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The Iress Ltd (ASX: IRE) share price has been struggling this month amid rumours its takeover is increasingly unstable.

Iress received its latest takeover offer of an implied $15.91 per share from EQT Fund Management on 11 August. The offer values Iress at around $3.1 billion.

However, reports that EQT is hesitating on the much-anticipated takeover and is considering lowering its offer have emerged today.

Right now, the Iress share price is $13.50. That’s 1.68% lower than its previous close and 11.4% lower than it was this time last month. It’s also 15% lower than EMT’s part-cash-part-scrip offer.

Let’s take a closer look at the pickle facing the software provider.

A quick refresher

The latest takeover offer posed to Iress by EQT is the third.

The fund manager offered $14.80 per share for the software company on 18 June. The bid was swiftly rejected.

Then, EQT pushed an offer of between $15.30 and $15.50 per share. That was once more rejected by Iress’ board. However, Iress did agree to allow EQT access to information that could allow it to put in a more suitable bid. The Iress share price shot up 13.9% on the day it announced EQT’s second offer.

Of course, that led to EQT’s latest $15.91 per share offer, which Iress agreed to grant EQT a 30-day period of exclusivity. The Iress share price gained 5% on the back of the initially successful takeover offer.

However, the period of exclusivity was recently extended for another 10 days to allow EQT to complete its due diligence.

Today’s rumours

The Iress share price is in the red again today amid reports stating that EQT is second guessing its plan to takeover Iress altogether.

EQT is apparently rumoured to be considering abandoning the takeover or lowering its offer once more.

Further, according to reporting by The Australian, EQT might be working to bring BGH Capital on board to partner in its purchase of Iress.

The market will likely soon find out whether the rumours are true. The extended period of exclusivity is set to end on Sunday evening.

Iress share price snapshot  

Despite the poor month’s performance, the Iress share price is still having a good year on the ASX.

Right now, it’s 25% higher than it was at the start of 2021. It has also gained 37% since this time last year.

The post Why the Iress (ASX:IRE) share price has shed 11% in a month appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Iress (ASX: IRE) share price edges higher as profits climb
• How did the Iress (ASX:IRE) share price respond last earnings season?

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 Deep Yellow Limited (ASX: DYL) share price joins the growing list of booming ASX uranium shares, surging 53.8% in September. This marks an 8-year high of $1.215.

Deep Yellow is a uranium explorer operating out of Namibia. Its growth strategy is to “establish a multi-platform, 5-10 million lb per annum, low-cost, tier one uranium producer.”

What’s so special about this uranium company?

Deep Yellow has been kicking goals at its flagship Tumas Project. The miner is expecting to complete a definitive feasibility study in the second half of 2022.

The company has described the Tumas Project as “similar to Langer Heinrich deposit and very well understood by the Deep Yellow team.”

Langer Heinrich is owned by the largest ASX-listed uranium player, Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN).

Deep Yellow has discovered multiple deposits in recent months, with successful drilling announcements in July and August.

Over the past four years of exploration, Deep Yellow has increased the Tumas mineral resource fourfold.

Even then, the company says that only 60% of its 125km highly prospective palaeochannel system has been tested. And thus, “significant growth upside remains.”

What’s driving the Deep Yellow share price?

Uranium spot prices are up more than 60% since mid-July, marking 7-year highs of $42.50 last week.

The sudden spike in uranium prices has largely been driven by Sprott Inc and its Physical Uranium Trust (SPUT).

Sprott has been aggressively buying physical uranium off the spot market. This has driven tightness in supply and renewed investor interest in the energy metal.

According to Bloomberg, the fund has amassed over 24 million lb by 8 September.

The relentless buying action picked up on Wednesday, with the fund adding another 1.25 million lbs.

Sprott Physical Uranium Trust was back in action today with record trading volume and new unit issuance!

1.25 million lbs of physical #uranium added#lowcarbon #nuclear #U308 $U.UN $U.U $SRUUF #SPUT

For more information and disclosures, please visit https://t.co/PcaG53VfN5 pic.twitter.com/ss3zcoQGAh

— Sprott Asset Management (@Sprott) September 14, 2021

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The sudden uptick in uranium prices has translated to a significant re-rate for the Deep Yellow share price and broader uranium sector.

Deep Yellow share price snapshot

Deep Yellow shares are rising again in early morning trade, up 2.06% to $1.24.

The uranium miner has a market capitalisation of $402.47 million with 331 million shares on issue.

