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Many of Australia’s top brokers have been busy once again adjusting their estimates and recommendations. This has led to the release of a number of broker notes.

Three broker buy ratings that have caught my eye are summarised below. Here’s why brokers think these ASX shares are in the buy zone:

Adore Beauty Group Ltd (ASX: ABY)

According to a note out of UBS, its analysts have retained their buy rating and $6.20 price target on this online beauty retailer’s shares. The broker has been looking into the industry and believes consumer purchasing intentions are supportive for Adore Beauty. Its research indicates that demand for skincare and haircare is strong. Outside this, the broker notes that the company has attractive growth opportunities. The Adore Beauty share price is fetching $4.97 this afternoon.

Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL)

Analysts at Morgans have retained their add rating but trimmed their price target on this gold miner’s shares to $4.01. According to the note, the broker is pleased with its plan to acquire a 30% stake in the Tropicana Gold Mine for $903 million from IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO). Morgans believes it will be transformational for its long term outlook, particularly given exploration opportunities at Tropicana. Not everyone is as convinced as Morgans, though. This afternoon the Regis Resources share price is down 14% to $2.71.

Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB)

A note out of Ord Minnett reveals that its analysts have retained their buy rating and lifted their price target on this online travel agent’s shares to $7.15. According to the note, the broker believes the company is well-positioned financially to strengthen its competitive position in the B2B segment. This is due to a number of its competitors struggling financially during the pandemic. The Webjet share price is trading at $5.28 on Thursday afternoon.

More reading

• Why BrainChip, Regis Resources, Whitehaven, & Zip shares are tumbling lower
• ASX 200 flat: Zip raises $400m, Bank of Queensland results, Regis crashes
• Why the Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) share price is crashing 17% lower
• Why BWX, Fortescue, Webjet, & Zip shares are dropping
• 2 rapidly growing ASX shares to buy

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Adore Beauty Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended 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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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price has been having a rather wild week this week. CBA shares are down 0.24% at the time of writing today to $87.57 a share after briefly spiking to $88 at open this morning. That’s not too far away from the company’s 52-week high of $89.20 that we saw back in February. It’s also not too far away from the CBA share price’s all-time high of ~$94 that we saw way back in 2015.

CommBank has been a pretty decent share to have owned over the past year or so. CBA is up roughly 4.5% so far in 2021, up 26.4% over the past 6 months, and up more than 41% over the past year.

But is the CBA share price a buy today at these levels? Let’s take a look to see if there’s anything to like with the ASX’s biggest banking share right now.

What’s been happening at Commonwealth Bank?

First of all, it’s worthwhile noting that things seem to be going the right way for the CBA share price lately. An expanding economy and loser regulations from the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) is likely to result in favourable business conditions for Commonwealth Bank over the short-to-medium term. Today’s employment numbers certainly add weight to that thesis. As we reported on recently, one commentator is expecting these factors to result in a 15% expansion in bank valuations. 

If CBA does manage to boost its earnings over 2021 and beyond, it will also be able to keep increasing its dividends. Perhaps even to a level that we were seeing before the pandemic hit.

Let’s recap CommBank’s dividends for a moment, seeing as many (if not most of) CBA’s retail investors hold Commonwealth Bank shares for this reason.

So CommBank paid out $4.31 in dividends per share in 2019 and $2.98 per share in 2020. Perhaps luckily for CBA, its first dividend of 2020 was paid out just before the pandemic hit. 

Back in March, CBA paid out its first dividend for 2021, which came in at $1.50 per share. That’s still a long way off of the $2 per share payment from last year. So on the current CBA share price, the bank currently has a trialling dividend yield of 2.83%. If we annualise its most recent dividend, we get a potential yield of 3.43%. That’s still a long way from what Commonwealth Bank shareholders would be used to. Remember, the CBA share price is now back to roughly the level it was before the pandemic. Its dividend is not. 

Is the CBA share price a buy today?

Prospective buyers might be disappointed with what broker Goldman Sachs thinks of CBA shares right now. According to CommSec, Goldman has a ‘sell’ rating on Commonwealth Bank, with a price target of $73.64. Goldman cites CBA’s significant exposure to the retail mortgage market, as well as its significant pricing premium over the other ASX banks, for its rating.

