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Could BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) be the best ASX dividend share?

It’s certainly one of the biggest in the world. After the recent unification of the UK business under the ASX business, it now has a market capitalisation of $244 billion according to the ASX.

In the FY22 half-year result, BHP decided that it was going to pay US$7.6 billion out as a total dividend to shareholders. In per-share terms, the dividend per share was US$1.50. This represented a dividend payout ratio of 78%.

Is the BHP the best ASX dividend share?

BHP is now the biggest dividend payer on the ASX. But the biggest may not necessarily mean the best.

In terms of growth, BHP did reveal a very big increase to the dividend. The FY22 half-year dividend was grown by 49% to US$1.50 per share. There may not be many S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares that grow the dividend as much as BHP in this reporting season.

However, assuming BHP maintains a similar dividend payout ratio, the dividend can change quite significantly year to year. That’s because the profit can change quite a lot too.

Attributable profit rose 144% to US$9.4 billion, net operating cash flow rose 42% to US$13.28 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) went up 144% to US$1.866.

We only have to go back to FY20 see an example of when profit and dividends can go backwards. FY20 attributable profit fell 4% to US$7.96 billion, whilst the dividend per share fell 10% to US$1.20.

So, the dividend can grow a lot. But it can also fall as well, depending on what happens to commodity prices and BHP profit.

Diversification

There are some commodity businesses that just rely on one type of commodity like Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) or Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN).

But BHP doesn’t focus on just one commodity. It has a few different commodities, which means there are different commodity cycles going on within the business. BHP has iron ore, copper, nickel and coal operations. It’s divesting its petroleum division to Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL), whilst working on it’s Jansen potash project to open up a new earnings stream.

So, whilst the BHP dividend can be volatile, it may be less than something like Fortescue which just cut its half-year dividend by 41%.

Is the BHP share price a buy?

Opinions are mixed on the business after the result. Macquarie reckons it’s a buy, with a price target of $54. Whilst it’s expecting a grossed-up dividend yield of 12.7% in FY22, the FY23 grossed-up dividend yield is expected to fall to 8.5%.

Morgans rates the business as a ‘hold’, with a price target of $48.70. This broker is expecting a grossed-up dividend yield of 11.1% in FY22 and 8.5% in FY23.

The post Is BHP (ASX:BHP) the best ASX dividend share? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Losing sleep over falling ASX share prices? Here’s how one expert says investors can ‘take advantage of sell-offs’
• Why BHP, Fortescue, Netwealth, and Santos shares are falling
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Wednesday

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns Fortescue Metals Group Limited. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was back on form and charged higher. The benchmark index rose 1.1% to 7,284.9 points.

Will the market be able to build on this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 to open lower

The Australian share market looks set to give back some of yesterday’s gains on Thursday following a subdued night on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 9 points or 0.1% lower this morning. In late trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones is down 0.1%, the S&P 500 is up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq has fallen 0.1%.

Telstra’s half year results

The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price will be one to watch this morning when it releases its half year results. According to a note out of Morgans, its analysts expect a 7% decline in revenue for the period. However, thanks to its expectation for an 11% reduction in expenses, it is forecasting a 4% increase in underlying EBITDA.

Oil prices rise

Energy shares including Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could have a decent day after oil prices rebounded. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 1.4% to US$93.39 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is up 1.4% to US$94.64 a barrel. Oil prices rose after Russian-Ukraine tensions flared up again.

Wesfarmers half year update

The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price will be in focus when it releases its half year results. Morgans is expecting the conglomerate to deliver a result in line with its guidance. It has forecast a 15% decline in net profit after tax to $1,199 million. This is being driven largely by weakness from the Kmart Group segment due to lockdowns, staff shortages, and supply chain disruptions.

Gold price rises

It could be a good day for gold miners Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) after the gold price stormed higher. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is up 0.9% to US$1,872.4 an ounce. Concerns over the Russia-Ukraine situation boosted the safe haven asset.

