To The Moon

As of the close on Friday, $S&P/ASX 200(XJO.AU)$ closed at 6,574.70 points,  down 3.92% in the past 5 days.

During the last 5 trading days, $New Hope(NHC.AU)$ $WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ $Lake Resources NL(LKE.AU)$ $Pilbara Minerals Ltd(PLS.AU)$ $Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co(SOL.AU)$ are the top 5 Weekly gainers, up 11.61%, 9.02%, 8.84%, 7.08%, and 5.65% respectively.

$ARB Corp(ARB.AU)$ $Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd(DMP.AU)$ $Imugene Ltd(IMU.AU)$ $Block Inc(SQ2.AU)$ $Sayona Mining Ltd(SYA.AU)$ are top 5 decliners of ASX stocks which market capital above AU$2 Bln.

Below are YTD performances and key analyses of the TOP 5 gainers:

1. $New Hope(NHC.AU)$ -- Stellar Earnings & Analysts' Upgrade

The New Hope Corporation Limited share price took off this week after the FY2022 earnings.

• Revenue: $2.55 billion, up 143.5%
• Net profit after tax (NPAT): $983 million, up 1,138.8%
• EBITDA: $1.58 billion, up 329.5%
• Net cash from operating activities increased 285% to around $1.14 billion

The company profited from the increasing coal prices as it sold 8,832 kilotons of coal in financial year 2022 for an average price of $281.84 a tonne, compared to the $101.36 in 2021.

New Hope expects coal prices to remain elevated for the coming 12 months.

After earnings, analyst also increased their price target to $6.

However, investors should note that Goldman Sachs believes the New Hope share price is now seriously overvalued following its strong run.

Its analysts have put a sell rating and $3.80 price target on the coal miner’s shares. This implies potential downside of 40% for investors over the next 12 months.

Accroding to the data from marketscreener:

Analysts average target price for $New Hope(NHC.AU)$ is AUD 5.4.

$New Hope(NHC.AU)$ YTD performance in 2022 is 208.27%.

2. $WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ -- Benefit From Peer's Rally

High coal prices sellar earnings from peer companies- $New Hope(NHC.AU)$ pushed $WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ 's shares.

Whitehaven shares also surged as the company plans to roll out an additional share buyback program.

The company has almost finalised its first share repurchase program that has seen it spend more than AU$504 million since March 2022, with a target to buy back, up to 10% of the company’s shares.

Accroding to the data from marketscreener:

Analysts average target price for $Star Entertainment(SGR.AU)$ is AUD 8.96.

$WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ YTD performance in 2022 is 268.38%.

3. $Lake Resources NL(LKE.AU)$ -- Rebound from news

It was oversold last week.

1) it had attracted a high amount of short interest from short sellers over the past week, with one particular short-biased research firm raising questions on the company’s direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology.

2) Lilac Solutions disputed the date that it is due to achieve key milestones relating to the Kachi Pilot Plant, which triggered LKE’s decline.

However, the update this week reassured the investors and remove their doubts.

Lake Resources share price continued to go higher after the company released another update on its Kachi Lithium Project in Argentina.

Construction of the facility to house the Lilac demonstration plant is now complete and dry commissioning of the demonstration plant commenced last Wednesday.

Accroding to the data from marketscreener:

Analysts' average target price for $Lake Resources NL(LKE.AU)$ is AUD 2.5.

$Lake Resources NL(LKE.AU)$ YTD performancein 2022 is 69.84%.

4. $Pilbara Minerals Ltd(PLS.AU)$ - Hot auction and lithuim prices

It gained from the sucessful auction and hot lithium prices.

Pilbara Minerals disclosed the outcomes of its most recent spodumene concentrate auction, which was conducted using its online Battery Material Exchange (BMX) platform, which is a big success.

Pilbara Minerals said that it plans to accept the highest bid of US$6,988/DMT (SC5.5, FOB Port Hedland base), which, when adjusted to account for freight costs and lithia content, results in a price of about US$7,708/DMT.

This strong pricing seems to demonstrate that the demand for lithium is not cooling down.

However, amid PLS upward momentum, some analysts expressed their concerns.

Michael Gable, from Fairmont Equities,

I believe vertical share price moves higher are unsustainable, particularly when profit takers make their move.

 Gable isn’t the only one with a negative outlook for the Pilbara Minerals share price. UBS has a price target of $2.60 on the company.

Accroding to the data from marketscreener:

Analysts' average target price for $Pilbara Minerals Ltd(PLS.AU)$ is AUD 3.88.

$Pilbara Minerals Ltd(PLS.AU)$ YTD performance: 37.78%.

5. $Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co(SOL.AU)$ - Stellar Earnings

The company released its latest FY22 earnings and notes the outlook is challenging and that its portfolio is resilient to headwinds.

• Group regular profit after tax up 154.4% year over year (yoy) to $834.6 million
• Group loss after tax up 104.7% yoy to $12.9 million
• Net asset value up 71.6% yoy to $9.96 billion
• Net cash flows from investments up 93% yoy to $347.9 million
• Final ordinary dividend of 43 cents per share plus a 15 cents per share special dividend, both fully franked

The company’s investments did much better than the overall market in the last year. Its net asset value per share increased by 34.9%, while the market fell by 6.4%.

Accroding to the data from marketscreener:

Analysts' average target price for $Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co(SOL.AU)$ is AUD 28.75.

$Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co(SOL.AU)$ YTD performance was -12.42%.

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