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The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price has started the week strongly.

In morning trade, the lithium developer’s shares are up 7% to $1.22.

This means that the company’s shares are now up approximately 90% since the start of the year.

Why is the Core Lithium share price storming higher?

Investors have been bidding the Core Lithium share price higher today despite there being no news out of the lithium developer.

Today’s gain is likely to have been driven by investors returning to risk assets on Monday following a strong showing on Wall Street on Friday and news that China’s lockdowns are easing slightly.

Core Lithium isn’t the only lithium share rising today. The likes of Lake Resources (ASX: LKE), Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS), and Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) are also rising materially at the time of writing.

This mirrors strong gains by lithium giants Albemarle, Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM), and Livent Corp on Friday night. Their US listed shares were up 7%, 9.5%, and 12.5%, respectively during the session.

Time will tell how long this positive sentiment lasts this time around. But lithium investors will no doubt be hoping it is here to stay.

The post Why is the Core Lithium share price charging 7% higher? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Core Lithium share price dips despite ‘exciting results’
• Why is the Novonix share price down 6% on Friday?
• Why is the Core Lithium share price tracing 6% lower on Friday?
• Investing in ASX lithium shares? Here’s what you need to know
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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.

There’s no way to sugarcoat things. The past few months have been absolutely awful for investors. The S&P 500 Index has plunged a gut-wrenching 18% so far this year. Multitudes of stocks have plummeted even further from their peak. There’s no end in sight to the selling, given all the headwinds currently facing the global economy. 

Difficult periods like this can make even the most seasoned investors want to throw in the towel and liquidate their portfolios. However, I’d like to encourage you to press through this challenging period. I want to share my investing story and some data to give you some hope that this, too, shall pass.

I learned to invest the hard way

I was only a few years into my investing journey when the Financial Crisis upended the global economy and stock market. Before that event, my experience with stocks was that they went up. That had my confidence swelling to the point of overconfidence.

So I made some really reckless investment decisions as stocks started to crash. I’m lucky that I didn’t completely wreck my portfolio. I started buying stocks just because their price went down a lot. I focused on the stock price and not the underlying business. One of the most foolish (and I mean really small “f” foolish) moves was to buy call options on investment bank Lehman Brothers on the firm belief that the government would bail them out. Suffice it to say; I lost a lot of money on that gamble.

As my portfolio dove deeper into the red, accelerated by my ill-timed shift from an investor to a trader, I got to the point in early 2009 where I had to take a break from investing. However, instead of liquidating what remained of my portfolio, I just stopped making changes. I took a month off from buying and selling stocks and reset my strategy.

I learned a few important lessons during this challenging time:

1. Forget about the stock price; focus on the business: I stopped buying stocks because they had low price tags and focused on investing in companies that I believed could thrive over the long term.
2. Credit is crucial: I started putting more emphasis on a company’s balance sheet, focusing on those with investment-grade credit ratings because that gave them more financial flexibility to survive tough times so that they could thrive in the eventual recovery.
3. Cash flow is king: This lesson goes hand in hand with having a strong balance sheet. Cash flow gives companies the funds to expand when credit is unavailable.

As tempting as it was to throw in the towel on investing in 2009, I’m so glad I didn’t. That challenging period made me a better investor, and my portfolio’s value has grown by leaps and bounds over the more than a decade since the Financial Crisis. While, like most investors, the value has fallen quite a bit from the peak of late, I sleep well at night knowing that, for the most part, I own a portfolio filled with several high-quality companies with strong balance sheets and cash flows that will weather this storm and thrive on the other side.

These numbers urge you not to give up

I want to pivot from my story to share an eye-opening chart I recently came across that shows the power of persevering as an investor. When stocks are in freefall, it can make an investor think about liquidating to avoid further damage. However, historically some of the market’s best days have come during these periods. Investors who give up on the market could see their returns suffer.

Decade	Price return of the S&P 500	Return excluding the 10 best days per decade
1930s	(42%)	(79%)
1940s	35%	(14%)
1950s	257%	167%
1960s	54%	14%
1970s	17%	(20%)
1980s	227%	108%
1990s	316%	186%
2000s	(24%)	(62%)
2010s	190%	95%
2020s	18%	(33%)
Since 1930	17,715%	28%

Data source: CNBC and Bank of America. 

