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Universal Biosensors Inc (ASX: UBI) shares are soaring today after the company shared news of deals with Deakin and Swinburn. At the time of writing, the Universal Biosensors share price is trading 9.68% higher at 68 cents. 

The deals will see the commercialisation of Universal’s Tn Antigen biosensor as well as the development of other biosensors using the company’s electrochemical platform technology.

Let’s look closer at the announcement made by the biotech company this morning.

What was announced?

The Universal Biosensors share price is having a stellar day after the company announced new agreements between it and Deakin University’s Institute of Frontier Metals (DIFM) and Swinburne University of Technology.

Through the deals, Universal Biosensors aims to create a portable device that can sense and monitor cancer from a finger prick of blood.

The two universities have been working on the company’s electrochemical biosensors and the Tn Antigen cancer biomarker for more than 5 years.

The agreement with DIFM will contract half of DIFM’s Senior Fellow Dr Wren Green’s time and resources.

The deal with Swinburne will contract 80% of Dr Saimon Moraes Silva’s time. Dr Silva will be under the supervision of Swinburne’s School Software and Electrical Engineering and Iverson Health Innovation Research Institute’s Professor Simon Moulton.

Combined, the universities should charge the company no more than $300,000, according to the company’s release.

Commentary from management

Universal Biosensor’s CEO John Sharman commented on the agreements, saying:

The knowledge and resources of DIFM and Swinburne will help deliver [a portable device capable of identifying, staging and monitoring cancer] as well as fast track the development of other biosensors we are working on.

Universal Biosensors share price snapshot

The Universal Biosensors share price is having a good year so far on the ASX, with today’s news just the latest boost.

It’s currently up by nearly 45% year to date. It’s also up a whopping 278% over the last 12 months.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $110 million, with approximately 177 million shares outstanding.

More reading

• Why the Universal Biosensors (ASX:UBI) share price is shooting 36% higher today
• Universal Biosensors (ASX:UBI) share price is lifting today. Here’s why

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper 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 Mineral Commodities Limited (ASX: MRC) share price is edging higher in morning trade, up 1.6%.

Mineral Commodities entered a trading halt yesterday pending today’s announcement. We take a look at the details of the ASX resource share’s announcement below.

What did Mineral Commodities report this morning?

Mineral Commodities shares are moving higher after the company reported it has entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Swedish-based Superior Graphite Co.

The MOU is the first step towards forming a 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) between the 2 companies. The JV would enable Mineral Commodities to use Superior’s thermal purification facility in Sundsvall, Sweden.

Mineral Commodities plans to use Superior’s electro-thermal purification technology to purify its natural flake graphite. The company will immediately undertake a period of due diligence on the Sundsvall facility. It reported the facility has all the required key infrastructure in place along with experienced operating personnel and management.

According to the release, the JV could produce approximately 15–20,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of Sustainable Graphite Anode Material. The company intends to sell the product primarily to European battery manufacturers who are looking for supplies outside of China.

Commenting on the MOU, Mineral Commodities Chairman, David Baker said:

The JV would provide MRC with a faster route to vertical integration for greater margin capture, reduced technology risk and capex while maintaining our commitment to produce the most sustainable graphite anode material possible.

Superior’s CEO, Edward Carney added, “We are excited to partner with MRC to leverage our leading intellectual property and existing Sundsvall operations synergistically into the European battery anode market at this crucial time in demand for clean energy materials.”

Mineral Commodities share price snapshot

Mineral Commodities shares are up 21% over the past full year. By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 31% over that same time.

Year-to-date the Mineral Commodities share price is down 13%.

More reading

• Mineral Commodities (ASX:MRC) share price plummets 25% as CEO sacked

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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It was a quiet week for the Mainstream Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: MAI) share price. That was until it suddenly jumped 60% before close on Monday. At the time of writing, the Mainstream share price is up 0.76%. trading at $1.99. 

Mainstream share price jumps on superior takeover 

On March 9, Vistra offered to acquire 100% of Mainstream shares at $1.20 per share. A go-shop period was provisioned to allow Mainstream to seek out competing offers until 11 April. 

