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The Kinetiko Energy Ltd (ASX: KKO) share price has risen 18% today to 13 cents per share, regaining the losses it experienced yesterday after the recent release of the company’s half-yearly results for the period ended 31 December 2020.

Kinetiko shares are up a whopping 550% over the past 12 months after continued success in the company’s gas exploration projects.

Promising aeromagnetic surveys and significant gas resources

During the period, Kinetiko completed $1.2 million in interim funding to accelerate gas production from its Amersfoort Project in South Africa, where it believes it may be sitting on one of the world’s largest coal basins. 

Perth-based Kinetiko is undertaking the Amersfoort Project as a joint venture (49% stake) with South African partner Badimo Gas. The project’s significant gas resources tripled by 227% in 2020, sending the gas producer’s share price soaring.

Kinetiko aims to generate its first gas revenues from the project this year, after aeromagnetic surveys revealed several large gas deposits in the region, including the largest ever surveyed, which stretched up to 22 kilometres in size.

The surveys undertaken so far represent just 15% of Amersfoort’s total exploration potential.

The Amersfoort basin hasn’t required fracking, and the company has secured environmental approvals from the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa of up to 500 million standard cubic feet (MMscf) of gas per annum for a two-year period. 

South African energy market full of demand

The company advised it is currently in discussions with gas off-takers in Johannesburg to buy the gas un-compressed on site for South African demand. Kinetiko and Badimo have a long-standing presence in the region and are confident of optimising the surface separation of water and gas.

Kinetiko says it’s had “positive” conversations around transforming the Amersfoort Project into a standalone onshore gas producer to meet the needs of the “constrained” South African energy market, which continues to suffer from undersupply.

The gas producer has a current market capitalisation of $64 million and has a year-to-date return of -16.67%, with the Kinetiko share price still well down on its 2013 highs of more than 30 cents per share.

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• The Worley (ASX:WOR) share price is lifting today. Here’s why
• Why COVID-19 is launching the IDT Australia (ASX:IDT) share price 65%

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 Worley Ltd (ASX: WOR) share price is up slightly today on news the engineering company has been awarded a new contract in The Netherlands.

At the time of writing, shares in the company were trading at $11.18, up 0.72%. In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.46%.

Let’s take a closer look at what might be affecting the Worley share price.

What did Worley announce today?

In today’s release, Worley advised that SABIC Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling BV – a joint venture between Saudi company SABIC and Plastic Energy – has granted it a services contract for a new recycling plant in Geleen, The Netherlands.

The plant will convert plastic waste into recycled oils, called TACOIL. SABIC will then use the TACOIL as “an alternative feedstock to manufacture plastic…”

Under the 2-year contract, Worley will be responsible for engineering, procurement, and construction management services. The execution will fall on the Worley UK and The Netherlands offices with support from the team in India. The Group did not disclose the value of the contract.

Management commentary

Speaking on today’s announcement, Worley CEO Chris Ashton said:

We are excited to build our relationship with SABIC and Plastic Energy and help transform the global use of waste plastics and advance the circular economy.

As a global professional services company headquartered in Australia, this project is an example of Worley’s strategic focus on sustainability and delivering a more sustainable world.

Today’s news follows a similar announcement earlier this month in which Worley advised it had extended its contract with INEOS O&P UK for ongoing maintenance and upgrades of its Grangemouth site.

Worley share price snapshot

The Worley share price was trading at $5.11 12 months ago. In percentage terms, today’s valuation represents a 119.37% gain since then.

The share price, however, has still not fully recovered to its pre-coronavirus levels. On 15 January 2020, shares in the company were trading for $16.10, representing a 30.37% decline in value.

Worley has a market capitalisation of $5.9 billion.

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Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous 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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IDT Australia Limited (ASX: ITD) shares are soaring today after the company announced it has been approached by the Australian Government to assess the feasibility of producing COVID-19 vaccines. At the time of writing, the IDT share price is rocketing 64.86% to 30.5 cents.