At the current level, the CBA share price has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 19.48 and a market capitalisation of $155.4 billion.

More reading

• Australian jobs numbers for March show signs of recovery
• Tesla and Palantir were some of the most popular US shares last week
• What’s lifting the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price today?
• Why Westpac (ASX:WBC) could be about to deliver a dividend surge
• Why the NAB (ASX:NAB) share price could push higher from here

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen 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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Actinogen Medical Ltd (ASX: ACW) shares are rocketing higher today and have now gained 165% since the start of 2021.

At the time of writing, the Actinogen share price is trading 23.26% higher for the day so far at 5.3 cents, up from just 2 cents at the start of March.

The company’s focus is the development of Xanamem, a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and the cognitive deficiency associated with other neurological and metabolic diseases.

What’s been driving the Actinogen share price?

Whilst there is no news out of the company today, it’s possible the Actinogen share price is still riding the wave of several announcements released by the company over the last couple of months. At the end of March, Actinogen director George Morstyn acquired 2,550,000 shares in the company at a value of $71,782.73. 

Actinogen shares have also been responding positively since the appointment of the company’s new CEO, Dr Steven Gourlay, on 15 March. Gourlay has more than 30 years’ experience in the development of novel therapeutics.

Investors are clearly confident that Gourlay brings considerable skills and experience to Actinogen, as the company moves into further clinical development of its lead compound, Xanamem.

But perhaps most pertinent to the company’s recent surge in value is the growing recognition of Xanamem on the international stage. 

On 5 February, the United States Food and Drug Administration granted Actinogen’s drug Xanamem a Rare Paediatric Disease Designation for the treatment of Fragile X syndrome (FXS).

Fragile X syndrome is a rare and serious genetic disorder, typically diagnosed in children but with life-long symptoms. It is characterised by a range of developmental problems including behavioural problems, autism features, severe anxiety, cognitive impairment and disordered sleep.

Management commentary

Dr Bill Ketelbey, former CEO and MD of Actinogen Medical, said at the time that the FDA designation was extremely important for the company:

We are delighted to receive the Rare Paediatric Disease Designation from the FDA. The significant strategic advantages from this approval include commercial, development and regulatory benefits for the development of Xanamem in FXS, with priority review designed to increase overall speed to market.

Additionally, [this] designation includes the potential for the Company to receive a second, transferable priority review voucher that holds substantial additional value in it’s own right Actinogen has devoted increased resources to broadening Xanamem’s clinical development pipeline, with Fragile X syndrome selected as the second indication to pursue alongside Alzheimer’s disease.

Foolish takeaway

The Actinogen share price is having a stellar start to 2021, thanks to a series of announcements since the beginning of the year. Reaching a new 52-week high of 5.6 cents in intraday trading today, Actinogen shares are now up by around 30% in a week. Over the past year, the company’s shares have outperformed the healthcare sector by around 170%. 

Actinogen has a current market capitalisation of around $71 million.

More reading

• Janison (ASX:JAN) share price hits record high today. Here’s why
• Top broker tips Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price to rocket higher
• Why this leading ASX lithium share is tipped to ride the EV revolution
• What’s happening with the Pentanet (ASX:5GG) share price today?
• Senex (ASX:SXY) share price is ‘cooking with gas’ today. Here’s why

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh 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 Janison Education Group Ltd (ASX: JAN) share price is racing higher in late afternoon trade. This comes after the company announced it had surpassed a milestone with its school assessment program.

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an online platform that measures a 15-year old’s ability in mathematics, science, and reading. The program seeks to improve individual school teaching efforts using the benchmark as a comparison.

At the time of writing, the educational technology company’s shares are trading at  78.5 cents, up 4.6%. Earlier in the day, the Janison share price reached a record high of 80.5 cents.

What’s driving the Janison share price higher?

Investors are pushing Janison shares into new territory after the company provided a positive update.

