Shares in BPH Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)  fell today after a senior executive at the company warned that Australia’s trade tensions with China are a danger to the economy. The BHP share price closed 1.1% lower on Friday, with shares in the resources company swapping hands for $47.75.

According to reporting by The Australian, president of BHP Minerals Australia Edgar Basto believes Australian producers could face a 50% decline in the sale price of coking coal if they are unable to export to China. Coking coal – also known as metallurgical coal – is used to make steel.

BHP produced around 70 million tonnes of coking coal in 2020.  

The coal was unofficially banned by the Chinese Government in October last year. ABC News reported late last year that, in 2019, 24% of Australia’s coking coal was exported to China.

Let’s take a closer look at Basto’s sombre warning.

Trade tensions have BHP on edge

Yesterday, Basto spoke at the Competitive Advantage Forum, hosted by BHP and The Australian.

He told the forum that losing China as a coal trading partner could have a devastating effect on producers’ bottom lines.

Basto was quoted by The Australian today as saying:

BHP is also a major producer of Australian iron ore. China’s importing of the mineral is yet to be affected by the political tensions. Although, China’s National Development and Reform Commission has said it plans to up its domestic iron ore production.

On the risk of Australia losing China as an iron ore trading partner, Basto was quoted by The Australian as saying:

The outlook looks good long term but unfortunately the here and now is a slightly different story…

Overall I think it’s a risk to the Australian economy and it’s an important risk and I think we should be candid in the way we evaluate the risk.

BHP share price snapshot

Despite a poor end to this week, BHP shares are still having a good run on the ASX recently.

Currently, the BHP share price is up 12.54% year to date. It has also gained 38.37% since this time last year.

The company is one of the ASX’s largest, with a market capitalisation of around $142 billion. It has approximately 5 billion shares outstanding.

More reading

• Here’s why the BPH Energy (ASX:BPH) share price is up 22% today

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The Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) share price ended the day firmly in the green. This comes after the betting technology company announced a favourable outcome on the Fixed Odds Bill.

At the end of market trade, BetMakers shares finished at $1.50, up 2.74%.

More details on the Fixed Odds Bill

According to its release, BetMakers advised that the New Jersey General Assembly has unanimously passed Bill A4909. This relates to authorising “fixed odds wagering on horse races through fixed odds wagering system” within the state.

The vote resulted in a unanimous 75-0 count in favour of the Fixed Odds Bill early this morning (AEST).

Investors appeared pleased with the resolution, sending BetMakers shares higher throughout the day.

BetMakers noted that the next step in the legislative process is for identical Bill S3090 to be voted on by the full floor of the Senate. It was passed unanimously by the New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee in November last year.

If the Bill is passed by the Senate, a final approval will be sent to the New Jersey Governor to sign it into law.

The company highlighted its exclusive 10-year agreement with New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen Association and Darby Development LLC.

The deal, if given the green light, would see BetMakers deliver and manage fixed odds horse racing into New Jersey.

What did the BetMakers CEO say?

BetMakers CEO, Todd Buckingham touched on the company’s progress, saying:

The company is working closely with various industry stakeholders including racetracks, wagering operators and regulators, to ensure we implement a sustainable growth model for horse racing in the North American market.

We are pleased with the progress and the consideration that has been given to the Bill (to authorise fixed odds wagering on horse races through fixed odds wagering system) since it was introduced to the New Jersey legislature in November last year and look forward to it progressing through the final stages of approval.

BetMakers share price snapshot

The BetMakers share price has been on fire over the past 12 months, jumping close to 400%.

In June, the company’s shares fell to a 52-week low of 30 cents, and have not looked back since. It’s worth noting that the BetMakers share price is within a whisker of breaking its all-time high of $1.535.

Based on today’s price, the company commands a market capitalisation of around $1.2 billion.

More reading

• Young investors OK with ASX shares peddling gambling, tobacco, porn
• The BetMakers (ASX:BET) share price is up 28% this month. Here’s why
• Here’s why the BetMakers (ASX:BET) share price is in the red today
• Why this ASX share bull market could run for longer

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) went up by 0.15% to 7,030 points today.

Here are some of the highlights from the ASX:

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

The Kogan share price was the worst performer in the ASX 200 today, falling by over 13%.

The e-commerce ASX share said that underlying operating performance is expected to be challenged in the near-term, leading to adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be lower than the current range of analyst forecasts.

