Tag: Motley Fool

Those looking at what “smart money” investors are buying for clues on where bargains might lie may be interested in this S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) share.

Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest from Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) just pumped in another $13 million plus into the Austal Ltd (ASX: ASB).

He did this through his investment vehicle Tattarang Ventures, which now owns 15.4% of the shipbuilder. This is up from its previous holding of 13.8%.

The ASX 300 share that’s in the money for Twiggy

Tattarang started its latest on-market purchase on 18 June and it seems to have picked a good time to make the purchase.

The average price Twiggy paid in the latest round is circa $2.29. The Austal share price is currently trading down 0.74% at $2.68.

Meanwhile, the ASX 300 benchmark is shedding 0.57% of its value.

Timing is everything, or is it?

Perhaps Twiggy’s growing stake in the Austal share price is bolstering investor confidence during these volatile times. Austal hasn’t issued any market-sensitive news recently and Twiggy’s increased investment comes ahead of the company’s full year results.

You would think that one would wait for a company to hand in its earnings report card before committing many more millions to the investment.

But Tattarang tend to be long-term shareholders and Austal is facing several medium to longer-term tailwinds.

Rising tide lifts this ASX 300 share

Not least is the increase global defence spending due to rising geopolitical tensions in Europe and in our neck of the woods. There’s no need to mention names here.

While concerns about Austal’s sales pipeline had sunk the ASX 300 share to the depth of $1.80 on June 30 this year, management has managed to win back investors.

It announced last month that the US Navy awarded it a US$156.2 million ($225.5 million) contract to build two Navajo-class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ships.

Significantly, these are steel hull ships. There were concerns that Austal might miss out on more US Navy contracts if the customer looked to build more of such ships. Austal’s legacy has arguably been in the construction of lighter aluminium hulled vessels.

Further, Austal also announced in July this year that it was awarded a contract that could be worth as much as US$3.3 billion. This time, the contract is for the design and construction of up to 11 Offshore Patrol Cutters for the United States Coast Guard.

Other ASX shares that Twiggy has been buying

Maybe these developments were enough to convince Twiggy to up his investment in the ASX 300 share.

After all, Tattarang is no stranger to investing in ASX shares. It also has substantial holdings in the likes of Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) and Swoop Holdings Ltd (ASX: SWP), among others.

The post Guess which ASX 300 share Fortescue’s Twiggy just loaded up on appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• These 3 ASX All Ordinaries shares hit new 52-week highs on Monday
• These were the best performing ASX 200 shares in July
• 2 ASX 300 shares rocking new 52-week highs on Monday

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau has positions in Austal Limited and Fortescue Metals Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Austal Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Havilah Resources Ltd (ASX: HAV) share price has jumped out of the gate on Friday.

At the time of writing, the ASX mining share is trading 28.57% higher at 36 cents following a company announcement this morning.

The gains bring its total return to more than 100% over the past three months.

While the announcement itself isn’t price sensitive, its contents in some ways are, seeing as it relates to the potential disposal of a key asset.

In broad market moves, S&P/ASX 300 Metals and Mining Index (ASX: XMM) is currently down 0.25%.

What’s up with this ASX mining share?

Pending the final transaction of its deal with OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL), Havilah advised today that it will hold a general meeting for shareholders on 31 August.

Recall that Havilah and OZ announced back in May the pair had signed a term sheet granting the latter an option to buy the Kalkaroo copper-gold-cobalt project.

The duo then signed definitive agreements on 26 July. However, there’s one final step left in the process and that’s to seek approval from the company’s shareholders.

Havilah’s board supports the proposed transaction as it believes the $205 million offer “produces a significantly better financial outcome and lower risk alternative” than if it were to mine the Kalkaroo deposit itself.

In today’s release, it said:

The contingent consideration, of up to $200 million, [also] provides Havilah with exposure to future Kalkaroo Project upside in the event of mineral resource upgrades and/or copper prices above US$10,000 per tonne.