The post Here’s why the Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) share price is up 50% this month appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) share price surges 24% to record highs
• ASX uranium shares are booming double digits across the board on Monday. Here’s why.
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• Here’s why the Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) share price has surged 45% in a month
• Guess which sector last week’s top performing ASX shares come from

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. 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 Strike Energy Ltd (ASX: STX) share price has opened higher this morning after the company’s latest green announcement. It’s about a green hydrogen and carbon sink project.

At the time of writing, shares in the energy company are trading for 29.5 cents each – up 1.72% on yesterday’s close. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), meanwhile, is 0.44% lower.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news.

Why the Strike share price is rising

In a statement to the ASX, Strike Energy says it will transition the energy supply at its proposed fertiliser manufacturing plant, Project Haber in Geraldton, Western Australia, from gas to a green hydrogen supply.

Beginning in 2025, approximately 2% of the plant’s power will come from green hydrogen. By 2033, a “break-through point” where the cost of green hydrogen is projected to drop to under $2 per kilogram will see about a third of power come from the renewable source. The company claims the plant will be 100% green hydrogen-powered by 2044.

According to the statement, Strike has entered into separate, non-binding memorandums of understanding (MOU) with energy company ATCO and Infinite Blue Energy (IBE) for collaboration on mid-west infrastructure and green hydrogen offtake.

The company says these agreements will “facilitate alignment between the parties on the key infrastructure priorities for the mid-west region and to petition for their development with the WA government, who is a major supporter of the state’s aspiring hydrogen economy”.

Finally, in more news that could be lifting the Strike share price, the company says Project Haber has the potential to transition into a carbon sink. It forecasts 390 tonnes per day of methane could be replaced by green hydrogen.

Once the plant exceeds a 40% green hydrogen mix, it will be “required” to start importing carbon dioxide to continue manufacturing fertiliser. In the company’s words, this action would turn Project Haber into a carbon sink for other industries.

Management commentary

Strike Energy CEO and Managing Director Stuart Nicholls said:

Progression of these MOUs with two of the key green hydrogen developers in the Mid-West is a great step in accelerating the WA hydrogen economy.

Incorporating green hydrogen in Project Haber’s urea production process will enable Strike to produce some of the lowest carbon urea possible and potentially create one of Australia’s largest carbon sinks, moving Strike into carbon negative territory.

Strike share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Strike share price has increased by around 15%. That’s about 10 percentage points lower than the ASX 200 over the same period. The company’s share price is up around 3% since the beginning of the year.

Strike Energy has a market capitalisation of approximately $596 million.

The post Strike (ASX:STX) share price climbs on green hydrogen announcement appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Strike Energy (ASX:STX) share price lifts on project update
• Why the Strike Energy (ASX:STX) share price is down 6% today

Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous 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 Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price has edged lower in early trading with investors keeping a keen eye on it this week. 

The extra attention comes as multiple buyers line up to swoop on the airline’s investment and land portfolio.

Let’s take a closer look.  

Demand for land package spurs Qantas share price

Shares in Qantas have been buoyed by compelling interest in its investment and land holdings.

According to a recent article in The Age, listed companies such as Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC) and Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) are potential suitors.

Stockland Corporation (ASX: SGP) and Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) have also emerged as strong contenders.

Bidding for Qantas’ land portfolio, which is estimated to be worth in excess of $550 million, is expected to close on Friday.

The package includes several properties and covers approximately 14 hectares in Sydney’s industrial precinct.

Part of the package includes Qantas’ distribution centre, two development sites and a business park development site.

Qantas has owned the land parcels since the 1960s and decided to sell following a wide-ranging property review.

The airline launched an Expression of Interest process in July 2021, with management citing the sale could unlock several hundred million dollars to further assist with debt reduction.

In its first-half report for FY21, Qantas reported net debt levels of $6.05 billion.

How did Qantas perform in FY21?

Qantas released its full-year results for FY21 in late August.

The airline’s report was headlined by a statutory loss before tax of $2.35 billion.

Other highlights from Qantas’ full-year results included:

• $12 billion revenue impact from the COVID-19 crisis in FY21.
• Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) was $410 million. That’s in line with Qantas’ guidance.
• $5.93 billion of revenue.
• Operating cash flows came to an outflow of $386 million.

The airliners management cited the difficult domestic and international conditions for the dire result.

Qantas noted that in FY21, only 30 days were free of any state domestic border restrictions.

Snapshot of the Qantas share price

A strong run in the past few weeks has pushed the Qantas share price 11% higher for the year.