Kogan’s projection for FY21 adjusted EBITDA is in the range of $58 million to $63 million.

Having doubled in size in the first half of FY21, it decided to significantly expand its inventory holding to provide the products and delivery experience that customers expect. The company also increased its logistics footprint to 31 facilities. This rapid expansion has resulted in a number of near-term supply chain inefficiencies and inventory planning challenges, all of which are being addressed.

The higher inventory levels has meant higher warehousing costs. It’s spending more on marketing and increased discounting to sell the excess inventory.

There was one positive that Kogan revealed. The demurrage issue that the company was experiencing has been resolved. However, this has led to significant costs over the last five months. But it doesn’t expect any material demurrage issues to arise in the future.

Kogan said that the longer term fundamentals for the business remain very attractive given the company’s position in the Australian and New Zealand online retail markets, and with online retail sales currently only accounting for a small percentage of total retail sales in Australia and New Zealand.

EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML)

The EML share price rebounded today. It went up more than 15% today, adding to the recovery over the last couple of days.

However, it is still down 35% from the share price level before it announced the regulatory issues that it is facing from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI).

The regulator has concerns relating to EML’s subsidiary in Ireland that is responsible for around 27% of the company’s global consolidated revenue that operate under Irish authorisation.

Those concerns relate to anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing, risk and control frameworks and governance.

EML said it welcomes the opportunity to engage more closely with the CBI in relation to the matters raised and the business model more generally. EML is committed to co-operating with the CBI and is taking steps to address concerns raised.

Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)

Airtasker announced today that it was acquiring US local services marketplace Zaarly for $3.4 million and launching a $20.7 million capital raising to accelerate its international expansion.

The Zaarly acquisition provides Airtasker with more than 597,000 registered users (customers) and more than 900 verified service providers to jump start its US expansion.

Airtasker said that Zaarly’s highly experienced team of marketplace product, engineering and operations executives will be led by CEO Bo Fishback and will joint Airtasker to lead the US market expansion.

The capital raising of 20.7 million shares will be done at an issue price of $1 per share for institutional, professional and sophisticated investors. Some of the money will be used to expand into key city markets in the US and UK.

More reading

• Why the Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price crashed 14% to a 52-week low
• Why Appen, Kogan, Nufarm, & Red 5 shares are sinking
• The ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price leads the ASX 200 banks this week
• Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price sinks 12% on profit downgrade
• Why a2 Milk, EML Payments, Webjet, & Xero shares are pushing higher

The post ASX 200 rises, Kogan sinks, EML soars appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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If you’re looking for ASX 200 shares to buy, then you might want to check out the ones listed below.

These quality companies have been tipped as potential market beaters. Here’s what you need to know about them:

REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)

The first ASX 200 share to look at is this property listings company. After a couple of years of battling (very successfully) tough trading conditions, the wind is firmly in REA Group’s sails at last.

Thanks to the booming housing market, low interest rates, and the relaxation of lending rules, property listing volumes are expected to rise meaningfully in the near term. Combined with new revenue streams, cost cutting, acquisitions, and price increases, this bodes very well for REA Group’s earnings growth in the coming years.

One broker that is particularly positive on the company is Morgan Stanley.  It currently has an overweight rating and $175.00 price target on its shares.

SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK)

Another ASX 200 share to consider is SEEK. It is of course the leading job listings company in the ANZ region and has a number of growing businesses around the globe.

With the Australian economy recovering strongly from the pandemic and businesses managing to successfully overcome the removal of the Job Keeper program, trading conditions look very favourable for SEEK. Especially given its leadership position in the local market.

At the end of the first half, the company was averaging 35 million monthly visits and had 160,000 active hirers. This led to the company having almost a third of all placements in the region, which is an enormous five times greater than its nearest rival.

Analysts at Credit Suisse are positive on the company’s future. They currently have an outperform rating and $34.00 price target on its shares.

More reading

• 2 ASX shares I hold that I’d still buy more of: fundie
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• 2 buy-rated ASX 200 blue chip shares
• Why a2 Milk, Afterpay, Nearmap, & REA Group shares are sinking

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Luxury online retailer Cettire Ltd (ASX: CTT) has fast become a considerably successful company. After debuting on the ASX in December, the Cettire share price has surged 353%. The company now boasts a market capitalisation of $777 million.