The middle column shows the total return earned by investors over decades. Over the long term, investors who kept their money in the market earned a staggering return, despite enduring their share of bear markets. However, if an investor liquidated their portfolio and went to cash, they ran the risk of missing out on some of its best days. They’d earn much lower returns if they were on the sidelines during the 10 best days each decade.

Stay the course

These are definitely challenging days to be an investor. However, please don’t give up because they should eventually pass. Instead, use this time to reevaluate your investment strategy so that your portfolio can thrive again when the market eventually recovers.

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

The post Investing can be brutal at times, but don’t give up now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the Core Lithium share price charging 7% higher?
• Is the Bitcoin price heading all the way back down to US$20,000?
• What’s with the Dicker Data share price today?
• Infomedia share price rockets 30% following takeover approach
• Buy these 2 ASX shares on sale right now: top broker

Matthew DiLallo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Bank of America is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. 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.

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

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The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price has enjoyed a bit of a rebound over the past few hours, putting the world’s original crypto up 4% since this time yesterday.

At the time of writing, one Bitcoin is worth US$31,249 (AU$44,872). That leaves the token down 8% over the past seven days and down 35% year to date.

Could the Bitcoin price retrace back to US$20,000?

You have to go back to November 2020 to find Bitcoin trading at US$20,000.

But according to crypto analysts Brian Cubellis and David Duong from Coinbase Institutional, the world’s leading digital token could fall back to those levels.

Commenting on the market sell-off following the meltdown of TerraUSD (CRYPTO: UST) and the token meant to keep UST pegged to the US dollar, Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA), they said (quoted by Bloomberg last week), “Multiple headwinds have given market players almost nowhere to hide in any asset class”.

Although the Bitcoin price edged above US$30,000 over the past hours, it still traded as low as US$29,573 overnight. And that, according to Cubellis and Duong, is cause for concern.

The analysts said that US$30,000 is “a major resistance”, as prices have continued to struggle to move and hold higher from there.

“If things were to deteriorate further the next line of support would come at around US$20,000, which was the all-time high in the previous 2017/2018 cycle,” they said.

The Bitcoin prices hit a low point of US$26,350 on Thursday, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Crypto bulls keep an eye on the long game

Plenty of crypto investors will have lost money last week, with some US$270 billion estimated to have been wiped from the total crypto market valuation.

But crypto enthusiasts like Vasja Zupan, president of cryptocurrency exchange Matrix, are keeping their eye on the horizon and remain optimistic on the long-term outlook for the Bitcoin price.

According to Zupan (quoted by Bloomberg), “I remain long term bullish, especially on Bitcoin. But I do foresee high volatility for some time followed by a period of much lower volumes at lower prices before we can expect trending to new all-time highs.”

The post Is the Bitcoin price heading all the way back down to US$20,000? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• How is the Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) performing compared to the ASX on Friday?
• Could the next crypto collapse flow through to ASX shares?
• Crypto crash: Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are struggling again
• Is this the start of a long crypto winter?
• How are Australia’s Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs faring on their first day?

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. 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 Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR) share price is roller coasting between red and green on Monday morning.

Shares in the hardware, software and cloud distributor lifted to $12.68 before plummeting to a low of $12.33 — all in the first hour of trading today. At the time of writing, the Dicker Date share price has retraced and is now trading up 0.24% at $12.50.

This comes despite the S&P/ASX 200 Index lifting 0.78% to 7,130 points in early trading following strong Wall Street gains on Friday.

Let’s see what might be driving the Dicker Data share price today.

Shareholders lock in the Dicker Data dividend

With the first three months wrapped up for Dicker Data, investors are selling the company’s shares as they trade ex-dividend.

The IT distributor released its first-quarter market update for FY22 last Wednesday, reporting strong growth across key financial metrics.

As a result, the board elected to increase its upcoming interim dividend by 44% over the prior corresponding period.

Typically, one business day before the record date, the ex-dividend date, is when investors must have purchased shares. If the investor does not buy Dicker Data shares before this date, the dividend will go to the seller.

When can shareholders expect to be paid?

For those eligible for Dicker Data’s interim dividend, shareholders will receive a payment of 13 cents per share on 1 June. The dividend is fully franked at a corporate tax rate of 30%, which means investors will receive tax credits from this.