The Strategic Alliance is a potential catalyst for development of a major new copper mining region in the northeast of South Australia on Havilah’s extensive tenement holdings in the Curnamona Province.

The market has certainly voted in favour of the announcement today and shares have spiked on a volume approximately seven times that of the four-week average.

In the past 12 months, the Havilah share price has gained around 69%.

The post Obscure ASX mining share surges 29% following OZ Minerals copper deal update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• What’s so good about copper anyway?
• How are ASX copper shares performing after Monday’s surge?
• What could another acquisition mean for BHP shares?
• OZ Minerals ‘completely in play’: Broker on BHP takeover bid
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE) share price astounded many market watchers after it rocketed 72% over the first four sessions of this week.

But the lithium stock’s green streak appears to have ended on Friday, as the company trades in the red for the first time since 3 August.

At the time of writing, the Lake Resources share price is $1.48, 7.4% lower than its previous close. However, that still sees it 60% higher than it was at the final close of last week.

In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is also in the red today, falling 0.4% to trade 0.1% higher than it closed last week. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is down 0.04% today and has lifted 2.3% in the last five sessions.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s been going on with ASX 200 lithium share Lake Resources lately.

What was driving the Lake Resources share price this week?

This week brought a resurgence for the Lake Resources share price after a disastrous few months on the market.

The stock was caught up in June’s major lithium sell-off. It tumbled 49% that month.

Then, in July, it was hit by a short seller attack. That saw its share price fall a further 10% following a trading halt.

Following this week’s surge, the Lake Resources share price is now roughly flat with the levels it was trading at in May.

It’s also worth noting the company hasn’t been alone in the green through most of this week.

Fellow ASX 200 lithium shares Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) and Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR) have both lifted around 15% since last Friday’s close.

Their gains came amid news China saw record electric vehicle (EV) sales in June – with 571,000 EVs driving away in the nation – while the United States moved to provide greater incentives for EV manufacturers.

That likely points to higher demand for EVs in the future and, as a result, higher demand (and potentially higher prices) for lithium.

Of course, signs pointing to higher lithium prices often spell good news for ASX lithium shares like Lake Resources.

The post Lake Resources share price finally slumps after jumping 72% this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• New records and looming deficits. Why ASX lithium stocks are in the spotlight
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Thursday
• Why Block, Lake, Mirvac, and QBE shares are racing higher
• Why is the Lake Resources share price up so much more than other ASX lithium shares today?

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price is lifting in early trade after it reported FY22 earnings today.

The ASX finance share darted higher from the open and nudged an intraday high of $4.72 – its highest mark in three months — before levelling off.

Returns for the past 12 months are seen below.

What’s got the IAG share price lifting?

IAG came in with mixed results, printing a 5.7% gain in gross written premium to $13.3 billion.

Net insurance profit narrowed by around 42% to $586 million, and its underlying insurance margin also contracted by about 14.5%.

But its net profit after tax (NPAT) stretched up to $347 million from a $427 million loss in FY21.

This, on earnings per share (EPS) of 13.33 cents. It now forecasts an insurance margin of 16% at the upper end of guidance and return on equity (ROE) of 12-13%.

Despite this, the IAG share price has caught a bid from the open and is now up 130 basis points to $4.67 in morning trading.

Volume was thin to start the session, with approximately 865,000 shares swapping hands at the time of writing, off a 4-week average of 6.6 million.

The question now becomes if IAG can sustain this rally. It first started on 17 June, when shares reversed off a low of $4.14.

Broker opinion is mixed on the matter, with seven out of 11 analysts covering the share still rating it a buy, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

However, there are two hold and two sell ratings from the same list, and the consensus price target is $4.99 per share, just a small fraction of upside.

In the last 12 months, the IAG share price has dropped 14%, but is up around 10% this year to date.

