To The Moon

As of the close on Friday, $S&P/ASX 200(XJO.AU)$ closed at 8,214.50 on Friday, up 0.79% in the past 5 days.

1. $Arcadium Lithium plc(LTM.AU)$ +95.69%

• Rio Tinto will acquire Arcadium Lithium, in an all-cash transaction, valuing the latter at $6.7 billion, the Anglo-Australian giant confirmed on Wednesday.  Rio Tinto will acquire the United States-based lithium producer for $5.85 per share, it said. The deal represents a premium of 90% to Arcadium’s closing price of $3.08 per share on October 4 and is expected to close mid-2025.

• Management notes that Arcadium Lithium is a global, fast-growing, vertically integrated lithium chemicals producer with an asset base of long-life, low-cost operations and growth projects. It has leading capabilities in lithium chemicals manufacturing and extraction processes, including hard-rock mining, conventional brine extraction and direct lithium extraction.

• Despite paying a 90% premium, Rio Tinto believes that the transaction has "compelling economics."It notes the transaction offers compelling value driven by accelerating volume growth in a rising market, which contributes to significantly higher EBITDA and free cash flow in the outer years. This is before anticipated synergies. Management believes that the deal is consistent with Rio Tinto's disciplined approach to capital allocation and will unlock significant value for shareholders.

2. $Zip Co Ltd(ZIP.AU)$ +14.51%

• Zip Co Limited has announced the appointment of Matthew W. Schuyler as a director of the company on October 7, 2024. According to the Initial Director’s Interest Notice, Matthew W. Schuyler currently holds no securities in the company either as a registered holder or otherwise. The news might explain the reason for the stock price increase this week."

• There are few ASX stocks out there that have achieved a recovery like buy now, pay later company Zip Co Ltd. In 2024 to date, the Zip share price is up an incredible 384%. Let's remind ourselves of the latest financial update from the company. For the 12 months to 30 June 2024, revenue jumped by 28.2% to $868 million, with a 14% increase in total transaction volume to $10.1 billion. The revenue margin increased by 96 basis points to 8.7%.

3. $LIONTOWN RESOURCES LTD(LTR.AU)$ +12.84%

• Liontown is an ASX listed responsible battery minerals provider. With our tier-one credentials, world-class assets and strategic partners, our mission is to power a sustainable future by ensuring a reliable supply of essential minerals.

• Liontown continues to build stockpiles between site and the port, with over 28,000WMT of concentrate produced to date, reflecting a positive start to the ramp-up towards steady-state production. The initial spot sale of 10,000t of spodumene concentrate to a Singapore-based trader achieved a premium price to spot of around $1,158 per dry metric tonne.

• Liontown has executed initial five-year binding offtake agreements for Kathleen spodumene concentrate with Tier-1 customers in the electric vehicle battery supply chain including South Korea-based LG Energy Solution (LGES) and auto manufacturers Tesla and Ford.

4. $NETWEALTH GROUP LTD(NWL.AU)$ +10.75%

• Netwealth has seen a $7.4 billion rise in funds under administration (FUA) over the September quarter, its highest-ever quarterly growth. In addition, Netwealth agreed to acquire 100 per cent of the shares in enterprise software company Flux Corp on 9 October for an upfront consideration of $2.5 million. The firm produces financial tools and content for the emerging mass and emerging affluent markets.

• Netwealth confirmed that its FUA as at 30 September 2024 stands at $95.4 billion, up from $88 billion in the June quarter. The $7.4 billion FUA rise was driven by net inflows of $4 billion, up 93 per cent on the prior corresponding period, and a positive market movement of $3.4 billion.

• Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Netwealth Group's 16 analysts is for revenues of AU$304.3m in 2025. This would reflect a meaningful 19% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to surge 26% to AU$0.43. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of AU$308.0m and earnings per share (EPS) of AU$0.44 in 2025.

5. $Block Inc(SQ2.AU)$ +9.10%

• Block, Inc. helps expand access to the economy through Square, Cash App, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD. Square offers an integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions, business software, and banking services for sellers to grow their business while Cash App allows sending, spending, or investing money in stocks or crypto.

• The key businesses of Block, Inc. have proven to be robust. In the overall Square gross profit, the gross profit from international markets continues to grow which shows an expanding business. The CashApp ecosystem has successfully driven growth across diverse services and revenue streams while total inflows have increased 22% year-over-year.

• The firm recorded a strong second quarter with its gross profit increasing 20% since the prior-year period. Square gross profit increased 15% year-over-year while Cash App's gross profit climbed 23% year-over-year. Adjusted operating income was up 16 folds year-over-year. For the 12 months ending in June 2024, Block had $1.43 billion in adjusted free cash flow, almost doubling from the preceding year.