The pharmaceutical company, known for producing medical cannabis products, is assessing whether its facilities would be suitable to manufacture the vaccines.

Let’s take a closer look. 

Vaccine production ramps up

IDT Australia announced today it has been contacted by the Australian Government Department of Health. The company claims the department was inquiring about whether IDT Australia’s Melbourne-based sterile facility could be used to supplement manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines. 

Currently, the Federal Health Department states that CSL Limited‘s (ASX: CSL) Melbourne facility is the only manufacturer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia. It also states that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be the only one to be produced in Australia.

COVID-19 vaccinations began rolling out in Australia on 22 February this year. At the time of writing, approximately 240,000 Australian’s have received the vaccine.

More about IDT Australia

IDT, Institute of Drug Technology, is a commercial-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing and production company.

It specialises in manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished form doses.

IDT Australia began manufacturing medicinal cannabis products in 2019 and, according to the company, it operates a leading facility in the medical cannabis manufacturing space.

IDT Australia share price snapshot

Following today’s gains, the IDT share price is now trading at its highest levels since May 2016. 

Over the past year, IDT shares have risen by around 210%. The company’s shares are also up by around 60% year to date however all these gains have occurred today. 

IDT Australia has a market capitalisation of around $44.4 million with approximately 240 million shares outstanding.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. 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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The Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF) share price has been a strong performer again on Friday.

At one stage today, the quick service restaurant operator’s shares were up over 2% to a record high of $11.32.

When the Collins Foods share price hit that level, it was up over 18% since the start of 2021.

Why is the Collins Foods share price at a record high?

Investors have been fighting to get hold of Collins Foods shares thanks to its strong performance during the pandemic.

This was evident in December when the company released its half year results and revealed strong sales and profit growth.

For the six months ended 31 December, Collins Foods reported an 11.3% increase in revenue to $499.6 million. Management revealed that this was driven largely by strong growth from its KFC Australia operations. This offset weakness in Europe caused by COVID-19 restrictions

In respect to earnings, Collins Foods reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $63.7 million and an underlying net profit after tax of $27.5 million. This represents growth of 10.5% and 15.1%, respectively, over the same period last year.

And while no guidance was given for the remainder of FY 2021, management spoke positively about its growth opportunities and store expansion plans.

Collins Foods’ CEO, Drew O’Malley, commented: “We see growth opportunities across each of our business units, and we are focused on strengthening the operational foundations and ramping up our new restaurant pipelines to deliver on these opportunities.”

Can Collins Foods’ shares go higher?

Also giving the Collins Foods share price a boost in recent months were a number of bullish broker notes.

UBS and Wilsons were among the most bullish brokers. Their analysts have buy and overweight ratings with $11.65 and $11.62 price targets, respectively.

However, with the Collins Food share price now approaching these price targets, the near term upside could be limited.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Collins Foods Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Collins Foods 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 Medusa Mining Limited (ASX: MML) share price is dipping in early afternoon trade following a leadership change. At the time of writing, the Australian-based gold producer’s shares are down 3.49% to 83 cents.

Leadership change

The Medusa Mining share price is in negative territory as investors weigh up the company’s latest update.

In today’s release, Medusa Mining advised that interim CEO Andrew Teo will be appointed managing director, effective immediately. This follows after an extensive search by the company to find a replacement for the former resigned CEO.

However, with COVID-19 causing international travel restrictions, management agreed that Mr Teo was best suited to fill the position.

Mr Teo, who has already served 8 months as head of the company from mid-2020, has also held the position of chair since 2013. Medusa Mining noted that Mr Teo has developed a deep understanding of the business and forged strong relationships.

The company said his background comprised more than 40 years’ experience in the accounting, treasury, corporate, legal and business administration fields. Most notably, Mr Teo was an executive of BGC (Australia) for more than 35 years and served as BGC’s chief financial officer/executive director until March 2018.