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Losing sleep over falling ASX share prices? Here’s how one expert says investors can ‘take advantage of sell-offs’
• Why BHP, Fortescue, Netwealth, and Santos shares are falling
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Wednesday
• Is now the time to buy the dip in ASX 200 shares?

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 owns and has recommended Telstra Corporation Limited and Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The small end of the Australian share market is home to a number of companies with the potential to grow materially in the future.

Three that investors might want to get better acquainted with are listed below. Here’s why they should be on your watchlist:

Adore Beauty Group Limited (ASX: ABY)

The first small cap ASX share to look at is Adore Beauty. This week the company released its half year results and revealed an 18% increase in revenue to $113.1 million. This was driven by a 13% increase in active customers to 876,000 and strong returning customer growth. And while there are concerns about its slender margins, management appears confident they will improve at scale. It also believes the company “is well positioned to capture market share in a large and growing market benefitting from structural tailwinds.”

Morgan Stanley remains positive on the company. It currently has an overweight rating and $4.00 price target on its shares.

Booktopia Group Ltd (ASX: BKG)

Another small cap ASX share to watch is Booktopia. This online book retailer has been growing at an explosive rate in recent years. This has been driven by the shift to online shopping and supported by the opening of its new distribution centre. The latter is allowing the company to capture heightened demand and ship more books than ever.

While its shares are out of favour with investors at present, Morgans remains positive. It recently put an add rating and lofty $2.78 price target on its shares. This is more than double the current Booktopia share price.

Whispir Ltd (ASX: WSP)

A final small cap ASX share to watch is Whispir. It is a software-as-a-service company that provides a communications workflow platform that automate interactions between organisations and people. The company notes that its offering enables organisations to improve their communications through automated workflows to ensure stakeholders receive accurate, timely, useful and actionable insights. Among its users are the Australian Government, Changi Airport, Monash University, Nespresso, and Takata. Management estimates that it has a total addressable market of US$4.7 billion in just the United States market.

Canaccord Genuity is bullish on Whispir. It has a buy rating and $3.50 price target on its shares. It feels that the company’s shares could rerate once it demonstrates growth in North America.

The post 3 high risk, high reward small cap ASX shares named as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Adore Beauty, Beach, Fortescue, and Praemium shares are falling
• You beauty! Adore Beauty (ASX:ABY) share price up 7% after record half year result
• 2 exciting small cap ASX shares with enormous potential
• 3 buy-rated ASX growth shares to make you smile
• 2 fantastic ASX growth shares to buy now

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. owns and has recommended Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Adore Beauty Group Limited and Booktopia Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Adore Beauty Group Limited and Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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If you’re looking for shares with major upside potential, then you may want to check out the ones listed below.

Earlier today, brokers gave their verdict on these shares and, pleasingly for investors, they are feeling very bullish. Here’s what you need to know:

Atomos Ltd (ASX: AMS)

Morgans is very positive on this video equipment developer. This morning the broker responded to its half year results by retaining its add rating but slightly trimming its price target to $1.87. This implies almost 100% upside for the Atomos share price from current levels.

The broker commented: “AMS’ 1H22 result saw a beat on EBITDA (A$3.2m vs A$2.5m MorgansE) although further upside was impacted by higher variable freight costs and supply chain disruptions – no surprise there given the global operating environment.”

“While it appears the market continues to question AMS’ ability to hit FY22 guidance, we look to a period of lower promotional activity, pull-through of demand from out-of-stock devices in 1H, higher contribution from 100% margin software sales, and the release of Series 2 (S2) products (higher margin) within the period, off a largely fixed cost base. We are comfortable with guidance at the lower end. We have made only marginal changes to forecasts and remain comfortable with our forecasts,” it added.

