16 on Tuesday afternoon.

More reading

• Why the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is volatile today
• ASX 200 up, Zip rises, Aristocrat Leisure reports
• Is the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price in the buy zone?
• The Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price hits new record highs
• Why Corp Travel, Domino’s, Kogan, & Zip shares are storming higher

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The Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX: TAH) share price is finding renewed support on rumours that it will get another marriage proposal.

It’s nice to be wanted by so many! This time, the lottery and wagering group could be wooed by wagering technology provider Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET).

The speculation doing the rounds this time is that Betmarkers’ advisor and bigwig bookie Matthew Tripp is close to making an offer for Tabcorp, reported The Australian.

Tabcorp merger with Betmaker could unlock $5bn in value

The article didn’t name any sources but it claimed that Tripp is working with Goldman Sachs to engineer a merger between the two.

The transaction could unlock $5 billion in value for shareholders in the combined entity, according to The Australian.  

Betmaker share price punt already in the money

Tripp owns around 92 million shares of Betmakers, including his performance rights. He bought the sizable stake in February this year for around $25 million and he’s already well in the money.

Tripp’s investment is worth close to $100 million given that the Betmakers share price jumped over 4% today to $1.55 on the takeover rumour.

It’s understood that Tripp’s initial approach to Tabcorp over Christmas last year was rebuffed.

Tabcorp share price bolstered by two other bids

Tabcorp is already being pursued by two others. Ladbrokes owner Entain made a $3.5 billion proposal to buy Tabcorp’s Wagering and Media unit.

Meanwhile, Apollo Global Management put forward a $4 billion deal to buy Tabcorp save for its lotteries business.

Things won’t be the same for the Tabcorp share price

It looks likely that Tabcorp won’t survive in its current form given that a number of key shareholders are unhappy with its performance.

The story is not unlike the debacle facing the Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN) share price, although not as controversial. Coincidentally, Crown is mulling a merger with rival the Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR) share price.

Tabcorp is working with UBS on the best option to unlocking value for shareholders. Management is expected to provide a game plan to investors on June 30.

Besides contemplating a merger or the sale of all or part of the group, Tabcorp could also spin-off its Wagering and Media division into a separately listed ASX entity.

Betmakers market cap stands at around $1.3 billion compared to Tabcorp’s $11.3 billion market value.

More reading

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• ASX winners and losers from the Victorian budget
• Crown (ASX:CWN) share price lifts on acquisition rejection
• The latest ASX shares that top brokers have upgraded to “buy”
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: After record high, ASX dips on inflation fears

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The Straker Translations Ltd (ASX: STG) share price is putting a smile on the faces of shareholders today. Shares are surging off the back of the language services company’s outlook update.

At the time of writing, the Straker Translations’ shares are up 10.83% to $2.00.

A ‘transformational’ year

Investors are scrambling to get a hold of Straker Translations shares this morning following the company’s update. In the release, the company points to a strong outlook for the 2022 financial year. This is thanks to its leadership in the consolidating global language services sector.

Straker also touched on its performance highlights for FY21, these included:

• Revenue increase of 13% to $31.3 million for year ending March 2021
• On a proforma basis, unaudited revenue tops $41 million for FY21
• Lingotek acquisition delivers $1.9 million in revenue within two months of integration.
• Net losses after tax increase to $6 million from $2.5 million.

These results were previously published in April. However, now they are audited and official.

The big-ticket item for Straker is its appointment as strategic translations provider to IBM (NYSE: IBM).

Additionally, the acquisition of US-based Lingotek has also been described as ‘transformational’ for the company. The deal has added $11 million in annual incremental revenue for Straker.

Positive outlook lifts Straker Translations share price

Notably, Straker advised it forecasts revenue for 2022 financial year to exceed $50 million with an improved gross margin.

The company reasons there is a growing recognition among enterprise customers of Straker’s global reach and the benefits of its RAY translation platform. Furthermore, the inclusion of Lingotek pushes the company’s proforma revenue to $41.2 million – representing a 48% increase on the prior year.

Commenting on the update, Chief Executive and Co-Founder Grant Straker said:

Our strategic priorities are clear. We are focused on driving consolidation in the translation sector, building repeating revenues – particularly among the large global enterprises that benefit from Straker’s global reach and our Ai-Powered RAY translation platform – and continuing to consolidate our technological leadership.

While the company suffered challenges from COVID-19, it believes it is also creating opportunities. Considering the deferral or cancellation of work has weighed more so on smaller translation companies, this has put more pressure on the consolidation of the industry.

More reading

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• The Straker (ASX:STG) share price is rocketing 13% today

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