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The Z Energy Ltd (ASX: ZEL) share price is gaining ground to start the week’s trading and is now changing hands at $3.415 apiece.

That’s a 6.06% gain from the New Zealand fuel company’s previous closing price of $3.22 per share on Friday.

Z Energy’s shares are on the move after it announced it had entered into an acquisition agreement with Aussie fuel giant Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD).

Read on for more details.

What did Z Energy announce?

Z Energy advised that it has entered into a binding scheme implementation agreement with Ampol. It is proposed that Ampol acquires Z Energy on a cash consideration of NZ$3.78 per share.

Z Energy’s board has unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favour of the scheme.

It appears Ampol considers Z Energy a nice tuck in to its portfolio, given it has made several revisions to its original offer.

The agreement follows an announcement Z Energy made in August that it had received an offer from Ampol to acquire all of its shares after previous failed negotiations at NZ$3.35, $3.50 and $3.60 per share.

As The Motley Fool reported earlier today, in its reasoning for the latest offer, Ampol believes the acquisition could be “double-digit earnings per share accretive, and +20% free cash flow accretive in 2023”.

As such, Z Energy has appointed an independent advisor to assess whether the updated deal is in the best interests of its shareholders and hasn’t ruled out accepting higher offers from rival bidders.

The deal also stipulates that Z Energy will still be entitled to pay dividends on the company’s FY22 performance “during the period up to the implementation of the scheme”.

If the interim distribution of NZ$0.05 per share is made by Z Energy, the deal then represents a value of NZ$3.83/share, according to the company’s announcement.

In AUD, this represents an approximate 23 cents or 7% premium to the current Z Energy price and a 13% premium to its closing price on Friday.

The deal is expected to finalise in the first half of 2022, if and when all regulatory approvals have been obtained, according to the company.

Z Energy share price snapshot

The Z Energy share price has wobbled this year to date but has managed to climb 14% into the green since January 1.

This extends its gains in the past year to more than 35%. That’s ahead of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)’s return of about 25% in the last 12 months.

The post Z Energy (ASX:ZEL) share price leaps 6% on Ampol takeover news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Ampol (ASX:AMP) share price on watch after Z Energy takeover agreement

The author Zach Bristow has no positions 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Downer EDI Limited (ASX: DOW) share price is out of form on Monday morning. This comes after the company announced the sales of its Open Cut Mining East business.

At the time of writing, Downer shares are edging 1.26% lower to $6.675.

Downer divestment 

In its release, Downer advised it has entered into a sales agreement with the Australian subsidiary of PT Bukit Makmur Mandiri Utama (BUMA).

Established in 1998, BUMA is currently the second largest independent coal mining contractor in Indonesia. The company holds around 20% market share in the country, providing coal mining services to large Indonesian firms.

BUMA’s operations are supported by roughly 12,000 employees as well as being equipped with over 2,500 units of heavy equipment.

Downer will receive about $150 million in cash proceeds for its Open Cut Mining East business. So far, BUMA has paid a deposit of $16 million with the remaining amount to be paid at the sale completion.

The transaction includes the transfer of the assets, liabilities, employees and all existing contracts.

Downer noted that this is the final step of its divestment. Together with the previously announced sale of its Mining and Laundries business, Downer has received a total of $778 million.

Undoubtedly, the additional cash injection has failed to have a positive effect on the Downer share price.

Commenting on the sale, Downer CEO, Grant Fenn said:

An important part of our Urban Services strategy was the exit from our capital-intensive Mining businesses.

The sale of Open Cut Mining East is the last step of this process and follows the divestments of Open Cut Mining West, Downer Blasting Services, Underground mining, Otraco, the Snowden consulting business and our share in the RTL Mining and Earthworks joint venture.

Completion of the sale is expected to occur sometime before the end of 2021 calendar year.

About the Downer share price

Over the past 12 months, the Downer share price has pushed 35% higher, with year-to-date up 25%. It is worth noting that its shares are close to reaching the 52-week high of $6.87 achieved earlier this month.

Based on today’s price, Downer commands a market capitalisation of around $4.66 billion and has approximately 696.1 million shares outstanding.

The post Why is the Downer (ASX:DOW) share price struggling today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Downer (ASX:DOW) share price hits 52-week high, up 16% since reporting

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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Predictive Discovery Ltd (ASX: PDI) share price won’t be going anywhere on Monday.

This morning the gold exploration company requested a trading halt.

Why is the Predictive Discovery share price halted?