On Monday, the company announced that a superior proposal has also emerged from SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSNC) for $2.00 cash per share, a 67% premium to the price per share offered by Vistra. 

Mainstream has notified Vistra, and Vistra has until 16 April to match or offer more favourable terms. 

Mainstream has entered into a Scheme Implementation Deed with SS&C, conditional upon the following: 

• Vistra not exercising its matching right.
• Mainstream terminating its Scheme Implementation Deed with Vistra.
• Mainstream paying a $1.708 million break fee to Vistra. 

Who’s acquiring Mainstream? 

SS&C is the world’s largest hedge fund and private equity administrator. Its business model combines end-to-end expertise across financial services operations within software and solutions. In particular, to service the financial services and healthcare industries. 

The company owns and operates the full technology stack across securities accounting, front-to-back office operations, performance and risk analytics, regulatory reporting, and healthcare information processes. 

Over 18,000 financial services and healthcare organisations around the world manage and account for their investments using SS&C’s products and services. 

SS&C has a history of acquisitions and views Mainstream as an attractive opportunity to accelerate its growth, particularly in the Australian market.

Share price snapshot 

Mainstream is a fund administrator for fund managers, superannuation trustees, and listed companies with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. The company has over 362 clients and 1,202 funds with over $224 billion in funds under administration.

The Mainstream share price rebounded strongly from its COVID lows of 25 cents to all-time record highs of $1.250 last Wednesday. 

More reading

• Why the Mineral Commodities (ASX:MRC) share price is moving higher
• ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price dips as bank focuses on AI automation
• Analyst downgrades AstraZeneca stock due to vaccine side effect concerns
• Macquarie (ASX:MQG) just delivered ASX lithium shares a big boost
• Why IGO, Orocobre, Splitit, & Zip shares are charging higher

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 MainstreamBPO Limited. 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 Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) share price had dipped slightly after the bank announced its focusing on automating home loan application reviewals and other key processes through artificial intelligence (AI).

The ANZ share price is trading at $28.81, down 0.21% at the time of writing.

ANZ is Australia’s second-largest bank by assets and third-largest by market capitalisation. 

ANZ focused on machine learning outcomes

Investors are often excited by the prospect of the digital revolution enhancing productivity. ANZ’s gains today may reflect the company’s insistence on harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence. 

ANZ is hoping that it can reduce the process of reviewing a home loan application to just four seconds, as a computer scans the application forms, ticks the appropriate boxes, and makes a decision.

The technology now exists for ANZ’s computer programs to make these decisions faster than real-time and improve as they work.

ANZ believes this will improve customer experience, as people will no longer have to enter banks and wait for teams to review their paperwork. It will also lead to potential productivity and revenue increases, through less menial labour. 

ANZ received more than $1.2 billion worth of mortgage applications every day in 2020, with turnaround times averaging 17 days.

What ANZ is saying

ANZ’s chief risk officer (CRO), Jason Humphrey, revealed in ANZ’s BlueNotes podcast that the big-four bank had been using machine learning – the process whereby machines are able to adapt and improve themselves – for more than 20 years.

Machine learning has been [used at] ANZ for 20 years in risk management, in the construct of what we call application scoring; we take profiles of customers [and] we look at how they perform over 18-24 months.

We then determine who’s a good payer and who’s not such a great payer. We then go back and look at the attributes and build statistical models around what are the attributes that help predict that performance and that outcome. So, that’s a pretty good example of machine learning,

Mr Humphrey said some of the techniques such as neural networks and random forests had been around for 20 or 30 years:

“… but because of the complexity of those models, and the position where they are used in an ecosystem, we’ve never had the compute power to be able to run them, say in the construct of real-time decisioning.

More reading

• Why NAB (ASX:NAB) and other bank shares are on watch today
• How this ASX ETF is battling the biggest threat to Australian business growth
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX sees 7,000 points once more
• 2 buy-rated ASX dividend shares with generous yields
• Is it time to buy ANZ (ASX:ANZ) at today’s share price?

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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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.

Shares of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) are under pressure again following an analyst downgrade. Concerns about the pharmaceutical company’s coronavirus vaccine led Argus Research to lower its rating on the stock from buy to hold on Monday morning.