Lifestyle Communities Limited (ASX: LIC)

This retirement communities company’s shares could be in the buy zone according to the team at Goldman Sachs. In response to its half year update, the broker retained its conviction buy rating and lifted its price target to $24.50.

This suggests potential upside of 33% from the current Lifestyle Communities share price of $18.46.

Goldman commented: “Overall, we saw the result as very solid: LIC delivered a settlement number in line with our expectations despite ongoing lockdown conditions through the half and the number of resales continues to grow YoY. In our view, the business is well capitalised to organically increase its development pace to support a higher settlement number: although gearing reached 40% in the half, this should unwind as a number of communities move from development phase to settlement phase.“

Outside this, the broker expects the company to outperform for three reasons. These are a step up in the pace of land acquisitions, structural growth in demand for land lease, and fundamental valuation support for cap rates.

The post Brokers name 2 ASX shares with at least 30% upside potential appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Goldman Sachs names 2 ASX 200 shares as conviction buys

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. owns and has recommended Atomos Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Atomos Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) put the foot on the gas amid a flurry of earnings that sat well with investors. At the end of the session, the benchmark index finished 1.08% higher at 7,284.9 points.

In a comforting mid-week performance, only two of the eleven ASX sectors finished in the red today. These were energy shares and mining companies. On the other side of the coin, the healthcare sector was by far the strongest performing sector, climbing 6.22% after CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) rallied on its half-year result.

The question is: which shares delivered the biggest returns to investors on the ASX today? Here are the top ten stocks that came through for investors:

Top 10 ASX shares countdown today

Looking at the top 200 listed companies, Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) was the biggest gainer today. Shares in the battery materials company soared 17.99% after securing a binding lithium supply agreement with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). Find out more about Liontown Resources here.

The next biggest gaining ASX share today was Imugene Ltd (ASX: IMU). The clinical-stage immunotherapy developer experienced a 12.73% jump in its share price despite there being no announcements released today. Uncover the latest Imugene details here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made in these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR)	$1.64	17.99%
Imugene Ltd (ASX: IMU)	$0.31	12.37%
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE)	$11.77	11.67%
Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX)	$1.865	11.01%
AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ)	$0.805	10.27%
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)	$263.69	8.51%
Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)	$24.34	7.56%
Orora Ltd (ASX: ORA)	$3.56	7.55%
Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX: FBU)	$6.26	7.38%
Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN)	$0.74	6.48%

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check-in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX lithium shares or EV makers, what’s been the better bet?
• Losing sleep over falling ASX share prices? Here’s how one expert says investors can ‘take advantage of sell-offs’
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Wednesday
• Why CSL, Liontown, Nearmap, and Treasury Wine shares are storming higher
• Is now the time to buy the dip in ASX 200 shares?

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Corporate Travel Management Limited and Treasury Wine Estates Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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With so many shares to choose from on the Australian share market, it can be hard to decide which ones to buy over others.

To narrow things down, I have picked out three ASX 200 shares that are highly rated by analysts. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD)

The first ASX 200 share to look at is Elders. It is one of Australia’s largest agribusiness companies. Its outlook has become increasingly positive recently thanks to the success of its transformation plan and acquisitions. In addition, it looks well-placed to benefit from the rationalisation of the rural services industry, margin expansion opportunities, and the benefits of its large scale systems modernisation project.

Goldman Sachs is a fan of Elders. Its analysts currently have a conviction buy rating and $15.65 price target on its shares.

REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)

Another ASX 200 share to look at is REA Group. It is the dominant player in real estate listings in the Australian market. REA looks well-placed for growth in the coming years thanks to its new revenue streams, acquisitions, price increases, its international operations, and strong market position in Australia. In respect to the latter, with its recent half year results, management advised that a record 13.2 million people visited its local site in October. This is the equivalent of 65% of Australia’s adult population. Furthermore, on average, there are 3.3x more visits than the nearest competitor each month.

Goldman Sachs remains very positive on REA Group. Its analysts currently have a buy rating and $167.00 price target on its shares.

ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD)

A final ASX 200 share to look at is ResMed. It is a sleep treatment focused medical device company which has been growing at a consistently solid rate over the last decade. Pleasingly, the next decade looks just as positive for ResMed. This is thanks to its world class products, significant market opportunity, and the growing prevalence of sleep disorders. In addition, the company’s near term performance is being boosted by a major product recall (5.2m CPAP devices) from Philips.

Morgans is positive on the company and has an add rating and $40.46 price target on its shares.

The post 3 buy-rated ASX 200 shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 2 quality ASX 200 tech shares with ‘years of growth’ ahead: broker
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• The REA (ASX:REA) share price has tumbled 21% this year. Is it a bargain?
• 3 buy-rated ASX growth shares to make you smile
• 2 highly rated ASX 200 shares to buy immediately

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 recommended Elders Limited, REA Group Limited, and ResMed Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) continue to grow in popularity with investors and it isn’t hard to see why. These funds allow investors to gain exposure to sectors, themes, markets, and entire countries through a single investment.

This means an investor can home in on certain areas of the investment world that they’re particularly bullish on.

With that in mind, listed below are three ETFs that could be worth getting better acquainted with. Here’s what you need to know about them:

BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (ASX: CRYP)

The BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF could be worth looking at if you have an interest in cryptocurrencies. BetaShares notes that this ETF allows investors to access the growth potential of the crypto economy through companies at the forefront of the industry. Among the companies included in the fund are crypto trading platforms, crypto mining and mining equipment firms, and others servicing crypto-markets. This includes Coinbase, Silvergate, and Riot Blockchain.

Betashares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF (ASX: ETHI)

Another ETF for ASX investors to look at is the Betashares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF. This ETF gives investors exposure to large global stocks that have been identified as “Climate Leaders.” BetaShares notes that these companies have passed screens that check for direct or significant exposure to fossil fuels. It even checks for those that are engaged in activities deemed inconsistent with responsible investment considerations. Included in the fund are the likes of Apple, Nvidia, Toyota, and Visa.

iShares Global Healthcare ETF (ASX: IXJ)

A final ETF to look at is the iShares Global Healthcare ETF. As its name implies, this ETF provides investors with exposure to the healthcare sector. This includes the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device sectors. Among its holdings are many of the world’s biggest and best healthcare companies such as Australia’s own CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Pfizer. These companies look well-placed to benefit from favourable industry trends such as ageing populations.

The post 3 popular ETFs for ASX investors today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (ASX:CRYP) leaping 5% today?
• 3 exciting ETFs for ASX investors next week
• 3 excellent ETFs you need to know about
• 3 top ETFs for ASX investors to look at this month

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. owns and has recommended Betashares Crypto Innovators ETF. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) crawled higher today, finishing 1.5% up at $10.07.

Following the release of the bank’s interim results for 1H FY22 yesterday, investors are piling in to secure a spot for the ride in 2022. This sent the bank’s shares soaring to five-month highs.

Analysts aren’t as agreeable, however. As the bank posted its results yesterday, several teams have come out with their outlook for Bendigo Bank investors in 2022.

Is Bendigo Bank a buy?

Analysts at investment bank JP Morgan aren’t so certain at the moment. They note Bendigo’s cost projections are aggressive and will require near pin-perfect execution to materialise.

Although, Bendigo did come in with a fairly robust set of results, as reported by Mitchell Lawler of The Motley Fool yesterday. Revenue grew by 8.5% year on year, whereas cash earnings gained 19%. As such, the bank declared a 26.5 cents per share dividend, up 13% from last payment – well ahead of inflation.

Not only that, but the bank completed the acquisition of Ferocia Pty Ltd. This gives it full ownership of the neobank Up. Bendigo now boasts 460,000 new customers to its database as a result of the transaction.