The Predictive Discovery share price was placed in a trading halt this morning at the company’s request.

According to the release, the request relates to its Bankan project in Guinea’s Siguiri Basin.

It commented: “The Company has received information that a media report is pending relating to the Company’s operations at the Bankan project in Guinea and requests a trading halt of its securities to allow it time to prepare an announcement so that the market is fully informed in relation to this issue.”

The company has requested that the Predictive Discovery share price be halted until the earlier of the release of its announcement or the commencement of trading on 13 October.

What is the report?

As of yet, the media report alluded to has not surfaced and therefore the “issue” in question has not been revealed.

However, it is worth noting that last month Guinea’s President Alpha Condé was ousted following a military coup.

And while the leader of the coup, Col Mamady Doumbouya, made miners exempt from a nationwide curfew, things can change rapidly in these circumstances.

Predictive Discovery shareholders are likely to have to wait patiently until Wednesday to get an answer.

They will no doubt be hoping that the news doesn’t have a negative impact on the Predictive Discovery share price. It has been smashing the market this year and was up almost 300% in 2021 prior to today’s trading halt.

This has been driven by some very promising drilling results from the Bankan project in recent months.

The post Why the Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI) share price is in a trading halt appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI) share price zooms 21% on drill results
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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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price is in the green this morning after Fortescue Future Industries announced its plan to build a hydrogen-equipment manufacturing facility.

Fortescue Future Industries and the Queensland government released news of the planned facility on Sunday.

Chair of Fortescue Metals and Fortescue Future Industries, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, commented on the plan:

This initiative is a critical step in Fortescue’s transition from a highly successful pure play iron ore producer, to an even more successful green renewables and resources powerhouse.

At the time of writing, the Fortescue Metals share price is $14.29, 0.28% higher than its previous close.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.7% this morning. Meanwhile the S&P/ASX 200 Resources Index (ASX: XJR) is up 0.32%.

Additionally, Fortescue Metals’ stock is gaining alongside iron ore prices. According to data from Business Insider, the price of iron ore soared 4% higher on Friday. It finished the day trading at US$122.86 a tonne.

Let’s take a closer look at Fortescue Future Industries’ newest ambitions.

Fortescue share price gains amid hydrogen news

The Fortescue Metals share price is lifting after Forrest and Queensland’s Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced Fortescue Future Industries’ plan to build one of the largest hydrogen-equipment manufacturing facilities on earth.

The Global Green Energy Manufacturing Centre will be located in Gladstone. It will produce up to 2 gigawatts of electrolysers each year – more than doubling global production.

Electrolysers split hydrogen from water and, if run on renewable electricity, are entirely carbon neutral. Production of the technology should begin in early 2023.

Fortescue Future Industries will initially invest around $114 million to produce the first electrolysers. Though its total investment could be more than $1 billion if demand allows.

The body will begin construction on the first stage of the 6-stage project in February 2022, subject to approvals.  

According to Fortescue Future Industries CEO Julie Shuttleworth, the facility will be “an epicentre for Queensland’s green hydrogen ambitions”. Shuttleworth added:

[Fortescue Future Industries’] goal is to become the world’s leading, integrated, fully renewable energy and green products company, powering the Australian economy and creating jobs for Australia as we transition away from fossil fuels. Our manufacturing arm, starting with electrolysers and expanding to all other required green industry products, will herald great potential for green manufacturing and employment in regional Australia.

According to Queensland’s Deputy Premier, Steven Miles, the facility will be built on land developed by the state’s government.

The Global Green Energy Manufacturing Centre will create more than 300 jobs over its life and produce a new export industry for the state.

The post Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price gains amid Twiggy’s planned $1bn hydrogen investment appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price is trading lower on Monday. The move comes as Australia’s biggest bank highlights the potential market opportunity in the supply of carbon credits.

At the time of writing, shares in the bank are commanding a price of $104.01, down 0.42%. This puts the CBA share price at a gain of 24.7% since the beginning of 2021. For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 9.5% year-to-date.

CBA share price stumbles on Australia’s green future

Carbon offsetting is a booming business globally as government initiatives are put in place to secure a low emission future. According to German bank Berenberg, the offset market has more than tripled over the past three years.

Although estimates indicate the current market is still relatively small, forecasts have the addressable market size sitting at $200 billion by 2050.

As such, CBA is taking notice of the potential market opportunity ahead. Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s head of institutional banking and markets Andrew Hinchliff believes Australia holds vast prospects for becoming a significant supplier of carbon credits.