In addition, investors can elect the company’s dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) which will add a portion of shares to their portfolio instead. This will be based on a 10-day volume-weighted average price from 4 May to 17 May.

There is no DRP discount rate and the last election date for shareholders to opt in is on 18 May.

Under the company’s dividend policy, 100% of after-tax profits will be paid out through equal quarterly dividends.

This brings the total proposed dividends to be paid in FY22 to 54 cents per share, up 44% from FY21.

Dicker Data share price summary

Dicker Data shares are down 15% in 2022, alongside lost confidence from investors in the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX).

By comparison, the benchmark for Australian technology-orientated companies is down a massive 29% over the same timeframe.

Dicker Data shares touched a year to date low of $11.60 last Tuesday, before sharply rebounding in the following days.

Based on today’s price, Dicker Data commands a market capitalisation of roughly $2.16 billion and has a trailing dividend yield of 3.33%.

The post What’s with the Dicker Data share price today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Everything you need to know about the latest Dicker Data dividend
• Why CSL, Dicker Data, Lifestyle Communities, and Money3 shares are rising today
• Dicker Data share price charges higher following stellar Q1 growth
• Here’s why ASX 200 tech shares are having such a disastrous run on Friday

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has positions in Dicker Data Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Dicker Data Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Dicker Data 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 Infomedia Limited (ASX: IFM) share price has returned from a trading halt and is shooting higher.

In morning trade, the automotive software company’s shares are up over 30% to $1.67.

Why is the Infomedia share price shooting higher?

The catalyst for the rise in the Infomedia share price on Monday has been the receipt of a takeover approach.

As we mentioned here last week, the company requested a trading halt on Friday following the receipt of a change of control proposal. This coincided with a separate announcement that revealed that the TA Consortium had become a new substantial shareholder with a 14.5% stake.

This morning, Infomedia confirmed that the TA Consortium, which comprises Boston-based private equity firm TA Associates and Australian Viburnum Funds, is the party that has made the takeover approach.

According to the release, the consortium has made a conditional, non-binding, indicative proposal to acquire 100% of Infomedia via a scheme of arrangement for a price of $1.70 cash per share.

This represents a 32.8% premium to the Infomedia share price prior to its trading halt. Though, this offer will be reduced accordingly if any dividends are paid.

What now?

The Infomedia Board has not yet made a decision on the offer. It will now commence an assessment of the proposal to see if it is in the best interests of non-affiliated Infomedia shareholders.

It also revealed that there are other interested parties and is in preliminary discussions with them. Infomedia shareholders will no doubt be hoping this leads to a bidding war commencing in the coming days or weeks to drive the takeover price even higher.

In the meantime, Infomedia has told shareholders that they do not need to take any action in response to the proposal. It also warned that there is no certainty that the proposal nor other discussions will result in a transaction.

The post Infomedia share price rockets 30% following takeover approach appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Infomedia share price halted amid takeover approach

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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 Infomedia. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Infomedia. 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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A leading broker has identified two ASX shares that have international growth potential and, he believes, look like good investment opportunities.

On top of that, the below two ASX shares have fallen heavily recently amid general market volatility.

The broker has suggested there’s plenty of potential longer-term upside with these two ideas:

REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)

REA Group describes itself as a multinational digital advertising business that specialises in property. Two of its key assets are leading residential and commercial property websites, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au.

It also has other assets including mortgage brokers Home Loans and Mortgage Choice, as well as investments in international property sites in India, China, the US, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

How much cheaper is the company? At the time of writing, the REA Group share price has dropped by 34% in 2022.

The broker Ord Minett currently rates the company as a buy with a price target of $153, implying a possible rise of more than 30% over the next year.

The broker pointed out that the FY22 third quarter wasn’t quite as good as expected, but the company’s profit margins are improving.

For readers who didn’t see that quarterly update, for the three months to 31 March 2022, revenue rose 23% to $278 million and operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 29% to $156 million. Free cash flow jumped 39% to $91 million. These numbers came after a 11% rise in national listings.

The ASX share is expecting slower growth in the fourth quarter of FY22. April national residential listings were down 8% year on year.

Reece Ltd (ASX: REH)

This business has been operating for more than 100 years. It distributes plumbing, waterworks, and HVAC-R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration products) in Australia, New Zealand, and the US.