The post IAG share price lifts despite mixed FY22 earnings results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• IAG share price on watch as company reports $347 million in earnings
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• IAG share price seesaws amid class action news
• Looking for value: The ASX shares this fundie is holding amid rising inflation
• Is the IAG share price a buy following the insurer’s latest update?

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Insurance Australia Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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ASX lithium stocks just put in a great month.

Looking at some of the top lithium shares, here are how the share prices have moved since the opening bell on 12 July (as of yesterday’s closing price), using the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) as our benchmark.

• All Ordinaries up 7.9%
• Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares up 76.2%
• Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) shares up 30.8%
• Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE) share price up 161.5%

See what we mean.

And these are all multibillion-dollar companies, mind you.

ASX lithium stocks have been soaring again, following a brief retrace from May into mid-June, as investors mull over the supply and demand dynamics for the lightweight, highly conductive metal.

Demand for lithium is booming alongside rocketing growth in electric vehicle (EV) production. Lithium is a critical element in both EV and grid storage batteries.

With demand outstripping supply over the past year, lithium prices have rocketed more than 400% over 12 months, providing some gale-force tailwinds for ASX lithium stocks.

Clearly, the lithium price has a material impact on the share prices of the miners that produce it.

The question facing ASX investors now is, how are the supply and demand dynamics shaping up for the coming years?

Will there be a glut in lithium supply?

For some insight into that question, we turn to the analysts at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

In 2022, S&P Global forecasts that demand for lithium will continue to outpace supply growth, a scenario that should continue to support ASX lithium stocks.

“The magnitude of the deficit depends on producers’ ability to execute projects, according to their existing plans,” the analysts said.

“Lithium raw material supply is likely to improve especially from the September quarter onward, when the bulk of this year’s new additions is scheduled to reach the market.”

Looking further ahead, S&P Global forecasts:

The visible lithium supply pipeline could be sufficient to meet demand in 2023. The lithium market is likely to return to a deficit from 2024, which is forecast to deepen over 2024-26, as demand growth once again outpaces that of supply.

ASX lithium stocks eyeing new Chinese record

June saw a record number of EVs sold in China — a record ASX lithium stockholders may wish to note.

The world’s second-biggest economy and most populous nation recorded 571,000 EV sales in June, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). That’s a massive 141% increase from the number sold in June 2021.

As for the full year, the CPCA expects to see total Chinese EV sales increase 84% in 2022, reaching 5.5 million vehicles.

While China is a major lithium producer, Australia leads the globe, producing almost half the world’s total output in 2020.

With EV sales going hyperbolic in China, ASX lithium stocks could enjoy some sustained demand growth.

The post New records and looming deficits. Why ASX lithium stocks are in the spotlight appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Thursday
• Why Block, Lake, Mirvac, and QBE shares are racing higher
• Why is the Core Lithium share price rocketing 5% today?
• Why is the Lake Resources share price up so much more than other ASX lithium shares today?

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) shareholders might be wondering why the share price has fallen 2.07% to $11.35 today.

The insurance giant released its FY2022 scorecard on Monday, reporting a mixed performance across its key financial metrics.

In turn, the board elected to significantly reduce its upcoming final dividend by 65% as a result of the challenging year.

Let’s take a look below at why Suncorp shares are falling during mid-morning trade.

Shareholders set eyes on the Suncorp dividend

The Suncorp share price is in reverse following the company’s shares trading ex-dividend today.

The ex-dividend date is particularly important as it determines which shareholders will receive the company’s latest dividend.

If you held Suncorp shares at yesterday’s market close, you will be eligible for the final dividend.

Historically, when a company reaches its ex-dividend day, its shares tend to fall in proportion to the dividend paid out. This is because investors tend to sell off the company’s shares after securing the dividend.

When can shareholders expect to be paid?

For those eligible for Suncorp’s final dividend, shareholders will receive a payment of 17 cents per share on 21 September.

The dividend is fully franked which means investors will receive tax credits to put to their next tax bill.