Last Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as a very rare side effect of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, recently given the trade name Vaxzevria. The risk of death from COVID-19 is many orders of magnitude greater, but delays to Vaxzevria’s European roll-out had already damaged public opinion regarding it. Across the EU and the U.K., around 34 million people have been vaccinated as of April 4, 2021. Over that period, 222 blood clots were reported to the EMA’s side-effect hotline. The vast majority of those were non-fatal.

Vaccine hesitancy in the EU and U.S. is already a problem, and the slightest hint of a dangerous side effect will make it more difficult, if not impossible, for AstraZeneca to earn significant profits from Vaxzevra. That said since the company had already committed to selling the vaccine at cost during the pandemic, and on a permanent not-for-profit basis to low- and middle-income countries, AstraZeneca shareholders don’t have much to worry about in terms of lost profits from Vaxzevra over the long run anyway.

The roll-out of this particular COVID-19 vaccine has been a disappointment, but investors need to remember that AstraZeneca isn’t a vaccine company. It’s an oncology-focused drugmaker and a highly successful one with rapidly rising profits.

Unless cancer patients suddenly begin caring about who markets their therapies, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy isn’t going to appreciably impact AstraZeneca’s earnings. The company’s product lineup sports a handful of recently approved treatments that could push the company’s bottom line and its stock price steadily higher for years to come.  

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

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX sees 7,000 points once more
• Could AstraZeneca double your money despite vaccine woes?
• Are COVID-19 vaccine worries affecting the CSL (ASX:CSL) share price?

Cory Renauer 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.

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ASX lithium shares are the soup du jour with investors and the sector just got a big upgrade from a top broker.

The analysts at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) upgraded their lithium price forecasts by between 30% and 100% for the next four years after they reassessed the outlook for the commodity.

Their very bullish take on the critical battery ingredient is predicated on the belief that global supply will fall short of demand.

Lithium supply shortfall looming large

“Our bullish EV [electric vehicle] demand outlook sees the lithium market move to deficit in 2022 with material shortages emerging from 2025,” said Macquarie.

“The rise in China spot prices has started to translate through to a recovery in regional lithium prices.

“Despite the strong recovery, we note that all regional prices are still down from the beginning of 2020, except for spodumene and Asia lithium carbonate prices.”

The broker believes this signals further upside to regional prices in the coming months.

ASX lithium shares upgraded to “buy”

Significantly for ASX investors, the upward revision in the lithium forecast prompted Macquarie to upgrade its recommendation on some ASX shares.

The Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) share price is one beneficiary as the broker upped its rating on the ASX miner to “outperform”.

Second tailwind for the Orocobre share price

Coincidentally, Orocobre issued an upgrade of its own today too. Management said that the sales price for its lithium carbonate jumped 50% to US$5,853 a tonne in the March quarter compared to the previous quarter.

“Orocobre also advises that prices for the June 2021 quarter are expected to be approximately US$7,400/tonne FOB, subject to shipping schedules,” said the miner.

“This pricing will be the highest pricing received since June 2019 and is expected to result in H2FY21 pricing being approximately 20% higher than prior guidance.”

The Orocobre share price jumped 3.5% to $5.66 in morning trade.

Other ASX lithium shares for your buy list

Another ASX miner that got upgraded to “outperform” by Macquarie is the Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY) share price.

“GXY’s earnings outlook has been transformed by the material upgrades to our lithium and spodumene pricing outlook,” added Macquarie.

“Our earnings estimates have more than doubled over the next five years, with the increased cash flow reducing debt funding requirements.”

The third lithium miner on Macquarie’s buy list is the Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price. It too got a big earnings boost from the lithium price revision.

Macquarie’s 12-month price target on the Orocobre share price is $7.10 a share. It’s target prices for the Galaxy share price and Pilbara Minerals share price are $4.20 and $1.30, respectively.