In explaining, Hinchliff outlined that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues were positioned as the second-highest priority for institutional bank customers. This is behind the impacts of COVID-19 and its burdensome supply chain effects.

The building pressure from shareholders and governments to operate in a more sustainable manner has meant many companies have implemented some form of emission reduction targets. Consequently, the demand for carbon credits is rising as these companies look for ways to offset their emissions.

As a result, Hinchliff considers Australia to be well placed for this growing trend, stating:

We think Australia‘s got a unique opportunity – just based on our natural resources being land, soil, sea, wind and solar – to be a significant supplier of carbon credits not only to Australia but also into the world which is a big opportunity for our clients.

A slice of the pie

Today, Australia’s biggest bank by market capitalisation is putting its money where its mouth is. In a release, CBA revealed a partnership with Xpansiv to develop Australia’s voluntary carbon market. Xpansiv is a global marketplace for ESG commodities, enabling increased liquidity and efficiency where it has traditionally lacked. Despite this, the CBA share price is being sold off at the start of the week.

According to the release, the bank has invested $15 million in Xpansiv through the agreement. The platform plans to launch trading of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU) next year. These will be issued by the Clean Energy Regulator, representing one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent stored or avoided, which can be used to offset emissions.

Furthermore, Xpansiv chief commercial officer Ben Stuart stated:

We anticipate Australia’s voluntary carbon market will grow quickly in both size and trading volumes given the country’s position as one of the world’s largest producers of natural resources.

Our partnership with CBA signals the bank’s intention to play a leading role in supporting the development of carbon market infrastructure and will significantly accelerate the development of our client offering.

Additionally, the banking giant unveiled its latest feature for customers on Tuesday last week. CBA customers will be able to track their carbon footprint directly in the CommBank app. This is made possible through a partnership with fintech startup CoGo.

These two recent partnerships clearly highlight CBA’s endeavour to capitalise on the green transition. However, the company still hasn’t won over climate activists at Market Forces. Despite its partnerships, Market Forces claims the bank’s current plan aligns closer to reaching net-zero by 2070, rather than 2050.

Finally, the CBA share price is up 51.7% over the past 12-months.

The post CBA (ASX:CBA) share price slips as bank spruiks carbon credit opportunity appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• What happened for the CBA (ASX:CBA) share price in the FY22 first quarter?
• Why A2 Milk, CBA, Flight Centre, & Magellan’s shares are sinking

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns shares of Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 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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The Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API) share price is up after the company announced a profit update for its upcoming result.

This business is behind a few different high street names including Priceline Pharmacy and Soul Pattinson Chemists.

API profit update

The company told investors that it will exceed the profit guidance it provided to the market a few months ago, despite the broad COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in both New South Wales and Victoria.

API is now expecting that its underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) will be approximately $70 million and reported EBIT is going to be approximately $28 million for the year ending 31 August 2021.

The API CEO and managing director, Richard Vincent, said:

API recorded a strong trading performance through our suburban and regional Priceline Pharmacies as well as online. We also experienced elevated volumes through our pharmacy distribution business that we were not anticipating.

The company also said that the sale of its New Zealand pharmaceutical plant is expected to occur in the first quarter of FY22. That’s why its reported EBIT remains in line with previous guidance.

API has moved the date it’s expecting to report its result to 28 October 2021.

Legal action

API acknowledged and confirmed that a class action has been filed against it in Victoria’s Supreme Court. The company didn’t flag this announcement as market sensitive, meaning that management didn’t believe it would move the API share price.

According to reporting by the Australian Financial Review, this is a class action by current and former Priceline franchisees. The claim is that the company had “excessive” control over their pharmacies and made them pay fees that are in breach of state regulations.  

The franchisees are reportedly looking to “recover the benefits lost due to Priceline withholding rebates for not complying with mandated in-store product displays.”

In response, API has said that it remains focused on supporting Priceline Pharmacy franchisees through COVID-19, so that they can fully play their role in the distribution of vital medicines and that the COVID-19 vaccine and serve their communities during and beyond the pandemic.

Takeover battle

Over the past month the API share price is up more than 13%. It is currently subject to a takeover battle between Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and Sigma Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SIG).

Wesfarmers has offered a cash proposal of $1.55 per share. The conglomerate believes its offer would deliver an attractive premium and certain cash return for API shareholders.