It’s currently rated as a buy by the broker Ord Minnett, with a price target of $23. That implies a possible rise of more than 30%. The broker thought the performance in the US in the first half of FY22 was good.

In that result, revenue increased 17% to $3.6 billion, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) went up 16% to $275 million, and net profit after tax (NPAT) grew by 28% to $157 million.

The company’s Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) segment saw revenue rise by 11% to $1.7 billion and EBIT increased 6% to $186 million. Meanwhile, US revenue rose 24% to $1.87 billion and EBIT jumped 44% to $89 million.

The ASX share is looking to capture more market share in the US by investing for growth. It’s putting money towards its store rollout and its upgrade program is progressing. Its online offering has been relaunched and the Reece corporate brand rollout has also commenced. Its improvement program is also progressing. The company says it has introduced “key” automation processes and operational upgrades.

Reece is using its learnings from the ANZ market to make progress in the US. The company said it was optimistic about the demand drivers in the second half of FY22 despite a “number of risks” that it said will require “careful management”.

How much cheaper is the company? Since the start of 2022, the Reece share price has dropped around 41%.

The post Buy these 2 ASX shares on sale right now: top broker appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Thursday thrashing: ASX tech shares tumble
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Following months of selling, top broker tips 45% upside for the REA share price
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison 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 recommended REA 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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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.

The recent volatility in the stock market has sent the Nasdaq 100 technology index into bear market territory with a year-to-date loss of 24%, but that pales compared to the wild swings in cryptocurrency markets in 2022 so far.

Crypto-market leader Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is nursing a 37% loss since Jan. 1, and high-flying meme-token Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) is down 62% in the same period. Shiba Inu was the star of 2021, delivering a full-year gain of 43,800,000% — in other words, it made millionaires out of investors who put in as little as $2.29 on Jan. 1, 2021, and sold on Dec. 31. 

Overall, Shiba Inu has lost 85% since hitting its all-time high of $0.000088. It trades at just $0.000013, and there’s no telling where the bottom could be. But the token might have one saving grace that could propel it back to its highs (and beyond). 

There’s no shortage of difficulties

Shiba Inu faces plenty of challenges, both internal and external. Like many cryptocurrencies, the token has failed to garner the adoption it needs to support a higher price. At the moment, only 659 merchants accept Shiba Inu as payment for goods and services, and they’re mostly small online businesses. It offers little incentive to consumers to own the token because they simply can’t spend it conveniently, which leaves speculation as its primary use.

Wild price swings could be one reason businesses avoid Shiba Inu as a payment method. A currency that swings in price by millions of percentage points in a short period of time could quickly erode a merchant’s profit from selling products, and it makes cash flow forecasting really difficult.

Additionally, a wave of regulation could be headed for the entire crypto industry, starting with requirements for exchanges to report their clients’ trading activity to the Internal Revenue Service for tax purposes. This would lift the veil of anonymity and erode some of the decentralized features that initially attracted many investors to crypto markets. Investors who remain committed to cryptocurrencies will likely favor the leaders like Bitcoin in this scenario, with speculative bets like Shiba Inu discarded more willingly. 

Finally, Shiba Inu has a major supply problem. With 589 trillion tokens in circulation, it makes lofty price targets like $1 (or more) mostly a dream. But there is one catalyst that could change all of that.

Feel the burn

Tackling Shiba Inu’s supply challenge has been a point of focus for the token’s community. Collectively, at the current price of $0.000013, the value of all Shiba Inu tokens in supply stands at $7.1 billion. 

Theoretically, if the 589-trillion supply figure was cut in half, the price per token would have to double to maintain a market capitalization of $7.1 billion.

Therefore, finding a way to remove Shiba Inu tokens from supply could result in an organic increase in price, reversing some of the heavy losses from the last few months. One way developers propose to do this is through a Shiba Inu-themed metaverse called SHIB: The Metaverse. It will contain 100,595 virtual land plots in addition to serving as a virtual meeting place for the community, hosting games and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

Investors who want to buy virtual land in SHIB: The Metaverse will have to use Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), but there will be a unique role for Shiba Inu tokens to play. Landowners will have the ability to rename their plots by paying a fee using Shiba Inu, and upon doing so, those tokens will be burned (removed from the supply) forever. 