Management noted that the full-year dividend payout of 75% of cash earnings is towards the top of the target payout ratio range of 60% to 80%.

You can also elect for the dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) which will add a portion of shares to your portfolio instead. This will be based on a 10-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) from 18 August to 31 August.

There is no DRP discount and the last election date to opt in is on 16 August.

Suncorp share price summary

For 2022, Suncorp shares have gained around 2% despite being heavily impacted by inflationary movements and market volatility.

The S&P/ASX 200 Financials (ASX: XFJ) sector has treaded the other way, down 2% over the same timeframe.

Based on today’s price, Suncorp commands a market capitalisation of approximately $14.46 billion and has a trailing dividend yield of 5.67%.

The post Why is the Suncorp share price slipping today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why Alliance, Aurizon, MVP, and Suncorp shares are dropping today
• Suncorp share price slides following softer-than-expected FY2022 results
• Suncorp share price on watch after FY22 profit falls 34%
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Why has the Suncorp share price gone backwards since the ANZ takeover news?

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

While it’s a relatively quiet day for the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) itself today, there’s a lot of volatility within its component stocks. As of 1:23 p.m. ET on Aug. 11, the stock index is up a modest 0.25%. That’s good enough to keep it up more than 20% from the recent lows in June, continuing its recent bull run. 

Shares of battery maker Enovix (NASDAQ: ENVX) are up 32%, and shares of both 23andMe (NASDAQ: ME) and Trupanion (NASDAQ: TRUP) are up around 7%. On the downside, shares of smart-speaker maker Sonos (NASDAQ: SONO) and card issuing and payment processing company Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) are both down around 25% at this writing. 

Battery start-up Enovix sells some batteries; market approves

Since its founding, Enovix has been almost entirely focused on research and development. But in 2021, it made a commitment to begin the transition from developing a product to making it — and selling it — by the second quarter of 2022. Well, it met that goal in the quarter, shipping battery cells to 10 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which will use the cells in their products, and generating a modest amount of revenue from those cells. Needless to say, investors were incredibly pleased by this, as it positions the company to begin generating cash flows and delivering on its potential. 

Investors should remain somewhat cautious, however. It’s still very early in its transition to commercial sales, and the majority of cells it’s shipping at this stage are likely to be used by OEMS for testing, not with finished products. To be clear, this is still a big step forward, but Enovix’s products still have to meet OEMs’ standards, and it must compete in a big, but highly competitive, market. 

23andMe, Trupanion represent general bullishness driving stocks higher

Genetics research company 23andMe and pet insurer Trupanion are both up strongly today, but not on any very recent news. 23andMe’s shares have been climbing for most of the past week, up almost 30% since the day before it reported second-quarter results, while shares of Trupanion are up 13% since its Aug. 3 earnings release. Neither company has any particularly material news out there today. However, if there is one common thread both companies share, it’s short interest, or how much of its stock float is sold short: 7% of 23andMe’s shares are sold short, while 15% of Trupanion’s are shorted. It’s possible the recent gains for both is short-sellers reducing their positions. 

That’s great for a short-term move higher, but both companies have a lot to prove about their ability to grow and generate positive cash flows to generate long-term wealth to shareholders. 

Leadership changes rocking the boat for Sonos and Marqeta

While investors seem more optimistic in the three prior stocks, Sonos and Marqeta left shareholders uneasy — nay, downright worried — this week. Sonos reported a 2% revenue decline, weakening margins, and a net loss after being profitable in last year’s second quarter. Adding to that uncertainty, CEO Patrick Spence told investors that CFO Brittany Bagley was leaving the company to “pursue another professional opportunity,” while the company’s Chief Legal Officer was stepping in as interim CFO. 

Marqeta investors were even more shocked by big leadership changes. Company founder Jason Gardner announced that he was stepping down as CEO once a replacement is named. At the same time, COO Vidya Peters is also leaving, with its chief product officer taking over on an interim basis. Gardner did say that when he vacates the CEO chair, he would remain in a leadership role as executive chairman. 