According to its release, Janison advised that it has signed agreements to roll out the OECD’s PISA for Schools assessment to more than 200 Australian schools. This achievement represents more than 10% of all Australian secondary schools that are adopting the international student assessment program.

Test launched in March 2021, Janison stated that the first 6 weeks of availability to Australian schools had been overwhelming. The schools that have signed up are a mix of independent and government schools across several states in Australia.

The PISA for Schools assessment costs $7,000 per school and is licenced for a period of 12 months. With 200 schools signed up, Janison forecasts a minimum of $1.4 million in revenue per annum, excluding GST.

Words from management

Janison CEO David Caspari commented:

I am delighted with the pace in which this program is being rolled out across Australia and the impact it will make to the lives of thousands of secondary school children. We are honoured to be partnering with the OECD and to be playing a pivotal role in the delivery of this global program.

The reaction in Australia is mirrored in several other jurisdictions – this is our 10th market globally and we are receiving a similar response across the world. As we roll out the product to the remaining 80+ markets over the next few years, we anticipate educators will seize the opportunity for gold standard data.

The Janison share price has jumped more than 160% within the past 12 months and is up almost 40% year-to-date.

More reading

• Top broker tips Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price to rocket higher
• Why this leading ASX lithium share is tipped to ride the EV revolution
• What’s happening with the Pentanet (ASX:5GG) share price today?
• Senex (ASX:SXY) share price is ‘cooking with gas’ today. Here’s why
• Why NAB (ASX:NAB) shares could take off: fundie

Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Janison Education Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Janison Education 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 Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price has returned from its trading halt and is sinking lower.

In afternoon trade, the buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares are down 3% to $9.33.

Why is the Zip share price sinking today?

The Zip share price has come under pressure on Thursday after it surprised the market by launching another capital raising.

On this occasion, Zip followed the lead of rival Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) by raising $400 million via a convertible notes offering. These notes are due in 2028 and are convertible into fully paid ordinary shares of Zip at an initial conversion price of $12.39 per share. 

The capital from the offering will support core and international growth opportunities

Is this a buying opportunity?

According to one leading broker, the weakness in the Zip share price could be a buying opportunity.

Earlier this week, analysts at Morgans put an add rating and $10.92 price target on the company’s shares.

Based on the latest Zip share price, this price target implies potential upside of 17% over the next 12 months.

What did Morgans say?

Morgans has looked through Zip’s third quarter update and was pleased with what it saw.

It commented: “Z1P has provided a 3Q21 trading update. Overall it was another strong quarterly performance from Z1P, in our view, highlighted by group revenue (A$114m), merchants (45.3k), and customers (6.4m) all rising 10%-20% on the sequential quarter (+80%-90% on pcp).”

“Credit quality remains sound, with Z1P’s net bad debts falling to 1.78% from 1.93% at 2Q21. ZIP continues to point to a “healthy” global merchant pipeline overall,” it added.

Once again, the US business was the highlight in Morgans’ eyes.

It said: “In what is seasonally the weakest quarter for Z1P, Quadpay delivered strong sequential growth in revenue (+16%), transactions (+7%) and customers (+19%). As at March 2021, Quadpay is now annualising an impressive US$2.8bn of transaction volume. Quadpay merchant growth, +55% sequentially (now 13k) was a quarter highlight, while the Quadpay transaction margin remains above 2%.”

Executing well

Overall, Morgans has been pleased with the company’s execution. It also notes that the Zip share price trades an attractive discount to the Afterpay share price.

The broker concluded: “Z1P continues to execute well, delivering strong growth metrics across the board, in our view, with initial traction from the US expansion remaining highly encouraging. We continue to see longer term upside if Z1P can execute on its ambitions of becoming a global payments player. Z1P continues to trade at a significant discount to APT (EV-to-sales multiple of ~18x vs ~33x), a gap we think should narrow over time if Z1P continues to deliver.”

More reading

• Why BrainChip, Regis Resources, Whitehaven, & Zip shares are tumbling lower
• Brokers pick these ASX 200 shares to outperform the market
• ASX 200 flat: Zip raises $400m, Bank of Queensland results, Regis crashes
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• Is the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price set to surge later this month?