It might work, but not in the way you expect

Reducing the supply of Shiba Inu will theoretically boost its price. In fact, it could do so by a significant amount depending on how many tokens are burned. If supply is reduced by 90% from 589 trillion tokens to 58.9 trillion tokens, for example, Shiba Inu’s price could soar 10-fold from $0.000013 to $0.00013, surpassing its previous all-time high.

But there’s a catch. For this to work, basically every investor in Shiba Inu would need to shrink their holdings by 90%, although the value of their tokens would effectively remain exactly the same. Their tokens might be worth 10 times more, but they would only own one-10th as many tokens. 

Reducing the supply of Shiba Inu could be described as financial engineering. It doesn’t actually make the token worth any more than it already is. To truly boost its value, it would have to actually offer some utility as a payment mechanism or find a way to attract more investors. 

But for those looking for a cosmetic lift in Shiba Inu’s price, burning tokens is certainly a viable option. 

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

The post Shiba Inu is down 85%, but here’s how it could recover appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are tumbling today
• Why Shiba Inu was falling today
• Why Shiba Inu, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are sinking today
• Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu dropped today

Anthony Di Pizio 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 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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The two ASX dividend shares we’re talking about in this article are companies that have grown their dividends for multiple years in a row.

A dividend is not guaranteed, but it can be useful to know what a business has been doing with its dividend in previous years.

Here are two businesses in defensive sectors that have decent starting dividend yields and have been growing the dividend.

Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL)

Sonic Healthcare is a large pathology business with sizeable operations in Australia, the United States and Europe. Germany is one of the biggest profit generators in Europe for the ASX dividend share. The company also has a growing presence in radiology.

It has increased its dividend every year for approximately a decade. Indeed, the board has a ‘progressive dividend’ policy.

In the last result, the FY22 half-year result, Sonic Healthcare grew its interim dividend by a further 11% to 40 cents per share.

The company is using the income generated from COVID-19 testing to make acquisitions to boost the scale of the business.

But it’s not as though COVID-19 testing has finished. Sonic is expecting routine COVID testing, screening programs, variant testing, whole-genome sequencing, and antibody tests to continue.

For example, on 15 May 2022 Victoria reported that 17,397 PCR tests saw 2,968 positive cases. New South Wales reported a total of 29,633 PCR tests. However, not all of these are going through the ASX dividend share of course.

At the current Sonic Healthcare share price, including franking credits, the company has a grossed-up dividend yield of approximately 3.5%.

Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP)

Bapcor is an auto parts company that generates earnings through a wide number of businesses.

Its trade businesses include Burson Auto Parts, Precision Automotive Equipment and BNT. Bapcor has a number of specialist wholesale businesses including AAD, Bearing Wholesalers, Baxters, MTQ, Truckline and WANO. Then it has retailers such as Autobarn and Autopro. Bapcor’s service businesses include Midas, ABS, Shock Shop and Battery Town.

Bapcor has grown its dividend for the last several years since listing. Despite all of the COVID-19 impacts, the ASX dividend share has kept giving bigger shareholder payouts.

In FY20, the ASX share grew the annual dividend by 2.9% to 17.5 cents per share. Then, in FY21, Bapcor increased the full-year dividend by 14.3% to 20 cents per share. In the FY22 half-year result, the interim dividend was increased by another 11.1% to 10 cents per share.

The most recent result, for the six months to 31 December 2021, was affected by lockdowns. However, the second quarter saw a material improvement as COVID restrictions eased, according to Bapcor.

The company has long-term targets to add hundreds of locations to its Australian network. It is also working on becoming more efficient, which could lead to better profit margins. The ASX dividend share also wants to grow in Asia through its own Burson network as well as the investment in Tye Soon.

Bapcor has a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.8% at the current Bapcor share price.

The post 2 strong ASX dividend shares hiding in plain sight appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Broker names 3 more ‘champion’ ASX 200 shares to buy and hold
• Why is the Bapcor share price sinking on Tuesday?
• 2 ASX 200 blue chip shares to buy in May: Analysts

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison 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 recommended Bapcor and Sonic Healthcare 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 Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) share price is on the move on Monday morning.

At the time of writing, the industrial property company’s shares are up over 3% to $20.35.

Why is the Goodman share price charging higher?

Investors have been bidding the Goodman share price higher on Monday for a couple of reasons.