Needless to say, these both demonstrate that investors are looking for certainty in the ongoing environment, and weak results combined with management changes — especially when there’s not a replacement already named — is enough to send investors heading for the exits. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Despite some big losers, these growth stocks are keeping the Nasdaq bull market going appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Avita share price dives 16% on net loss
• Up 52% since June, can the Pilbara Minerals share price extend gains?
• Why Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Dogecoin jumped this morning
• ‘Our future is looking bright’: Baby Bunting share price slips despite earnings milestone
• Can the iron ore price regain its March highs in 2022?

Jason Hall has positions in 23andMe Holding Co. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and recommends Sonos Inc and Trupanion. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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The AVITA Medical Inc (ASX: AVH) share price is falling on the back of the company’s financial results.

The medical technology company’s share price is currently $1.895, a 16.5% fall. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.6% today.

Let’s take a look at what Avita reported to the market today.

Avita reports a higher net loss

Avita reported both quarterly and half-year results for the 2022 calendar year.

In the first six months of 2022, Avita reported:

• Net loss jumped by 47% to $15.7 million, compared to $10.7 million loss in prior corresponding period (pcp)
• Gross profit margin increased by 2% to 80% compared to pcp
• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) loss jumped 46% to $11.1 million on pcp
• Commercial revenue excluding Biomedical Advance Research Development Authority (BARDA) revenue jumped 39% to $4.4 million
• Total revenue including BARDA revenue of $15.9 million, down from $19.1 million in pcp

Second-quarter results included:

• Net loss up 33% to $6.3 million
• Adjusted EBITDA loss leapt 51% to $4.7 million
• Gross profit margin jumped by 3% to 83% on pcp
• Commercial revenue excluding BARDA revenue leapt 23% to $8.2 million
• Total revenue including BARDA revenue of $8.3 million, down from $10.3 million on pcp

What else did the company report?

Operating expenses surged 12% on the pcp to $29.9 million in the first six months of the year. This was largely due to greater compensation costs and professional fees.

Lower clinical trial expenses partly offset these higher costs. Research and development costs were also lower compared to the pcp.

Avita highlighted the commercial revenue growth was due to more customers and order sizes increasing.

Avita has $91.1 million of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities available as of 30 June and no debt.

The company is providing a calendar year 2022 revenue guidance of $30 million, excluding BARDA revenues. BARDA revenues are expected to be $0.3 million in 2022 compared to $7.9 million in 2021.

What did management say?

Commenting on the results, chief executive officer Dr Mike Perry said:

Our commercial team continued to drive further RECELL utilisation and penetration within burn centres, and our clinical team advanced our soft tissue reconstruction and vitiligo trial.

We look forward to topline data from our vitiligo clinical trial in the second half of this year.

Topline results from pivotal trial

Avita also reported topline results from a trial looking into the company’s RECELL system to heal soft tissue reconstruction with reduced donor skin.

The results showed “statistically superior donor sparing” and “comparable healing rates” in the treatment of soft tissue injuries.

Further commenting on the trial, Dr Perry said:

The RECELL system has been used to effectively treat serious burn injuries and we anticipate that the RECELL system will be well-positioned to treat patients with soft-tissue injuries, pending FDA review and approval.

Avita share price snapshot

The Avita share price has dived 45% in the year to date. However, it has gained 14% in the past month.

For perspective, the benchmark ASX 200 index has lost more than 5% in the year to date but climbed nearly 7% in a month.

The post Avita share price dives 16% on net loss appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why is the Avita Medical share price tracking 20% higher today?

Motley Fool contributor Monica O’Shea has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Avita Medical Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Avita Medical Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price has gained 52% since bouncing from lows of $2.05 on 23 June.