Likely, no one is more excited about the company’s success as founder and CEO, Dean Mintz.

Rich lister in the making

Cettire came to life through an incubator in 2014 and was quickly prioritised as a preferred concept.

Detailed in the prospectus, “Dean identified a market opportunity to build a global online proposition in the personal luxury goods market, a large market characterised by relatively low (but growing) digital adoption, high fragmentation and scope for attractive unit economics.”

The company was officially launched in October of 2017, experiencing substantial growth since. Under the cloak of a ‘luxury goods retailer’, Cettire runs on a proprietary technology platform. One that has been developed to facilitate the entire customer fulfilment cycle, integrate supplier inventory systems, enable dynamic pricing, and harness data-driven marketing decisions.

Boasting a shareholding of 66% of shares on issue, Mr Mintz clearly still believes there’s plenty of runway for the company. The global personal luxury goods industry is estimated to have a total addressable market of $460 billion.

At Friday’s closing Cettire share price of $2.03, Mintz’s stake is worth roughly $510 million. Based on last year’s Australian Financial Review Young Rich list, that would place the Cettire founder in 14th spot – wedged between Envato founder Cyan Ta’eed and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) founder Larry Diamond.

Sending the Cettire share price higher

Most recently, the company’s shares have been flying higher following two announcements.

Firstly, Cettire provided a trading update on 3 May for the company’s third quarter FY21. Rapid growth in sales revenue of 331% to $18.5 million for the quarter resulted in an upgrade to FY21 forecasts.

Secondly, the luxury goods retailer announced a partnership with Klarna on Wednesday. Under the deal, Cettire will provide its customers shopping in Australia and the United States with Klarna’s buy now, pay later services.

The Cettire share price finished 9.1% higher on Friday, rising to $2.03 per share. Earlier in the day, the company’s shares hit a new all-time high of $2.13.

More reading

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• Cettire (ASX:CTT) share price jumps 8% on Klarna partnership
• Afterpay (ASX:APT) venture fund eyes next investment
• A2 Milk and Zip were among the most traded ASX shares last week

The post The Cettire (ASX:CTT) share price is set to mint a new rich lister appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Perenti Global Ltd (ASX: PRN) share price is in the red during late afternoon trade. This follows the diversified mining company’s announcement that an underground incident has occurred at Obuasi mine in Ghana.

At the time of writing, Perenti shares are shedding 4.29% to 67 cents. It’s worth noting though that before the update, the company’s share price was flat at 70 cents.

Let’s take a close look and see what Perenti updated the ASX with.

Search effort underway

Investors are selling off Perenti shares in light of the company’s latest news.

In its announcement, Perenti advised that a mining employee from the Underground Mining Alliance (UMA) has disappeared at AngloGold Ashanti CDI’s (ASX: AGG) Obuasi mine.

The UMA is a joint venture between Perenti’s subsidiary, African Underground Mining Services and Rocksure, a local Ghanaian contracting company. The companies hold a 70% and 30% interest, respectively.

According to AngloGold Ashanti’s release, a mining contractor went missing after a fall of ground in one of the operation’s mining stops. The incident took place on 18 May and immediately triggered a search and rescue effort.

AngloGold Ashanti noted that rescue teams have worked around the clock in difficult geotechnical conditions to find the missing colleague.

Relevant authorities have been notified and are providing support to the worker’s family and friends. In addition, UMA is working closely with AngloGold Ashanti during this time.

AngloGold Ashanti emphasised that safety is paramount and as a result, will indefinitely suspend all mining activity at Obuasi mine. Perenti expects the shutdown won’t have any material impact on its FY21 earnings.

An update on the situation is expected to be provided in due course.

About the Perenti share price

Established in 1987, Perenti is one of the world’s largest companies that provides surface and underground mining and support services. The group is headquartered in Australia, and has operations and offices across 11 countries.

Over the past 12 months, the Perenti share price has fallen over 40%, with year-to-date performance also down more than 50%. The company’s shares reached a 52-week high of $1.60 in June 2020 on the back of a positive business update. However, the company’s recent half-year results in February sent its shares south.

On valuation grounds, Perenti presides a market capitalisation of roughly $471 million, with about 704 million shares on issue.