Yet, in a recent note, JP Morgan highlights the bank is now aiming to flatten its cost base over FY22–FY24. This is a change in course from previous guidance that signalled a 3% increase.

The broker questions if Bendigo can hit these targets, “despite rising wage pressures in the industry, with 60% of the cost base being staff expenses.”

Even though the cost targets could be a benefit to the bank, JP Morgan is happy to sit on the sidelines with Bendigo on grounds of the broker’s valuation, which is tracking near the current share price.

Meanwhile, analysts at fellow broker Jarden Securities are constructive on Bendigo’s cost management initiatives planned for the coming years.

Whilst the firm tips Bendigo to incur a period of margin pressures into the coming periods – particularly to net interest margins (NIMs) – it reckons these pressures should level off into Q4 FY22, as the fixed rate mortgage market undergoes a repricing.

This, combined with the bank’s cost targeting measures, could potentially offset headwinds to revenue growth over the coming periods, analysts say.

However, even though Jarden is constructive on the company, as an investment, it rates Bendigo as a hold after assigning a price target of $9.80 per share.

Then there’s the bulls

Elsewhere, both Barclay Pearce and Evans & Partners rate the bank as a buy. They are joined by analysts at Macquarie who value Bendigo at $11 per share.

Analysts at Barclay updated their target on Bendigo from $11.59 to $12.24 per share following the bank’s earnings. The firm forecasts $1.74 billion in revenue for 2022. It reckons investors could be in for a 53.9 cents per share dividend this year as well.

Analysts are forecasting a gain in earnings per share (EPS) for Bendigo over the next six to 12 months. That’s according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

The data also shows that, historically, this has been a good sign for Bendigo. Its share price tends to dance to the tune of forward EPS estimates.

Let’s take a closer look at what that means. Going back to September 2019, each period when analysts tipped the bank’s EPS to rise for the next 12 months, its share price followed suit, rising in unison.

Similarly, when EPS was forecast to decline, the Bendigo Bank share price either remained flat or headed south.

In actual fact, the forward EPS estimates are what is known as a leading indicator in this case (insight into market sentiment) and thus could be useful information for market pundits.

Bendigo Bank share price snapshot

In the last 12 months the Bendigo Bank share price has faltered over 10%. Year to date, however, shares are up more than 10%, and have shot up another 9% in the last month.

The post To buy, or not to buy, that is the question: Analysts are indecisive on Bendigo Bank (ASX:BEN) shares after mixed earnings appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why are ASX 200 bank shares getting so much love today?
• Why Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Crown, JB Hi-Fi, and Newcrest are pushing higher
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: JB Hi-Fi impresses, Crown accepts $8.9bn Blackstone bid
• Bendigo Bank (ASX:BEN) share price lifts amid 32% jump in profits
• ‘Ideal partner’: Bendigo Bank (ASX:BEN) share price lifts amid new fintech deal

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 owns and has recommended Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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ASX lithium shares and electric vehicle (EV) makers are both enjoying a boom as the decarbonisation trend takes hold.

The global market for EVs is expected to grow from 11 million vehicles in 2020 to 145 million by 2030, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). And with major players like Volkswagen, Ford, and General Motors getting into the game, it’s clear that this trend is here to stay.

But what about lithium shares? ASX-listed lithium companies have been at the forefront of the green boom and many investors are wondering if they make for a better investment case than EV makers.

So far, it’s been difficult to say for sure. However, looking back at what has happened in the past might give us some clues.

EV production to take charge of lithium future

Whether the real winners of the green shift will be EV makers or ASX-listed lithium shares partly depends on the battery composition of the future.

According to the IEA, the total lithium demand for EVs and battery storage is roughly 30% of the entire market. However, the agency’s forecasts anticipate this will expand to 83% of all lithium demand by 2030 under a ‘sustainable development’ scenario.