Shares in the airliner have been buoyed by plans to potentially resume international travel by December of 2021.

In line with the national cabinet’s plan, Qantas is anticipating the resumption of the trans-Tasman travel bubble and other routes in the Asia Pacific.

At the time of writing, the Qantas share price has opened slightly lower for the day. It’s down 0.37% to $5.41.

The post Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price slips as buyers line up for land package appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Nikhil Gangaram 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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Looking for options in the tech sector? Then look at the ASX shares listed below that have been named as buys.

Here’s what you need to know about these tech shares:

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

The first ASX tech share to look at is Altium. It is an electronic design software provider. Altium is best-known for its Altium Designer and Altium 365 platforms.

The company’s platforms are regarded as the best in the industry and are used by many of the world’s largest companies. This includes the likes of BAE Systems, Microsoft, and Tesla.

The good news for Altium is that demand for these platforms looks set to increase materially over the next decade. This is due partly to the internet of things and artificial intelligence markets, which are underpinning an explosion of electronic devices globally.

The team at Citi are positive on the company. They have a buy rating and $35.40 price target on its shares.

Nitro Software Ltd (ASX: NTO)

Another ASX tech share to look at is Nitro Software. It is a software company that is aiming to drive digital transformation in organisations around the world with its Nitro Productivity Suite.

The Nitro Productivity Suite provides integrated PDF productivity and electronic signature tools to customers through a horizontal, software-as-a-service, and desktop-based software solution.

Adoption of these tools has accelerated during the pandemic and helped underpin strong growth during the first half of FY 2021. For example, for the six months ended 30 June, the company’s reported a 56% increase in its annualised recurring revenue (ARR) to US$33.8 million. This puts it on track to achieve its full year guidance for ARR of between US$39 million and US$42 million.

Positively, this is still well short of its total addressable market which is estimated to be $28 billion. This gives it a very long runway for growth over the next decade.

Bell Potter is very positive on the company. In fact, Nitro is the broker’s top tech share to buy this month. Its analysts have a buy rating and $4.00 price target on the company’s shares.

The post These ASX tech shares have been tipped as buys by analysts appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• ASX 200 tech shares are dragging the market on Monday
• Broker names the 3 best ASX tech shares to buy
• 2 ASX growth shares that could be buys
• Here’s what this top broker thinks of the Altium (ASX:ALU) share price

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 Altium. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Altium. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nitro Software 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 Venture Minerals Limited (ASX: VMS) share price is struggling this week despite the company’s silence.

Since it finished last week’s trading for 9.2 cents apiece, Venture Minerals’ stock has fallen 6.52%.

Right now, the Venture Minerals share price is 8.6 cents.

Let’s take a look at what might be driving the company’s shares lower this week.

A quick refresher

Venture Minerals is a mineral explorer in the early stages of production.

The company mines iron ore at its Tasmanian Riley Ore Mine, with its first shipment due this month.

Additionally, Venture Minerals is exploring for tin and tungsten at the Mount Lindsay Project in Tasmania. According to Venture, Mount Lindsay is one of the world’s largest tin deposits.

It also has projects focused on gold, copper, nickel, and other minerals in Western Australia.

What’s Venture Minerals been up to lately?

Venture Minerals has maintained silence as its share price plummets this week.

However, last week was a busy one for the company.

Last Wednesday, Venture announced a drilling campaign at Mount Lindsay had successfully found a new skarn system. The skarn system is potentially tin bearing and is located nearby the Renison Tin Operation. The company stated Renison was one of the world’s largest and highest-grade tin mines.

The Venture Minerals share price gained 7% after the company announced the discovery.

Not to mention, over 25 million of the company’s shares were traded last Wednesday. For comparison, the average month sees around 16 million Venture shares swapping hands.

Then, Venture Minerals unveiled its New World Metals Conference presentation on Thursday.

Despite the presentation containing plenty of seemingly positive news, Venture Minerals’ shares fell 4% the day it was released.

Venture Minerals share price snapshot

Despite its poor performance this week, the Venture Minerals share price is well and truly in the ASX green.

Right now, the company’s share price is 76% higher than it was at the start of 2021. It has also gained 193% since this time last year.

The post The Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS) share price has fallen 6% this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) share price on watch as lithium prices boom

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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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.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been locked in a battle with Epic Games, the creator of the popular game Fortnight, since last August. Epic tried to implement a way for users to pay for in-game purchases without going through Apple’s App Store.