The company also announced it had appointed Jeffery McGlinn as non-executive chair.

Mr McGlinn will assume the role from today following his assignment as non-executive director last month.

With a wealth of international experience, Mr McGlinn was a founder of ASX-listed mining services company NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX: NWH). He was heavily engaged across the business, supporting its growth.

As Medusa Mining outgoing chair, Mr Teo said Mr McGlinn would be “an excellent contributor” in the role of chair.

About the Medusa Mining share price

The Medusa Mining share price has jumped more than 100% over the past 12 months and is up 7% year-to-date. The company’s shares reached a multi-year high of $1.065 last August before trending lower.

Based on the current share price, Medusa Mining has a market capitalisation of around $172.5 million.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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 Audio Pixels Holdings Ltd (ASX: AKP) share price is having a stellar day today. Audio Pixels shares are up 8.23% to $29.20 a share at the time of writing after closing at $27.15 yesterday and opening at $27 this morning.

This latest move caps off what has been a wild ride for this company over 2021 so far. Audio Pixels is up more than 16% year to date, and up 23% since 1 February. But it’s also still down from the 52-week high of $31.85 that the company saw in October last year.

One could almost say that, true to form, the Audio Pixels share price resembles a sound wave. So who is Audio Pixels? And why is the Audio Pixels share price on fire today?

Audio-who?

If you’re wondering if Audio Pixels is a sound or camera company, the answer is the former. The company was founded in 2000 and has been listed on the ASX since 2004. It also has a secondary listing on the US over the counter (OTC) markets under the ticker symbol ADPXY under an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) structure.

Audio Pixels is attempting to revolutionise sound speaker systems. It is aiming to do this through ‘a new generation’ of speaker technology that uses micro-electromechanical structures rather than conventional speaker design. This, the company hopes, will result in speakers that are better in quality, while being as thin as one millimetre. According to Audio Pixels, the company holds several patents in this field. It hopes to sell and license this technology to manufacturers of speakers and consumer electronics once mass production has been achieved.

Saying that, things haven’t been ‘coming up Milhouse’ for Audio Pixels in recent times. The company delivered its annual report for shareholders earlier this month, reporting that revenues for the 2020 calendar year came in at $191,434, which was down substantially (almost 30%) from the $272,520 revenue figure from 2019. That lead to a net loss before tax of $12.1 million for the year, also up substantially from 2019’s net loss of $6.23 million.

Why is the Audio Pixels share price rising today?

Even though the Audio Pixels share price is having a top day today, it is unclear exactly why. There has been no major news or official announcements out of the company since 9 March. And that was just a routine Appendix amendment notice. 

The company did issue a notice on 8 March, in which it advised investors that a shipment of packaged chips that was due to arrive in late February was late, and would arrive in early March instead. But the market has already priced this in, so we can probably discount this for today’s share price moves.

What’s perhaps even stranger is that the market as a whole is having a day in the red. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.4%. Tech shares are being hammered even harder today as well, so you’d think all of the conditions that might influence Audio Pixels shares would be going against it.

ASX data does show that trading volume is significantly above the 5-day average for this company, so perhaps we are seeing a large institutional investor pick up a big tranche of shares today. Or perhaps someone just knows something we don’t. Either way, shareholders would be very pleased with today’s moves.

At the current Audio Pixels share price, the company has a market capitalisation of $838 million

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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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Some ASX blue chip shares can provide reliable earnings and dividends. The last 12 months has been very disrupted by COVID-19 impacts, but that doesn’t mean that businesses can’t keep generating growth and returns for investors.

Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)

Wesfarmers is one of the oldest ASX blue chip shares around and it could also be one of the most reliable.

It has a number of different businesses in its stable including Bunnings, Kmart, Officeworks, Target and Catch.

These retail businesses are largely performing well during these strange COVID-19 affected times. Even Target is reporting a bit of growth at the moment.