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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of 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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If you’re thinking that ASX lithium shares are garnering as much attention as Bitcoin of late, you’re right.

That’s partly because some ASX lithium shares have gained almost as much, or even more than Bitcoin has over the past 12 months. And, more importantly, because many leading analysts believe the booming demand for lithium is set to continue for years.

If they’re right, that would be welcome news for shareholders of some of Australia’s top lithium explorers and producers.

Why is the price for lithium soaring?

The price for lithium carbonate has more than doubled since the end of November 2020.

Demand for lithium is soaring as the global electric vehicle (EV) revolution begins to well and truly gain traction. And, as the name implies, lithium is a core ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries that power most EVs.

And it’s certainly not looking like a passing trend.

According to Perennial Value Management portfolio manager Samuel Berridge (quoted by the Australian Financial Review):

We think this has some legs and will be a decade-long phenomenon as we migrate to a cleaner means of generation…

There are going to be blips of euphoria and that’s going to happen in any thematic but I think the EV revolution has achieved critical mass. That’s the way the market is going. There might be some short-term concerns but longer term, this is a rising tide.

How does Berridge recommend ASX investors capitalise on the trend?

Leading ASX lithium share tipped to ride the EV revolution

As the AFR notes, Berridge says Jindalee Resources Limited (ASX: JRL) offers investors a “good way to invest in the EV theme”. The ASX lithium share counts amongst the largest positions in the Perennial Global Resources Trust.

Berridge said, “Jindalee is a lithium developer that’s got the largest lithium deposit in the US and in an environment where trade and nationalisation is key, the US is very cognisant of their supply.”

Last Friday, 9 April, Jindalee Resource’s shares soared more than 55% in intraday trading.

This came after the ASX lithium share updated the market on its mineral resource estimate at its 100% owned McDermitt Lithium Project in the United States. Announcing a big boost in its mineral resource estimate, the lithium producer reported it now holds the largest lithium deposit in the US as measured by contained lithium in Mineral Resource.

Jindalee Resources share price snapshot

Here are some figures for you to back up the hype surrounding ASX lithium shares.

Over the past 12 months, the Jindalee Resources share price has gained a stellar 860%, compared to a 736% gain in the Bitcoin price. (Take that, Bitcoin!) To put that in perspective with the broader share market, over the same time the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) gained 33%.

Up more than 6% in intraday trading today, Jindalee Resources shares have gained 267% year-to-date.

At the current price of $2.90 per share, the ASX lithium share has a market cap of $146 million.

Trading at a price to earnings ratio (P/E) of 288 times, ASX lithium share investors are clearly pricing in a lot of future growth potential as the EV revolution picks up speed.

More reading

• ASX lithium shares are surging across the board. Here’s why
• Why Anteotech, EROAD, Jindalee Resources, & Kogan are pushing higher
• Why the Jindalee Resources (ASX:JRL) share price is rocketing 55% higher
• Why the Jindalee (ASX:JRL) share price in one to watch today

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben 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 Pentanet Ltd (ASX: 5GG) share price is falling today alongside its rival telecommunications giant Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS). Both companies are falling on the back of strong recent gains.

The Pentanet share price is down 2.7% today to 90 cents per share.

Pentanet is a Perth-based licensed telecommunications carrier and internet service provider (ISP). The company delivers high-speed internet services via its own fixed-wireless network and other fixed-line networks.

It’s proven a disruptor in the established telecommunications space. Pentanet entered the market with an emphasis on local service, support and “excellent customer experience”. The business was formed in 2017 and its share price has almost tripled since its initial public offering.

Pentanet’s angle

Pentanet has grown to a market capitalisation of more than $160 million and has garnered significant interest through its partnership with massive US tech share Nvidia. 

Pentanet is not involved in bringing 5G to Australia or offering mobile networks. Instead, it specialises in fixed network connections and is aiming its marketing efforts at the gaming community.

Pentanet will be the first Australian company to bring Nvidia’s GeForce NOW to Australia. This is NVIDIA’s premiere cloud-based game streaming service. 