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: After record high, ASX dips on inflation fears
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• The Perenti (ASX:PRN) share price is collapsing 29%. Here’s why
• Why American Pacific Borates, NAB, Perenti, & Xero are tumbling lower
• ASX 200 dips, NIB soars, Perenti rises

The post The Perenti (ASX:PRN) share price is dropping 4% today. Here’s why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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This week, the price of gold hit its highest point since January, sending some S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold mining shares soaring.

At the time of writing, the price of gold is US$1,875.84 per ounce. That’s slightly less than its intra-week high of US$1,888.98, which it hit late Wednesday night.

According to Bloomberg, US investors are turning to precious metals amid worries over inflation.

Shareholders in ASX 200 gold mining companies might be hoping these inflation concerns persist if they continue to drive up the price of the yellow metal.

Despite the commodity’s price gaining a small but respectable 2.2% this week, some ASX 200 gold shares have had a bumper week, as a result.

So, which ASX 200 shares have been sparkling from the surging gold price? Let’s take a look.

ASX 200 gold shares making gains this week

De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG)

Despite being in the red today, the De Grey Mining share price has gained a whopping 18.7% since this time last week.

At Friday’s close, the company’s shares were swapping hands for $1.55.

De Grey had a rough end to last week for no apparent reason. Its shares fell 9.44% last Friday despite no news from the company. Thankfully for shareholders, DeGrey shares have well and truly bounced back this week.

Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)

Over the course of this week, the Northern Star Resources share price has gained 6.74%. This includes a small gain of 0.27% today.

As of Friday afternoon, Northern Star shares were trading at $11.24, which still leaves them down by more than 20% over the last 12 months.

Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)

Despite falling today, the Evolution Mining share price has ended the week well.

By Friday’s close, the company’s shares were trading 5.76% higher than at the end of last week, fetching $5.14 apiece.

In news this week, Evolution completed its acquisition of Canadian gold miner Battle North Gold Corp (TSE: BNAU). Battle North owns 5 gold and silver mines in New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia.

Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN)

Finally, trailing the pack was Chalice Mining, with a share price gain of 2.1% over the course of this week.

At today’s market close, Chalice shares were trading at $7.77 each.

More reading

• 3 top-performing ASX shares this week
• Why this expert is urging you to buy these ASX defensive shares even in a bull market
• Forget bitcoin, why it might be time for gold to shine
• Evolution (ASX:EVN) share price slides despite takeover update
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday

The post ASX 200 shares cashing in on the rising gold price this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Looking for growth shares to buy? Then you might want to consider adding the two listed below to your portfolio.

Here’s why they have been tipped as growth shares to buy:

NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

The first ASX share to look at is NEXTDC. It is a leading data centre-as-a-service provider with a growing network of data centres in key locations across Australia.

NEXTDC has been a very strong performer over the last 12 months. This has been driven by the pandemic accelerating the shift to the cloud, which has led to a significant increase in demand for capacity in its data centres and underpinned strong sales and operating profit growth.

In fact, demand has been so strong that management has had to bring forward its capacity expansion plans in order to cope.

The good news is that the structural shift to the cloud isn’t anywhere near complete, with more and more businesses and organisations poised to move their in-house operations to data centres in the future. As a result, NEXTDC still has a long runway for growth in the Australian market.

But management isn’t settling for that. The company has recently opened up offices in Tokyo and Singapore with a view of expanding into these markets in the near future. Given the size of these markets, they could be a real boost to its earnings growth in the 2020s.

Analysts at Citi are very positive on its prospects. They currently have a buy rating and $14.45 price target on its shares.

PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH)

Another ASX share to look at is PointsBet. It is one of the world’s leading sports betting companies with operations in the ANZ and US markets.

PointsBet may be a relatively new company but you wouldn’t think that looking at its financials. For example, during the third quarter, the company reported a 236% increase in turnover to $905.2 million. This comprises Australian turnover of $423.2 million (up 137%) and US turnover to $482 million (up 431%). 

Another positive was that its net win metric is growing at an even quicker rate. During the quarter, PointsBet’s net win lifted 246% to $64.9 million. This was driven by a 147% increase in Australian net win to $38.2 million and a 716% jump in US net win to $26.7 million.

Pleasingly, the company is still only scratching at the surface of its US market opportunity. And given recent partnerships with sports teams and broadcasters, it looks well-placed to win market share over the coming years.

Goldman Sachs is very positive on the company. It currently has a buy rating and $17.20 price target on its shares.