Indeed, in the FY21 half-year result Kmart Group actually reported the strongest growth of any division with underlying earnings before tax (EBT) growth of 42% to $487 million on the back of revenue growth of 9% to $5.4 billion. Target sold more items at full price, lowered its costs and this helped profit grow “significantly”. Catch, the online-only retailer, saw gross transaction value rise by 95.6%.

The most important division is Bunnings, which seems to be able to generate earnings growth in a booming economy as well as a pandemic recession. The Bunnings underlying EBT grew 35.8% to $1.275 billion.

One of the advantages of Wesfarmers is its diversification strategy. It can decide to invest into whatever industry it thinks has good long-term prospects, such as lithium. The Mt Holland project could be a very useful source of cashflow in the next few years when lithium demand is likely to be much higher.

Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP)

Bapcor may not be as big as a business as Wesfarmers, but it’s the clear market leader of its industry in Australia and New Zealand.

The two key brands are Burson Auto Parts and Autobarn. Burson is a business that aims to rapidly supply mechanics with parts they need at auto service centres. In the HY21 result, Bapcor Trade – which includes Burson – saw revenue growth of 24.5% to $313.7 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 24.5% to $57.4 million.

Retail revenue also keeps growing strongly – Autobarn same store sales were up 37%. Overall retail EBITDA jumped 55.8% to $38.8 million.

Bapcor also has a number of specialist wholesale businesses that are leaders within their own right. HY21 specialist wholesale revenue went up 39.5% to $328.4 million and EBITDA climbed 54.9%. The auto parts business said that there was a solid improvement in Truckline profitability.

In some ways, Bapcor can generate more growth in difficult times because that’s when people are more likely to try to fix their car than just buy a new one.

Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG)

Magellan is one of the largest fund manager businesses in Australia. It’s rated as a buy by the brokers at Morgans with a price target of just over $58.

It’s known for investing in a diversified portfolio of global shares that have strong competitive advantages such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Facebook and Yum! Brands.

Magellan has a global shares strategy, which is where most of the funds under management (FUM) is invested. It also manages several billion invested in Australian equity strategies as well as a larger amount covering global infrastructure equities.

The business continues to attract new FUM from investors and this leads to higher management fees and higher profit for its management business.

In the FY21 half-year result, its average FUM grew by 9% to $100.9 billion and the net profit after tax (NPAT) grew 3% to $202.3 million whilst profit before tax and performance fees of the funds management business grew 8% to $256.2 million.

Magellan’s board grew the interim dividend by 5% to 97.1 cents.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns shares of Magellan Financial Group. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Bapcor. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to end the week with a decline. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 0.5% to 6,714.3 points.

Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are sinking:

Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN)

The Paladin Energy share price is down 12.5% to 40.2 cents. Investors have been selling the uranium company’s shares following the completion of an institutional placement and entitlement offer. According to the release, Paladin Energy has raised $192.5 million and will now seek to raise a further $26.2 million from retail shareholders. The company raised the funds at a 20% discount to its last close price. The proceeds will be used to reset its balance sheet and provide enhanced financial flexibility ahead of a future Langer Heinrich mine restart.

Red 5 Limited (ASX: RED)

The Red 5 share price is down 14.5% to 16.2 cents. This decline has also been driven by the completion of an institutional placement and entitlement offer. The gold miner raised $60 million at a 16% discount of 16 cents. The proceeds will be applied to King of the Hills development, drilling and development programs at the Darlot Gold Mine, and general working capital.

Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL)

The Woodside share price is down 3% to $24.20. Investors have been selling Woodside and other energy producers following a sharp decline in oil prices overnight. Both Brent and WTI crude oil sank 7% lower last night following the strengthening of the US dollar, a build-up in US inventories, and concerns over the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

The Zip share price has fallen 3% to $8.22. The catalyst for this was decline was a very poor night on Wall Street’s Nasdaq index overnight. The technology-focused index tumbled 3% lower after bond yields surged higher and spooked investors.