Pentanet’s Founder, Stephen Cornish, explained the concept of cloud gaming and how Pentanet can help pioneer the technology:

With cloud gaming is basically someone like myself becomes a hyper-scaler. I build enough computer power in a data centre that can power thousands of people playing a game at any one time; I’m building a multi-million-dollar computer as opposed to the $4,000 computer,” he says.

This is absolutely where the future is going to be, but the limitation currently is actually on the connection because you need to have internet that’s fast enough so that your computer can kind of be off site.

You need to have that high bandwidth and low latency network to actually enable this cloud technology.

Pentanet share price snapshot

The Pentanet share price has risen 11% this week. Additionally, it has risen 51% over the past month and in 2021 so far. It’s also up by that same margin over the past 12 months.

More reading

• WAM Leaders thinks these 2 ASX shares are a buy
• This ASX telco and bank will go gangbusters: fundie
• 2 fantastic blue chip ASX shares to buy in April
• 4 reliable ASX dividend shares to buy for income
• Why focus could soon shift to dividend upgrades for the Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra 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 Senex Energy Ltd (ASX: SXY) share price is surging this week as gas prices continue to rise both nationally and internationally, partly brought on by cooler than average temperatures throughout the biggest gas consuming economies.

The Senex share price is up 3.1% today, trading at $3.29 per share at the time of writing

Senex is an Australian oil and gas exploration and production company. The company’s geographical segment includes the Surat Basin and Cooper/Eromanga Basins.

It generates most of its revenue from the Cooper/Eromanga Basins segment, which is located mainly in the northeast part of South Australia and extending into southwest Queensland. The company earns its key revenue through oil sales, gas and gas liquids sales.

Australia’s gas debate

Senex has had a strong 12 months, helped by the Australian government’s public focus on utilising Australia’s large gas reserves to spearhead a broader economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While gas has become a more publicly palatable energy resource than coal as sentiment moves towards renewable energy, it’s still proved a controversial plan. 

ABC’s Four Corners program raised concerns over the plan and the government’s handling of independent research. Meanwhile, a recent Grattan Institute report suggested that the energy resource will “flame out” over time and expanding gas production would be an inefficient investment. 

“Gas is likely to play the critical backup role, though not an expanded role,” the report said. “Australia will make a gas-supported transition to a net-zero emissions electricity system – but not a ‘gas-led recovery’ from the COVID recession.”

The government is backing its gas strategy and a spokesman for Energy Minister Angus Taylor says balance will be crucial in the system going forward.

“The government is focused on getting the fundamentals of market design right to encourage investment in the right mix of generation to ensure electricity is available when and where it is needed, at affordable prices,” he told AAP. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison signalled increased government funding for production basins, saying working with large gas producers like Senex will be a key factor in the government’s overall economic plan.

“We’ll work with industry to deliver a gas hub for Australia that will ensure households and businesses enjoy the benefits of our abundant local gas while we hold our position as one of the top global liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters,” the Prime Minister said.

“This is about making Australia’s gas work for all Australians. Gas is a critical enabler of Australia’s economy.”

The Senex share price

The government began signalling gas as a pillar of Australia’s economic recovery around September last year and the Senex share price has raised by almost 30% since these announcements.

It’s continued to perform strongly of late despite the controversy surrounding the government’s plan. In the past month, the Senex share price has risen by 7.5%, after news that the company had signed a new gas sales agreement with CleanCo Queensland to produce enough gas to power roughly 50,000 homes for a year.

Senex’s performance has been even stronger in the past week, rising over 9.3%. It’s risen 104% over the past 12 months, beating the energy sector by 80%. 

More reading

• What’s happening with the Pentanet (ASX:5GG) share price today?
• Why NAB (ASX:NAB) shares could take off: fundie
• Why BrainChip, Regis Resources, Whitehaven, & Zip shares are tumbling lower
• Why the Red River Resources (ASX:RVR) share price is plummeting today
• Recce (ASX:RCE) share price surges 6% on clinical trial registration

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh 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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A fund manager has revealed how bullish he is on National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) shares.