This creates some risk for ASX-listed lithium investors if battery chemistry were to evolve beyond the need for lithium. However, as noted in the scientific journal Nature, the plummeting price of lithium-ion batteries over the years means they will likely dominate the scene for the foreseeable future.

How has it played out for ASX lithium shares so far?

The last year has seen many ASX lithium shares benefit from record-high prices for the electrifying material. In 2021, the price of lithium carbonate exploded by roughly 500%, according to Trading Economics.

Undoubtedly, a major catalyst for these higher prices was a growing demand for EVs. Last year, nearly 6.5 million new electric cars were delivered, an increase of more than 108% over the prior year.

Importantly, experts have estimated that for every 1% increase in EV market penetration, an additional 70,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate is required.

#Lithium.. they need MORE

Committed mine production and primary demand for lithium, 2020-2030. @IEA https://t.co/mCcAtaOhBZ pic.twitter.com/CIGYmUGtSd

— Gigi Penna (@giginator_) October 7, 2021

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

As a result, investors are responding to the expected supply gap (as shown above) by bidding ASX-listed lithium shares higher. For example, here’s how some of the largest lithium companies on the ASX have performed in the last 12 months:

• Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN), up 34%
• Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS), up 187%
• Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR), up 330%

What about EV shares?

Despite noteworthy increases in electric vehicle sales in 2021, manufacturers of these electricity eaters are not experiencing the same fanfare as ASX-listed lithium shares recently.

In fact, investing in the likes of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) or Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) a year ago would have led to the underperformance of all three of the lithium shares listed above, as shown below.

An interesting dynamic to consider is: as lithium prices move higher, this will have a direct impact on the margins of EV makers if they cannot pass on the additional cost.

The post ASX lithium shares or EV makers, what’s been the better bet? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Wednesday
• Why CSL, Liontown, Nearmap, and Treasury Wine shares are storming higher
• Liontown (ASX:LTR) share price rockets 16% today on Tesla lithium deal
• These 3 charts show why you might want exposure to China’s EV makers
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts this Tuesday

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns Tesla. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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ASX travel shares gained altitude today amid a global travel recovery.

The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) soared 5.79%, Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) gained 4.83%, and Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN) climbed 2.68%.

Let’s take a look at what lifted the travel sector today.

ASX travel shares rise

ASX travel shares took off but they were not the only travel stocks taking flight. In the US, on Tuesday, American Airlines Group surged 8%, United Airlines Holdings jumped 7.56% and Delta Air Lines Inc finished 6% ahead.

And airlines weren’t the only companies in on the party. Cruise operators Royal Caribbean gained 4%, Carnival Corporation Corp jumped 6.65%, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings surged 6.92%.

Speculation that Russian president Vladimir Putin may still be prepared to hold back on war with Ukraine may have helped these shares, as my Foolish colleague in the US reported.

In Australia, the Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price also surged 7.65% while Helloworld Travel Ltd (ASX: HLO) finished the day up 7.08%.

Corporate Travel’s gain came on the back of its half-yearly results today which showed its revenue more than doubled in H1 FY22. The company also reported its revenue in North America is higher than it was pre-COVID-19.

Meanwhile, news that WA Premier Mark McGowan may be lifting WA’s border lockdown could also be good news for ASX travel shares.

WA Premier Mark McGowan reportedly said a new reopening date could be on the way, according to 7 News. McGowan said:

We are reviewing (restrictions) as we speak. The reality is, though, that we are getting the third-dose vaccination rate up, the eastern states appear to be coming off their peak, which is a good thing.

Meanwhile, the Canadian government eased its COVID-19 rules for travellers arriving in the country on Tuesday. Fully vaccinated travellers will no longer require a PCR test on arrival in Canada. France also relaxed its travel rules on 12 February.

This is all good news for ASX travel shares.

The post Why are ASX travel shares taking flight today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Helloworld Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Helloworld Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Corporate Travel Management Limited, Flight Centre Travel Group Limited, and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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