More reading

• 3 top ASX 200 shares that could be in the buy zone
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• US market bounces back, ASX 200 tech shares on watch
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: After record high, ASX dips on inflation fears
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week

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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price slipped today, down 0.4% in late afternoon trading.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) spent some time in the red as well. Though the index has since recouped those losses and is currently up 0.1%.

Today’s fall marks 3 days of losses for the Commonwealth Bank share price this week. Yesterday, 20 May, was the standout day for the big 4 bank, with shares closing up more than 3.2%. That big lift looks to be enough to put CBA shares up some 0.4% from last Friday’s closing bell.

CBA in the news

Earlier this week, CBA’s CEO Matt Comyn presented at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Online Summit.

Noting that Commonwealth Bank is investing $1 billion in technology in the next 5 years, Comyn said, “As we look into the future, CBA is focused on getting more of our core workloads to the cloud and making sure that key applications are running natively on the AWS platform.”

CBA also made financial news as yield hungry investors circle the big banks in hopes of a return to the heady, fat dividend days.

As my Foolish colleague Sebastian noted on Wednesday, “Whilst bank shares have more or less got back to the pricing they were at just before the COVID crash last year, investors are still waiting for bank dividends to follow suit.”

And in a sign that the resurgent inflation may be more than transitory, Commonwealth Bank today announced a 0.05% rate rise on its 3-year fixed-term owner-occupier loans. Investor only loans will see a 0.10% interest rate bump.

Commonwealth Bank share price snapshot

Commonwealth Bank shares remain within a whisker of the psychologically important $100 mark, currently trading for $97.94.

Earlier this week, CBA hit a new record high of $98.84 per share, surpassing the previous all-time high posted way back in March 2015.

This follows on a strong year for shareholders, which has seen the Commonwealth Bank share price gain 66% over the past 12 months. By comparison, the ASX 200 is up 27% at that same time.

At the current share price, Commonwealth Bank pays a dividend of 2.6%, fully franked.

More reading

• Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) hikes interest rates. Is the RBA wrong?
• Here’s 1 stock this fundie prefers over Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) shares
• The ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price leads the ASX 200 banks this week
• Can the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price crack $100?
• Aussies’ financial wellbeing at all-time high: CBA (ASX:CBA) report

The post What happened with the Commonwealth Bank share price this week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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It has been another day to forget for the Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) share price on Friday.

The ecommerce company’s shares have just closed the day 14% lower at a 52-week low of $8.70.

This latest decline means the Kogan share price has now lost 66% of its value since peaking at $25.57.

Why did the Kogan share price crash?

Investors have been hitting the sell button again on Friday following the release of a trading update.

As you might have guessed from the performance of the Kogan share price, this update fell well short of the market’s already reasonably downbeat expectations.

According to the release, Kogan is expecting to report adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $58 million to $63 million in FY 2021. The market consensus estimate stood at ~$70 million.

Kogan’s guidance represents growth of just 16.7% to 27% on FY 2020’s adjusted EBITDA of $49.7 million. While many companies would be pleased with this level of growth, it is a significant slowdown on its first half growth rates. During the first half, Kogan reported adjusted EBITDA of $51.7 million, up a whopping 184.4% on the prior corresponding period.

It is also worth noting that FY 2021’s result includes the Mighty Ape business, which was acquired for $122.4 million.

According to the acquisition announcement, the Mighty Ape business was expected to contribute EBITDA of A$14.3 million in FY 2021. If it has indeed contributed this, then it would mean the core Kogan business has actually posted a decline in EBITDA in FY 2021.

What is going wrong?

Unfortunately for the company, and therefore the Kogan share price, it appears as though management has simply got it wrong with its inventory management. Kogan has filled its warehouses with inventory and then failed to shift it as planned.

This has led to demurrage costs at ports, an increase in costs for warehousing, and then an increase in marketing spend to move it along. Throw in some significant discounting and product cost inflation, and you have a recipe for disaster for a retailer.

The good news is that the company expects to return to normal inventory levels and marketing spend over the coming few months. However, based on the Kogan share price on Friday, some investors aren’t sticking around to find out if that happens.

More reading

• Why Appen, Kogan, Nufarm, & Red 5 shares are sinking
• Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price sinks 12% on profit downgrade
• ASX 200 down 0.25%: Kogan sinks, EML & A2 Milk jump
• 2 exciting ASX growth shares rated as buys
• Is the a2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price a bargain or value trap?

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