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• Woodside (ASX:WPL) share price falls during investor-led climate change charge
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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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Diversification is a problem that many Aussie investors struggle with when building their ASX share portfolios. Many investors don’t even bother to turn their eye to companies beyond our shores. For older investors especially, this is fair enough. It has only been in the past decade or so that investing in non-ASX shares has become less difficult. Not to mention less prohibitively expensive.

But these days, it has never been easier. You don’t even have to navigate foreign sharemarkets, there is a plethora of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the ASX that take care of the hard work for us.

Here are two such ETFs today that offer diversification for an ASX share portfolio.

2 ASX ETFs for future-proof diversification

Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS)

This ETF from Vanguard brings home the bacon when it comes to diversification. It holds more than 1,500 companies dispersed amongst the major advanced economies of the world. That’s diversification for you. This includes the United States (of course), as well as Canada, Britain, Europe, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. US shares do make up the lion’s share of this fund’s holdings with more than 60%. But since the US is home to most of, if not all of, the world’s largest companies, this is understandable.

In VGS, you’ll find all of the big US tech companies like Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), as well as other giants like Nestle SA, LVMH and Toyota.

VGS has returned an average of 12.4% per annum over the past 5 years, and charges a management fee of 0.18% per annum.

BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK)

Another ETF today is this cybersecurity fund from BetaShares. The brilliantly tickered HACK holds 40 companies that all offer goods and services related to electronic security. An area I’m sure we can all agree is of growing importance in this day and age.

This ETF’s holdings are heavily weighted towards the US at more than 88% of its holdings being American companies, reflecting the centrality of the US in this industry. But it also has exposure to Britain, Israel, Rance, Japan and South Korea. Some of this ETF’s top holdings include CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CRWD), Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ: ZS), Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Splunk Inc (NASDAQ: SPLK).

HACK has returned an average of 20.26% per annum and charges a management fee of 0.67% per annum.

More reading

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Apple, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., and Microsoft and recommends the following options: short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple, long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon, short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon, and long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon, Apple, and Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF. 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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Morgan Stanley is bullish on the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price after the company made two announcements this week as part of its ‘fix, simplify, perform’ strategy. 

Westpac combines consumer and business divisions 

On Wednesday, Westpac announced that it will merge its consumer and business divisions into a new Consumer & Business Banking division. This division will be led by its current chief executive, consumer, Chris de Bruin.

Westpac Group CEO Peter King said the move would consolidate divisional management and simplify the business.

The combined division will drive simplification of banking and help to reduce cost, including by consolidating support functions.

The change will enable more efficient utilisation of common assets such as branches and call centres, and better capitalise on the work underway to improve our capabilities, particularly in service, digital and data.

Sale of Lenders Mortgage Insurance Business 

Yesterday, Westpac announced the sale of its Lenders Mortgage Insurance business to Arch Capital Group. The sale price will be at book value but Westpac will record a loss on sale due to separation and transaction costs, and an $84 million goodwill write down. 

The update notes that the transition is expected to add approximately 7 basis points (bps) to Westpac’s Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio. Westpac’s first quarter FY21 update noted that its CET1 capital ratio was 11.87%.

Why broker is bullish on Westpac share price 

Morgan Stanley believes the recent moves by Westpac are consistent with its ‘fix, simplify, perform’ strategy. The broker believes that stronger mortgage performance alongside the sale of non-core assets and improved capital will drive upside to its earnings. 

Morgan Stanley rates the Westpac share price as ‘overweight’ with a $25.30 target price. This represents an upside of ~2.80% plus a fully franked dividend yield of 2.80%. 

The Westpac share price is the most improved of the Big 4 banks this year, up ~25%. This compares to the year-to-date returns of Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) which are up ~23%, ~2% and 13.5% respectively. 

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Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun 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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