Greetings and welcome to HotCopper Highlights wrapping up Week 9 of the year, I’m Jon Davidson and in this segment we look at the stocks and company announcements you were watching this week on Australia’s #1 finance website, let’s get straight into it starting with the most viewed.
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Liontown came to the top of everybody’s radar this week but perhaps for all the wrong reasons. Even as Zimbabwe announced it was restricting exports of all minerals including lithium – and thanks to Chinese capital Zimbabwe has come to the point it can provide around 10% of global lithium supply – Liontown missed out on that catalyst, because cornerstone investor LG Energy divested its stake in a block trade worth more than $400M.
Elsewhere, FDA-approved stem cell company Mesoblast back to the top of the boards as its half year results were eagerly digested lateweek; that eager discussion did not necessarily reflect a good mood in the room with the company’s shares down -6.8% on Friday afternoon; even as the company pointed to a “substantial growth pipeline.”
Finally, Afterpay owner Block came to the fore lateweek too after it released Q4 earnings which were far better received; Block jumped more than +25% when it released – because it’s in the US that was a From 8-K report. The company headlined with the news it’s cutting 4,000 jobs, while gross profits at the same time climbed +25% Year on year to nearly $3B. That combination appeared to be a winning one.
And so what about the most discussed?
Bluechip airline Qantas causing a lot of discussion as it dropped below $10/sh intraweek on its earnings report, like Mesoblast, investors weren’t particularly enthralled with what they were seeing. Profit after tax was more or less flat if you consider an extra $2M on last year flat, which many did. Capital Expenditure climbed 27% to nearly $2B, not even an increased dividend just under 20 cents per share was enough to save the day.
American Tungsten and Antimony meanwhile gathering a lot of attention as investors wait for the company to publish key assays from their USD digs, but, this week all we got was an update on progress of activity on-site at Dutch Mountain. Also on Friday the company, formerly Trigg Minerals, appointed a Utah senator as an advisor. To keep the lawyers happy, note that AT4 are currently a client.
Finally, rare earth player Lynas Rare Earths on the radar due to a conflation of reasons. Firstly, neodymium prices continue to climb just like gold and silver, and after a delay, it looks like investors are starting to notice. There was also the fact that profits in the first half surged over 1,260% for Lynas, though, coming off a low base, anything can happen. At the same time, overnight, we got news from Reuters that rare earths shortages are intensifying in the US. Talk about a perfect storm.
That’s HotCopper Highlights for Week 9 of the year I’m Jon Davidson, have a fantastic evening and we’ll see you on Monday.
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