Apple didn’t like that idea.

But in a court ruling earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers determined the tech giant must allow other avenues of payment for in-app purchases. While that’s bad news for Apple and its investors, the ruling still had plenty of good news too.

Here’s what investors need to know.

The bad news first

The judge’s ruling will force Apple to allow alternative payment options for in-app purchases. 

Apple previously made a concession to allow certain apps to provide users with a link to pay for a subscription outside of Apple’s ecosystem. That rule only applied to what Apple called “reader apps,” which allow users to access subscription content like video, music, or news. The court ruling will force the company to apply that same mechanism to all apps in the United States.

That’s a big deal, because Apple derives a significant amount of its App Store revenue from in-app game purchases in the U.S., which were previously restricted to Apple’s payment system. App Store users in the U.S. spent $12.6 billion on mobile games last year between premium downloads and in-app purchases, according to data from Sensor Tower. Apple kept about $3.8 billion of that total.

There’s also potential for the ruling to influence regulations and lawmakers around the world. South Korea and Japan have already made rulings affecting Apple’s App Store policies in recent weeks. In fact, a Japan Fair Trade Commission ruling was the impetus behind the change for reader apps.

For now, however, the ruling may result in a loss of revenue between $1 billion and $4 billion per year, according to Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster. For a company with annual operating income approaching $100 billion, that’s a manageable setback.

The good news

Judge Gonzalez Rogers didn’t find Apple to be a monopolist under either California state or federal law. As such, the company won’t be required to allow third-party app stores on iOS. It also means Apple can restrict developers from inserting their own payment processing mechanisms within their apps. In fact, the judge ordered Epic to pay Apple damages — 30% of revenue collected — for using the payment mechanism that got it booted from the App Store.

Furthermore, the ruling also makes it harder for the Department of Justice to make the claim that Apple’s a monopolist that excludes market entrants and extracts monopolist profits. It won’t, however, prevent lawmakers from enacting legislation curbing the operations of the App Store, but it could make them more difficult to pass or hold up in courts.

What happens next?

Epic isn’t happy with the verdict. It will likely appeal the case in an attempt to force Apple to make further concessions. Judge Gonzalez Rogers even noted the 30% App Store commission is probably higher than it should be, but since Epic didn’t call into question the amount of the commissions — just that there’s a commission at all — she couldn’t rule on it. As such, that may be grounds for another lawsuit.

Additionally, Apple faces anti-competition cases around the world, including from the EU. And it’s just one of several big tech companies under fire from regulators and lawmakers in Washington. So, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the future of the App Store. But if the ruling is any indication, Apple is in a strong position to defend itself and one of its most profitable sources of revenue.

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

The post Apple’s App Store case: What investors need to know appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Adam Levy owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Apple. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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

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The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price is firming on Wednesday after a potential ‘Ethereum-killer’ cryptocurrency attempts to restart its network following a prolonged outage.

The Solana network is currently stuck in a frozen state after a high-speed processor ran into a problem. Those in the crypto space have been wary of Solana’s rising prominence as a potential competitor to Ethereum. However, it appears Ethereum investors are more positive on the back of the reports.

At the time of writing, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation is trading around A$4,673.45, up 3.33% over the past 24 hours.

Solana hits a wall

For those who may not have heard of Solana before, let’s run through a quick review. Solana operates on blockchain technology to provide decentralised finance (DeFi) solutions. Originally founded in 2017, the project has grown in recent months to be considered by many as a potential Ethereum beater.

Importantly, Solana can facilitate around 351 transactions per second at an extremely low average cost of approximately 0.0025 cents per transaction. Theoretically, the network can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second.

Meanwhile, it is believed that Ethereum can only handle roughly 30 transactions per second. In addition, based on gasnow.org, a slow transaction on the Ethereum network would cost $5.03.

To offer such a dramatically faster network at a low cost, Solana employs a proof-of-history (PoH) model. In short, PoH utilises cryptographic verification of time to both secure its network and improve its speed. (Read more about proof of history here.)

Unfortunately, the network was flooded with 400,000 transactions per second, pushing it beyond its capability. As a result, transactions were unable to be prioritised and the network began to fork. Subsequently, some of the nodes that the network relies on went offline.

The outage led to a swift 16% fall in the Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) price from $234 to a low of $196. Since then, the cryptocurrency has recovered to $212.

In an attempt to reboot from the frozen state, developers have passed on instructions to validators to coordinate a restart of the network. At this stage though, the network remains frozen.