The first is a rebound on the ASX 200 following a strong night of trade on Wall Street on Friday. This has seen the local market open meaningfully higher this morning.

Also giving the Goodman share price a boost today was the release of the company’s third quarter trading update.

According to the release, the company has maintained a strong operating performance in the third quarter. Tight supply and demand continue to support leasing across its portfolio and developments, with high occupancy in its markets.

Goodman highlights that its customers continue to intensify warehousing in urban locations and increase automation and technology to optimise delivery and improve supply chain efficiency.

All in all, this has underpinned a 3.7% increase in like-for-like net property income and a 98.7% occupancy rate.

At the end of the period, Goodman had assets under management of $68.7 billion and work in progress of $13.4 billion across 89 projects.

Guidance upgrade

Perhaps the biggest boost to the Goodman share price has come from management’s guidance for FY 2022.

Goodman has upgraded its guidance again and now expects to deliver earnings per share growth of 23% in FY 2022. This is up from its previously upgraded guidance of 20% growth. It also revealed that it expects to pay a 30 cents per share distribution this year.

Goodman’s CEO, Greg Goodman, commented:

Goodman has had another strong quarter with our operating results reflecting the highly targeted location of our portfolio. This has continued to produce high occupancy, cashflows, and development activity.

The business environment is changing, with increased interest rates, inflation, geopolitical risks and the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, however, the long-term structural drivers of demand have not changed.

The post Goodman share price charges higher on Q3 update and guidance upgrade appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Why I would invest $10,000 into these ASX 200 shares right now
• Goodman share price charges higher following bullish broker note
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• Broker names 3 more ‘champion’ ASX 200 shares to buy and hold

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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 market may be pushing higher today but the same cannot be said for the Step One Clothing Ltd (ASX: STP) share price.

The underwear retailer’s shares have returned from a trading halt and crashed 54% to a new low of 22 cents.

This means the Step One share price is now trading 85% lower than its November IPO listing price of $1.53.

Why is the Step One share price?

Investors have been selling down the Step One share price on Monday following the release of a trading update out of the retailer.

According to the release, the company’s expansion into the UK, US, and women’s markets hasn’t been going to plan. As a result, it expects its revenue and earnings to fall short of guidance in FY 2022.

What’s going on?

Management advised that US revenue has occurred at a lower rate than expected, as it works to establish its brand in a large and diverse region. This has resulted in higher customer acquisition costs, which is expected to lead to its US operations recording a loss of at least $3 million in FY 2022.

Over in the UK, its revenue has not grown at the rate expected. It notes that this is due to tougher than anticipated recent trading conditions and softer consumer confidence.

Bad news comes in threes, it seems. The release also advises that after a strong start to life, demand for the Women’s range has softened. It was fully restocked in mid-April but has not maintained the level of daily sales initially experienced in the months immediately following its launch.

FY 2022 guidance downgraded

The sum of the above, is that management now expects revenue growth of 15% to 20% in FY 2022. This is down from its previous guidance of 21% to 25%.

However, things are much worse for its earnings, which explains the weakness in the Step One share price today.

Step One’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is now expected to be $7 million to $8.5 million. This is down from its prior guidance of $15 million.

This means that its second half EBITDA will be a loss of $0.4 million to an operating profit of $1 million, which is down materially from its first half EBITDA of $7.4 million.

Management commentary

Judging by the Step One share price reaction today, it appears as though the market is extremely doubtful that the company’s expansion will succeed.

One person that remains optimistic, though, is Step One’s Founder and CEO, Greg Taylor. He commented:

I am disappointed to inform you of the impact of the headwinds we are currently facing in our international expansion. These challenges are by no means insurmountable, and I am completely focused on solving the issues we are facing to deliver an exceptional product to customers around the world.

We had a track record of delivering in international markets, but we are now a much more substantial business and our focus is on building a strong platform, with the right infrastructure to support sustainable international growth. This will ensure that Step One is well-positioned to rebound strongly as global macro-economic disruption eases.

We’ve continued to make operational progress, focusing on a tailored marketing strategy in each region, driving engagement with influencers and athletes in the UK and USA. This will continue into FY23 as we build momentum around the brand internationally. We’re now selling some of our core products on Amazon in our key markets to drive our brand visibility and support customer acquisition.

The post Why is the Step One share price crashing 54% to a new low? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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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