Thursday’s HotCopper trends: NEXTDC, Aldoro Resources, SciDev and other daily topics

Where is investor attention building, and which ASX stocks are getting noticed? HotCopper Market Trends tracks the companies attracting attention across our community of more than 600,000 average monthly forum users, highlighting the stocks and discussions worth watching.

In this daily HotCopper Trends column, we break down the top Oz stocks through each trading day.

NEXTDC (ASX: NXT) was the centre of attention after it confirmed an aftermarket share raid by Ackland Investments, a vehicle owned in equal shares by Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) and NYSE-listed Digital Realty Trust.

NEXTDC told the ASX it understood Ackland conducted an aftermarket book build on 4 November 2026 seeking to acquire NEXTDC shares at $9.50 per share, up to a maximum holding of 9.9% of NEXTDC’s ordinary shares. NEXTDC said it did not know the outcome of the share raid.

The company noted a statement by Goodman and Digital Realty to investors during the aftermarket book build which stated they had “no intention of submitting a control proposal or making a takeover bid for the company at this time, but reserve their right to do so”.

“The board considers this an opportunistic move by Goodman and Digital Realty. The share raid comes two weeks after NEXTDC’s 21 October 2026 announcement of the M3 Melbourne power delay and revised FY27 guidance, and was made through an aftermarket book build open only to institutional investors,” NEXTDC stated.

Aldoro Resources (ASX: ARN) was up after it entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Singapore-based Willetech International Investment to set out an agreed commercial framework for development of the Kameelburg critical minerals project in Namibia.

The two parties are now working on definitive agreements to be negotiated and executed within 15 business days.

Willetech will acquire a 51% interest in an approximately six sq. km area of the project through the subscription for new shares in Kameelburg Exploration Mining – with Aldoro and the Namibian local shareholders collectively retaining a 49% interest and the balance of the project and other assets of the project company to be transferred to a separate entity, which is a binding term of the MOU.

Aldoro said its view is that the proposed development commitment is capable of being delivered is based on the staged nature of the development expenditure, the binding initial funding arrangements, Willetech’s industrial and commercial activities, and its advice, together with advice sought from Shenhuang Strategic Advisory, regarding its access to capital and its relationships with industrial and downstream participants.

SciDev (ASX: SDV) jumped after it announced its energy services business had been awarded a contract to supply bulk completion chemistry, for a frac crew operated by one of North America’s leading oil and natural gas producers in the Delaware Basin, a western sub-basin of the Permian.

Revenue is estimated at $20 million over a 12-month period, with $14 million in FY27, based on the customer’s current expected volumes.

“Permian operators need every frac stage to run safely, efficiently and on schedule. By pairing our chemistry with a dedicated field team on site, we help our customers achieve exactly that, with consistent performance on every stage,” CEO, Todd Scott, said.

“The Permian is the largest oil-producing basin in the United States and a strategic growth priority for SciDev. This award strengthens our position there and gives us a clear path to grow with this customer, through additional crews and greater volumes of our specialty chemistry portfolio.”

Looking wider, the S&P/ASX 200 was up sharply today, gaining 166.20 points or 1.88% to 9,000.70, despite crossing below its 125-day moving average. Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.22% and is currently 3.18% off of its 52-week high.

Elsewhere, public sector jobs rose 2.3% between June 2025 and June 2026, while wages increased 6.6% according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

“Wages paid to public sector employees totalled $266.1 billion across all levels of government in 2025-26. This was an increase of 6.6%, down from the 7.8% annual growth recorded in 2024-25,” Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said.

“The moderation in wages growth in 2025-26 reflected slowing growth in Commonwealth and Local government jobs. The 2.3 per cent annual increase in total public sector jobs was the slowest since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-20.

The ABS study found there were 2,657,400 public sector employee jobs in the month of June 2026, an increase of 60,300 (2.3%) from June 2025.

In 2025-26, total public sector cash wages and salaries increased $16.5b (6.6%) to $266.1 billion.

That’s Thursday’s HotCopper Market Trends, I’m Colin Sandell-Hay ⁠- see you for close.