In an interview with The Motley Fool, SG Hiscock High Conviction Fund portfolio manager Hamish Tadgell revealed NAB is the fund’s second-biggest position.

“That is reflective of the fact that we’ve come through the pandemic probably better than most would have expected 12 months ago,” he said in this week’s Ask A Fund Manager.

“Loss rates and provisions look like they’ll be lower. The banks have taken significant provisions last year, and we think that some of those will be unwound over the course of the next 12 months.”

Wilson Advisory agreed in its monthly report this week, titled Aussie Banks: Maintain Overweight Ahead of Results Season.

“We continue to see upside across the industry as the economy recovers, lending growth improves and strategic initiatives take hold,” stated the report.

“Market conditions are likely to continue to remain favourable given the prospect of further upward moves in long bond yields through 2021 and acceleration in the domestic recovery cycle.”

Tadgell reckoned there is a strong chance NAB could increase dividends this year.

“In an environment where rates are rising, albeit modestly, net interest margin [could move] to more neutral – maybe even slightly positive – for the banks,” he said.

“So we continue to see upside in the banks, particularly on the dividend side.”

Upgraded credit rating outlook 

On Tuesday, Fitch Ratings revised its outlook for ANZ and NAB shares, upgrading each from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’.

Even though the share prices for all 4 major banks have climbed significantly since September, Wilson remains overweight on NAB shares, as well as Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).

“Today, we are overweight [on] the banks, with valuations sitting at around 1.4x [of book value],” 

“While valuations have improved, share prices are still 15% below levels implied by looking at the long-term measures of price to book ratios (P/B), or on the same basis, 30% below 2015 levels before the multi-year bank derating process ended in mid-2020.”

With the finance industry Royal Commission now firmly in the rear-vision mirror, regulatory risks have settled down for the big banks.

“The worst is behind the banks from a regulatory perspective. The reduction in potential risks is particularly important for our view on Westpac – the regulatory laggard of sorts.”

At the time of writing on Thursday afternoon, the NAB share price is trading 0.41% higher at $26.83.

More reading

• Can the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price go even higher?
• Why the Michael Hill (ASX:MHJ) share price is on watch today
• This ASX telco and bank will go gangbusters: fundie
• Is it time to jump on the Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price?
• The Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) IPO price has been announced

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo 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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After a poor start to the day, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is back on form this afternoon. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.65% to 7,064.6 points.

Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here’s why they are tumbling:

Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN)

The BrainChip share price is down 8% to 58.5 cents. This appears to have been driven by profit taking after a very strong gain on Wednesday. Investors were buying the artificial intelligence technology company’s shares after it revealed that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has started volume manufacturing of its Akida AKD1000 neuromorphic processor chip for edge AI devices.

Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL)

The Regis Resources share price has crashed 14.5% lower to $2.71. Investors have been selling the gold miner’s shares after it announced an agreement to acquire a 30% interest in the Tropicana Gold Project for $903 million from IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO). To fund the acquisition, Regis has raised $494 million from institutional investors at a 14.8% discount of $2.70 per share. It will now seek to raise a further $156 million via the fully underwritten retail component of the entitlement offer.

Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)

The Whitehaven Coal share price has sunk 14% to $1.58. This follows the release of a production and guidance update this morning. That update revealed that the coal miner’s production has been impacted by poor weather conditions and geological challenges. As a result, Whitehaven has downgraded its FY 2021 managed ROM production at the Narrabri mine. Rather than the previous 5.3Mt to 5.5Mt guidance, the company now expects 4.5Mt to 4.9Mt.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

The Zip Co share price has fallen 3% to $9.35. This follows the completion of its $400 million zero coupon senior unsecured convertible notes offering. These notes are convertible into fully paid ordinary shares of Zip at an initial conversion price of $12.39 per share. This represents a conversion premium of 29% over its last close price. The funds will be used to support the active pursuit of both core and international growth opportunities.

More reading

• ASX 200 flat: Zip raises $400m, Bank of Queensland results, Regis crashes
• Why the Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) share price is plunging 14%
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• Is the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price set to surge later this month?
• Strike Energy (ASX:STX) goes into trading halt for $80m cap raise

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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. 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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