Meanwhile, Sigma is offering API shareholders 2.05 Sigma shares plus $0.35 cash for each API share. Sigma said at the time that this offer represented an implied value of $1.57 per API share (before ‘synergies’). API shareholders would own 48.8% of the combined business under the proposal.

The post API (ASX:API) share price lifts following guidance upgrade appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• Australian Pharmaceuticals (ASX:API) share price lifts following Wesfarmers 19% stake
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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 owns shares of and has recommended 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 Metalstech Ltd (ASX: MTC) share price is on a wild ride this morning. Metalstech’s share price posted opening gains of more than 6% before quickly falling to a loss of 1%. At time of writing, the comany’s shares are up 3.09% to 50 cents.

Below, we take a look at the ASX resource explorers latest gold and silver update.

What gold and silver update was announced?

The Metalstech share price is seeking direction after the company updated the market on the metallurgical testing program at its 100% owned Sturec Gold Mine, located in Slovakia.

According to the release, metallurgical recovery results for mineralisation intersected by a drill hole returned “excellent gold and silver” results. The testing program used gravity separation and flotation.

Metalstech said the flotation test work produced a final concentrate of 31 grams of gold per tonne and 80 grams of silver per tonne. It reported gold recovery at 91.0% and silver recovery at 88.4%.

The company also reported “good results” from its initial gravity recovery test work, with gold recovery of 37.4%.

Commenting on the results, Metalstech chairman Russell Moran said:

The sulphide ore at Sturec is the primary target ore type and it has demonstrated excellent gold recoveries from simple gravity separation and flotation. This opens up potential for a wide range of simple and low CAPEX [capital expenditure] processing opportunities for Sturec. The current test work will help support our scoping study, which is already underway.

Metalstech share price snapshot

The Metalstech share price has had a strong year, buoyed by a lift off in late August. Year-to-date, shares are up 141% compared to a gain of 9% posted by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) so far in 2021.

Over the past month, Metalstech’s share price has surged more than 70%.

With Metalstech involved in a range of other precious metals, the company’s shares have performed far better than the gold price this year. Gold topped out at US$1,950 per ounce on 5 January and is currently trading at US$1,893 per ounce.

Silver’s been sliding too, currently at US$22.62 per ounce after hitting US$29.05 per ounce on 1 February.

The post Up 191% in 1-year, why the Metalstech (ASX:MTC) share price is on a rollercoaster today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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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The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price continues to take its investors on a rollercoaster ride, down 3.25% to $118.99 at the time of writing.

Afterpay has been relatively quiet on the announcement front, with its last price-sensitive piece of news being its FY21 full-year results.

Instead, the Afterpay share price has largely tracked the performance of its soon-to-be parent company, Square Inc (NASDAQ: SQ).

What’s driving the Afterpay share price on Monday

Square tumbles overnight

The Square share price tumbled US$10.67 or 4.28% last Friday to US$238.49.

Taking into consideration its takeover offer of 0.375 Square shares for each Afterpay share and current exchange rates, this values the Afterpay share price at $122.50.

Investors should note that Afterpay has typically traded at a small discount to its theoretical value.

The Square transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar year 2022.

Tech shares under pressure

Tech shares have traded under a heightened level of volatility amidst surging bond yields and rising interest rate hike expectations.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed major US indices, down 75 points or 0.51% last Friday.

By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 8.7 points lower or 0.03% while the S&P 500 fell 8.4 points or 0.19%.

Headlining the tech sell-off was a jump in benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields, surging to a 4-month high of 1.62%.

Rising bond yields impact how fast growing tech shares are valued, making all-important future cash flows appear less valuable in the present.

Interest rate rate hikes on the horizon

Also troubling the Square and Afterpay share price is the likelihood of an interest rate hike in the United States.

According to Reuters, futures on the federal funds rate are pricing in a 94% chance of a rate hike by November 2022 and 100% by December next year.

With the era of ultra-low interest rates coming to a close, this could spell a heightened level of volatility for tech shares in the near term.

The post Why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price is down 3% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO and Square. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. 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 Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price is lifting from the opening of trade this morning. The IAG share price jumped 3.5% before settling back to its current price of $5.29 apiece.

IAG shares are on the move as the company released a key update. Today’s news relates to a second business interruption test case heard in the Federal Court of Australia.

Here’s what we know.

What’s led us to this point?

To understand what’s got us here, we need to step back into the thick of the pandemic in 2020. This is when businesses and enterprise alike were forced into lockdown.