Shares in Pilbara Minerals now rest at $3.11 apiece, the same price as at Thursday’s close, after the ASX lithium miner posted another 4% gain in yesterday’s session.

Returns for the past 12 months are seen on the chart below.

Can the Pilbara share price continue the upside?

Pilbara’s exposure to lithium has helped its share price stretch up over the past two months. The battery metal still commands a premium, trading at A$99,471/Tonne at the time of writing.

It’s held this price range for the past two months as well, while many other commodity baskets have pared gains.

According to a Trading Economics report:

Lithium carbonate prices in China rose slightly to [A$99,471/Tonne] in the end of July, remaining near the record-high of [A$104,377/Tonne] from March and 430% higher year-on-year amid high demand and tight supply.

The gradual recovery from inactivity in Shanghai prompted a 129% annual and 63% monthly surge in new energy vehicles sales during June.

With an uptick in demand for both electric mobility and the raw material itself since June, it’s no wonder Pilbara Minerals has caught a bid lately.

The question is if it can extend these gains, however.

Brokers are positioned to say it can. According to Refinitiv Eikon data, seven out of eight analysts covering the share rate it as a buy.

Credit Suisse recently downgraded its rating to hold – the only broker to do so from this list, on a $2.40 price target.

The consensus price target from this list is $3.18 per share, suggesting a considerable amount of upside should the list be correct.

In the past 12 months, the Pilbara share price has lifted 30%.

The post Up 52% since June, can the Pilbara Minerals share price extend gains? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why is the Lake Resources share price up so much more than other ASX lithium shares today?
• The Pilbara Minerals share price has powered 28% higher in a month. What’s been happening?
• Could this development further energise ASX lithium shares in FY23?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

What happened 

Crypto values jumped early on Thursday as Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) moved a few steps closer to “The Merge.” This is generally seen as a bullish move for crypto use cases because Ethereum has the largest base of developers and many tokens are on the Ethereum blockchain.

The value of Ethereum was up as much as 7.9% in the last 24 hours as of 1 p.m. ET. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) had jumped 6.2%, and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) was up 8.2% at its peak. 

So what 

At 1:45 a.m. UTC (9:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday), the Goerli testnet moved from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, the last test before the main blockchain will make such a move. Goerli is an active test blockchain where developers can see if new systems work as planned before moving to the main blockchain. Ethereum has gone through a number of tests ahead of the transition to proof-of-stake operations to find potential bugs and this is the last one expected before the final merge. 

The official merge has been scheduled for mid-September and this is intended to improve the blockchain in a number of ways. Validation of blocks, or transactions, will be done through staking rather than energy-intensive computations. This will lower the energy consumption of Ethereum by over 99%. It will not, notably, make transactions less costly. 

The Merge is the first in a series of planned upgrades that could allow Ethereum to complete 100,000 transactions per second. These upgrades could take a long time, but co-founder Vitalik Buterin has laid out the development plans already. 

Now what 

Today’s move is really nothing more than speculation that “The Merge” will lead to increased activity on Ethereum and in the crypto ecosystem more broadly. But this may not have a fundamental impact on the blockchain at all. 

High costs and slow speeds are still a headwind for Ethereum and the biggest reason costs have come down recently is the fact that there’s less activity on the blockchain. The Merge won’t change that underlying fact. 

I would like to see greater activity before being too bullish on Ethereum. The blockchain has been losing market share to smaller, faster blockchains and I think that’s a bigger threat than most investors realize. And if future upgrades take years like The Merge did it may leave Ethereum behind the curve. 

Crypto has also been rising along with equity markets over the last few weeks. Investors have been in a “risk-on” trade mindset, buying riskier assets in search of returns. That’s helped crypto, but doesn’t change the underlying investment thesis at all. The crypto winter is still here and if blockchain activity doesn’t pick up I am afraid this bounce won’t last. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Dogecoin jumped this morning appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why Bitcoin and Ethereum are rising today
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Travis Hoium has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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