More reading

• Why IGO, Orocobre, Splitit, & Zip shares are charging higher
• The Orocobre (ASX:ORE) share price is climbing. Here’s why.
• This beaten-down ASX sector could soon be turning the corner
• Here’s why SEEK (ASX:SEK) and these ASX shares are at 52-week highs
• Orocobre (ASX:ORE) share price rebounds from broker downgrade

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau owns shares of Galaxy Resources Limited, Macquarie Group Limited, and Orocobre Limited. Connect with me on Twitter @brenlau.

The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie 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 S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is back on form on Tuesday and pushing higher. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.2% to 6,988.8 points.

Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are charging higher:

IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO)

The IGO share price has risen 3% to $6.86 after announcing the sale of its 30% stake in the Tropicana Gold Project to Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL). According to the release, the two parties have agreed a fee of $903 million for the asset. IGO advised that the divestment to Regis maximises the value of Tropicana for shareholders and allows the company to concentrate on its strategic focus on commodities critical to enabling clean energy.

Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE)

The Orocobre share price has climbed 3.5% to $5.66 after providing an update on lithium prices. According to the release, the company had a very successful sales campaign and experienced strong market demand for Olaroz lithium carbonate during the March quarter. This led to sales of 3,032 tonnes at US$5,853/tonne. This means its pricing is up more than 50% on the December 2020 quarter and nearly 90% in the last six months.

Splitit Ltd (ASX: SPT)

The Splitit share price has jumped 10% to 86 cents. Investors have been buying this buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares after it announced a deal with UnionPay. According to the release, UnionPay International will be integrating Splitit to make it available to its network. This will give UnionPay card holders and those accepting UnionPay the opportunity to utilise Splitit’s instalment payments product. However, it is worth noting that Splitit doesn’t see much short-term economic benefit for the company from the deal.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

The Zip share price has surged 12% higher to $9.35. This follows the release of the BNPL provider’s third quarter update this morning. That update revealed that Zip’s strong form has continued since the end of the first half. For the three months ended 31 March, Zip posted an 80% increase in group quarterly revenue to $114.4 million. This was driven by a 195% increase in transaction numbers to 12.4 million and a 114% jump in quarterly transaction volume to $1.6 billion.

More reading

• The Orocobre (ASX:ORE) share price is climbing. Here’s why.
• Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price races 11% higher on record Q3 performance
• Why the Splitit (ASX:SPT) share price is up 7% this morning
• Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) announces $900m Tropicana Gold Project acquisition
• These top 2 ASX 200 shares have thumped the index’s 2021 returns

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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The Technology Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: TMT) share price is surging today after the company’s test work revealed titanium in its mining operations.

The Technology Metals share price is currently up 5.5% trading at 39 cents at the time of writing.

Technology Metals is focused on identifying exploration projects in Australia and overseas to discover mineral deposits. Its exploration focus is on vanadium in the mid-west region of Western Australia. It centres its current mining operations in Yarrabubba.

Technology Metals titanium findings

Technology Metals’ test work on non-magnetic tails from two large samples of fresh massive magnetite composites confirmed a quality ilmenite, a byproduct containing titanium.

The excavations have resulted in 47% titanium, which is within the range of commercial feedstock for sulfate pigment manufacturers. Technology Metals intends to market the findings as an attractive blend feedstock.

It’s an attractive blend feedstock for sulphate pigment producers due to its low levels of generally common deleterious elements.

Independent consultants that Technology Metals engaged to conduct quality benchmarking of its titanium findings estimate the results will achieve US$140 – $180/tonne in the medium term.

What management said

Technology Metals managing director Ian Prentice welcomed the findings, saying:

Confirmation of the ability to produce an attractive titanium by-product at Yarrabubba, as confirmed by industry leading consultants TZMI, in a period of high demand further underscores the unique opportunity we have with the range of products anticipated to be generated from Yarrabubba.

The titanium by-product produced from the tails stream indicates that this should be a very low cost and potentially very profitable product.

Technology Metals share price snapshot

The Technology Metals share price is up 5.4% over the past month and 14.7% in 2021 so far. In the last 12 months, it’s increased from just seven cents per share to 39 cents, a 457% rise. 

It’s also beaten the basic materials sector by more than 410%. 