According to the Insurance Council of Australia, the insurance industry has “long maintained that pandemics are not intended to be covered under most business interruption policies.”

Hence when some policyholders went to claim their insurance benefits due to “business interruption”, many were shocked to find out that a number of business interruption policies sought to exclude cover for pandemics.

At the time, the insurers’ group was denying acting on its liabilities through a reference to the Quarantine Act.

But the Quarantine Act was repealed in 2016, replaced with the Biosecurity Act.

As such, a test case was held last year to debate this issue. The aim was to establish key definitions and criteria on what the new legislature meant in real-world practice, given the pandemic was in full effect by then.

The New South Wales Court of Appeal heard the case. It ruled in favour of the policyholders – stating there were grounds to claim on business interruption. The judgement was further upheld in June 2021, when the High Court denied the insurers’ leave to appeal applications.

That decision meant insurers “cannot rely on references to the Quarantine Act to deny liability in policies written in the same terms as the policies considered in the first test case.”

IAG share price spikes after judgement handed down

A second test case was arranged to provide further clarity and establish “the meaning of policy wordings around disease definition, COVID-19 outbreak proximity, the impact of government mandates,” and other matters.

Today IAG advised that a Federal Court judgement “found in favour of insurers on a significant number of policy wording questions and for policyholders on other questions.”

As per the Insurance Council, the Court’s ruling upheld 8 of the 9 matters put forward by insurers. It upheld the arguments of policyholders on 1 of the issues.

As a result of the ruling, IAG is reviewing the judgement to determine whether to appeal any aspect of it. IAG will also consider the potential impact of its business interruption provision announced in November last year.

IAG notes there is time set aside in November to hear any appeal in the Full Court so that decisions can be finalised by the end of the year.

The insurance giant looks forward to the issues being resolved as quickly as possible for its customers with business interruption policies, per the release.

IAG shares have struggled this year to date amid a wave of regulatory challenges. They have still gained 10%, adding to the 9.7% earned over the last 12 months.

The post IAG (ASX:IAG) share price lifts after Federal Court makes judgement appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 2 ASX 200 shares surging this week despite inflation worries
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The author Zach Bristow has no positions 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 shares of 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price is trading lower on Monday amid broad weakness in the tech sector.

At the time of writing, the sports betting and iGaming company’s shares are down 0.5% to $10.05.

This means the PointsBet share price is now down 13% since the start of the year.

Can the PointsBet share price bounce back?

Fortunately for shareholders, one leading broker believes the PointsBet share price can bounce back strongly from its 2021 weakness.

In fact, the broker sees potential for the company’s shares to be trading close to $15.00 in the near future.

According to a note out of Goldman Sachs this morning, its analysts have retained their buy rating and $14.75 price target on its shares.

Based on the current PointsBet share price, this implies potential upside of ~47% for investors.

What did the broker say?

The note reveals that Goldman Sachs attended the G2E conference in Las Vegas. It also hosted meetings with the management teams of PointsBet and a number of other gaming companies.

The broker spoke positively about its meeting with Pointsbet’s US CEO Johnny Aitken and his team.

Goldman said: “Management believes their tech stack, purpose-built in the mid 2010s for the US, will be a key source of differentiation as it can roll out better products, more rapidly than competitors. Furthermore, the company highlighted their trading team, which has a presence in Europe, Australia and North America, will allow them to make markets rather than taking lines, providing a competitive advantage (ie. better same-game parlays).”

The broker also notes that management is confident that it can carve out a decent market share in the United States even in an intensely promotional environment.

The broker explained: “Management took a different view on consolidation, pointing to Australia where consumers went from 1-2 apps in the early 2010s to 4-6 now. They believe that in an environment with multiple apps on device, the ability to compete on tech, leverage their NBC partnership through all parts of the funnel, and drive retention through engagement will enable them to carve out mid single-digit market share even in an intensely promotional environment.”

This could bode well for the future performance of the PointsBet share price.

Positive outlook

After taking into account all its meetings, Goldman concluded: “While the promotional environment is a risk, we came away more confident in the demand backdrop and adoption trends online and found comments about one-time marketing spend to be a sign of a more rational competitive environment on the horizon.”

All in all, the broker appears to believe there’s potential for the PointsBet share price to be trading within sight of $15.00 by the end of the year.

The post Could the PointsBet (ASX:PBH) share price hit $15 by the end of 2021? 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. owns shares of and has recommended Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointsbet Holdings 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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