The ramifications of the outage are not yet known. However, with a multibillion-dollar ecosystem of trading, staking, and lending on the line, many will be hoping for minimal impact.

Ethereum price in review

The Ethereum price has struggled with its own hurdles in recent weeks. As the non-fungible-token (NFT) space booms on the Ethereum network, gas prices have soared, exceeding thousands of dollars at times.

This has, unsurprisingly, drawn many critics to the unsustainable nature of such prices. Although, those who are bullish on Ethereum are likely awaiting the rollout of Ethereum 2.0 before making a judgement.

The update is expected to improve the performance and functionality of the blockchain through a new structure. An anticipated outcome of this is substantially lower network fees.

The post Ethereum price climbs as competitor’s blockchain suffers outage appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• Bitcoin vs Ethereum: Which is better for me?

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns shares of Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Ethereum. 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 Uniti Group Ltd (ASX: UWL) share price could be on the move today following the company’s response to alleged insider trading by one of its former executive directors.

The telecommunications company’s shares crashed to as low as $3.42 yesterday on the news, before rebounding quickly. When Uniti requested a trading halt in late afternoon trade, its shares froze at $3.905, down 4.99%.

What did Uniti say?

In last night’s statement, Uniti advised it was aware of media reports about the allegations made in regards to executive director, Vaughan Bowen.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges that Mr Bowen personally sold Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC) shares receiving inside information on a failed takeover.

The transactions, worth $25.7 million occurred in June 2019, a day before Vocus shares plummeted on the market release. Swedish private equity firm, EQT Infrastructure IV Fund withdrew from a $2.3 billion offer to acquire 100% of Vocus shares.

Under section 1043A of the Corporations Act, each charge of insider trading carries a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Mr Bowen is being charged with two counts of insider trading.

Uniti stated that Mr Bowen denies the allegations and will be vigorously defending the matter in court.

Furthermore, the company advised its operations have not been impacted and will continue as normal.

The board does not intend to make any changes to Mr Bowen’s role and position of executive director for now. It will until the outcome of the matter has been determined before making any decisions.

Uniti share price snapshot

Despite yesterday’s fall, it has been a strong 12 months for Uniti shares, climbing by more than 175%. In 2021 alone, its share price is up almost by 130%, reflecting positive investor sentiment in the company.

Based on today’s price, Uniti presides a market capitalisation of roughly $2.6 billion and has approximately 687 million on issue.

The post Why the Uniti (ASX:UWL) share price will be on watch today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the Uniti (ASX:UWL) share price crashed 17% on Tuesday
• 5 ASX shares under $10 that have more than doubled in the past year
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• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares on Tuesday
• Why HUB24, MNF, Nanosonics, & Uniti shares are surging higher

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 recommended Uniti 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 South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) share price has been on fire this year.

Since the start of the year, the mining giant’s shares have risen an impressive 36%.

This is more than triple the return of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over the same period.

Can the South32 share price go higher?

The good news is that it may not be too late to invest, with one leading broker tipping the South32 share price to keep rising.

According to a note out of Goldman Sachs this morning, the broker has retained its conviction buy rating and lifted its price target on its shares to $3.80.

Based on the current South32 share price of $3.41, this means potential upside of ~11% over the next 12 months.

In addition to this, the broker is forecasting some very generous dividends in the coming years.

Goldman has pencilled in dividends per share of 29 US cents in FY 2022 and 31.9 US cents in FY 2023. Based on current exchange rates and the latest South32 share price of $3.41, this will mean fully franked yields of 11.6% and 12.8%, respectively.

What did the broker say?

Goldman explained that there are three key reasons why it is bullish on the South32 share price.

It commented: “(1) Valuation: The stock is trading at 0.92x NAV (A$3.75/sh). (2) Strong FCF outlook: We forecast a FCF yield of c. 15-18% in FY22 & FY23 (over 20% at spot), driven mostly by higher base metal prices (combined c. 70% of FY22 EBITDA). Spot EBITDA is over US$3.8bn vs. our base case c. US$3.0bn estimate. (3) Increased capital returns: We assume the buyback continues to be extended (at US$250mn p.a) and S32 continues to pay out 70% of earnings (40% ordinary, 30% special dividend component). On our estimates, S32 is on a dividend yield of c. 12-13% in FY22 & FY23.”

The post 3 reasons this broker says the South32 (ASX:S32) share price is a buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why the South32 (ASX:S32) share price is leaping 5% 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 Bruce Jackson.

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