More reading

• The Orocobre (ASX:ORE) share price is climbing. Here’s why.
• CSL (ASX:CSL) share price falls amid ongoing AstraZeneca uncertainty
• Liontown (ASX:LTR) share price rises after gold update
• Better buy: Amazon vs. GameStop
• Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price races 11% higher on record Q3 performance

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 Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) share price is rising this morning after a pricing update from the Aussie lithium miner. At the time of writing, the Orocobre share price is currently at $5.65, up 3.29%.

Why is the Orocobre share price climbing?

This morning, Orocobre reported a lithium price upgrade and provided its quarterly report date. The Aussie miner sold 3,032 tonnes of Olaroz lithium carbonate during the March 2021 quarter at US$5,853 per tonne free on board (FOB).

That sale price represents a more than 50 per cent increase on December 2020 quarter prices with prices received by Olaroz now up nearly 90 per cent in the last six months. 

The Orocobre share price has charged higher on the back of this morning’s update. Shares in the lithium miner jumped more than 4 per cent in early trade.

Orocobre also provided an update on the expected June 2021 quarter pricing this morning. The mining group expects US$7,400 per tonne FOB, subject to shipping schedules. That would represent the highest pricing received since June 2019 for the Aussie miner. 

As a result, Orocobre is expecting second half FY2021 pricing to be approximately 20 per cent higher than prior guidance. Investors have been bullish on the news this morning as the Orocobre share price was climbing higher at the open.

According to the release, forward sales enquiries for all grades of Olaroz lithium carbonate remain strong and all budgeted FY2022 product is fully sold. Additional production will become available when Olaroz Stage 2 commences production in the second half of 2022.

Orocobre is set to report its full March 2021 quarter results on 21 April 2021. That will be followed by a management briefing at 11:15 am.

Foolish takeaway

The Orocobre share price remains one to watch throughout the day’s trade after climbing early. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) also jumped in early trade following a soft start to the week on Monday.

More reading

• 2 ASX 200 shares to buy for dividends
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• Why the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price outperformed today
• ASX 200 drops, Santos entices CEO, Centuria acquires again
• Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price hits new 8-month high

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall 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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CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) shares are edging lower today as ongoing uncertainty over the side effects of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine continues. At the time of writing, the CSL share price is trading 0.11% lower at $265.22.

CSL is involved in the research, development, manufacture, marketing and distribution of biopharmaceutical and allied products. The company advised late last month it is set to produce more than 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine per week. 

It was commissioned by the government to produce 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, before the vaccine was found to create a one-in-200,000 chance of blood clots – termed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia – around the brain and abdomen.

This led to the government’s health body ruling out use of the vaccine for anyone under 50-years-old, including frontline health workers, but that uncertainty has led to the widespread cancellation of vaccine appointments across the country.

One Australian patient suffered thrombosis and a low platelet count after being vaccinated on 22 March.

The government has ordered an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, bringing the total to 40 million, which are due to arrive late this year.

This is leading to concerns that many of the vaccine doses CSL is producing will go to waste. Furthermore, the government has now thrown out any timeframe around rolling out the vaccine.

CSL said in a statement on 8 April that it was still committed to producing the AstraZeneca vaccine.

 “[CSL is] committed to meeting its contracted arrangements with the Australian Government and AstraZeneca for locally produced AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.”

“We will continue our focused and important efforts to manufacture this vaccine which remains critical for the protection of our most vulnerable populations.”

CSL share price snapshot

Despite initial dips in the CSL share price as vaccine targets were changed and AstraZeneca uncertainty pervaded news headlines, the company’s shares have continued to rise over the past month.

At the time of writing, the CSL share price is up by 0.74% this week and 3.66% over the past month.

However, it’s worth noting that the company’s shares have been slipping since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past 12 months, the CSL share price has lost around 19% and it’s down around 12% against the healthcare sector during that same period.

More reading

• Trashed COVID-19 vaccine targets hit ASX travel shares
• How you can become rich buying and holding ASX shares
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX sees 7,000 points once more
• Is the CSL (ASX:CSL) share price too cheap to ignore?
• CSL (ASX:CSL) share price dips on latest AstraZeneca news

Lucas Radbourne-Pugh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL Ltd. 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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