To The Moon

As of the close on Friday, $S&P/ASX 200(XJO.AU)$ closed at 6,828.70 points, down 3.88% in the past 5 days.

During the last 5 trading days, $A2 Milk(A2M.AU)$ , $Lovisa Holdings Ltd(LOV.AU)$ , $Yancoal Australia(YAL.AU)$ , $Webjet(WEB.AU)$ and $WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ are the top 5 Weekly gainers, up 18.74%, 18.26%, 10.14%, 6.93%, and 5.30% respectively. 

$Lake Resources NL(LKE.AU)$ , $Ssr(SSR.AU)$ , $Evolution Mining(EVN.AU)$ , $Nickel Mines(NIC.AU)$ and $FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LTD(FMG.AU)$ 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. $A2 Milk(A2M.AU)$ - Stellar Earnings

The a2 Milk Company is a dairy nutritionals company.

$A2 Milk(A2M.AU)$ began to skyrocket after it released its surprisingly strong full year results on Monday.

For the 12 months ended 30 June,

• Revenue: NZ$1,446.2 million, a 19.8% increase
• Net profit after tax: NZ$114.7 million, a 42.3% jump(>market consensus estimate of NZ$113.9 million)

A2 Milk said full-year revenue from its China and other Asia segment vaulted 24.5% to NZD$726.5 million. Earnings almost doubled to NZD$145.1 million. Investors still believe the Chinese market will remain a key growth driver for A2M.

In addition, A2 Milk announced a NZD$150 million (AUD$133.6 million) share buyback. 

According to a note out of Bell Potter, its analysts have upgraded the company’s shares to a buy rating and lifted the price target on them by a third to $6.35.

Its analysts also see potential for this strong earnings growth to continue through to FY 2026.

Accroding to the data from WSJ:

Analysts average target price for $A2 Milk(A2M.AU)$ is AUD 6.3.

$A2 Milk(A2M.AU)$ YTDperformance in 2022 is 4.48%.

2. $Lovisa Holdings Ltd(LOV.AU)$ -- profit surged 116% and dividend doubled

Lovisa Holdings operates in the field of fashion jewellery retailing. Lovisa operates in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Spain among others.

It published a record stellar results for FY22:

• Revenue $458.7 million,surging 59%
• net profit after tax: $59.9 million increasing by116.3%
• Final dividend: 37 cents per share, taking the FY22 total dividend to 74 cents per share.

 The number of Lovisa stores went up from 544 in FY21 to 629 in FY22. To date, Lovisa has rolled out another 22 stores, bringing the total to 651 as it entered Canada, Poland, Hong Kong and Namibia.

Growth achieved in both volume and price following price increase. It means the company successfully transfered the rising inflation cost to customers and thus delivered a good result.

Morgans analyst Andrew Tang dubbed the company’s earnings a “goldmine”, and expects company’s growth won’t slow down in the short term.

Accroding to the data from marketscreener:

Analysts average target price for $Lovisa Holdings Ltd(LOV.AU)$ is AUD 21.59.

$Lovisa Holdings Ltd(LOV.AU)$ YTD performance in 2022 is 12.98%.

3. $Yancoal Australia(YAL.AU)$ - just follows the sector

Yancoal is an Australian based coal producer and developer operating open cut and underground coal mines.

With no news and earnings, it’s again surprsing that $Yancoal Australia(YAL.AU)$  increased so much in a week. 

Just 2 weeks ago, $Yancoal Australia(YAL.AU)$ also ranked top 5 in ASX. It gained much momentum as YAL had been up since 2022.

As we mentioned in the previous article, the coal sector rises because of more demand ahead. A possibl energy crisis in Europe may push they to turn from gas to coal.

The IEA warned last month that:

Global coal demand is set to return to an all-time high this year while coal consumption in the European Union could rise by 7% this year.

Accroding to the data from WSJ:

Analysts' average target price for $Yancoal Australia(YAL.AU)$ is AUD 6.83.

$Yancoal Australia(YAL.AU)$ YTD performancein 2022 is 128.93%.

4. $Webjet(WEB.AU)$ -Jumped on Company’s AGM Presentation

$Webjet(WEB.AU)$ is a global travel business that enables travel the world over through its market leading travel brands.

Travel sector has been especially crippled by the impacts of the pandemic in recent years.

As the pandemic eases, travel sector began to be alive.

Webjet has already assured company’s profitability is on track for recovery. In the company’s AGM presentation, this promise has been boosted as Webjet said it improved financial and operational metrics.

There are several positives:

• Bookings through WebBeds above pre-pandemic levels since May this year
• August total transaction volume through WebBeds expected to surpass the record high
• Webjet total flights market share increasing 57% since the start of the pandemic

Goldman Sachs has retained its buy rating with a slightly trimmed price target of $6.80.

Accroding to the data from marketscreener:

Analysts' average target price for $Webjet(WEB.AU)$ is AUD 5.94.

$Webjet(WEB.AU)$ YTD performance: -0.55%.

5. $WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ - 2 bln profit and record dividend

Whitehaven Coal Limited develops and operates coal mines in New South Wales and Queensland.

It released a record earnings:

• Revenue: $4.92 billion,up 216% year-over-year
• EBITDA: $3.06 billion,up 1,396% YoY
• Record net profit after tax (NPAT): $1.95 billion, up from a $543.9 million loss in FY21
• Fully franked dividend of 40 cents per share

 The 40 cents dividend takes the full-year dividend to 48 cents per share.

Whitehaven’s CEO and managing director Paul Flynnwas confident on the company’s revenue because of the high coal prices in FY22.

Analytics firm says that,

It's now cheaper to switch from coal to renewable energy than to gas.

Accroding to the data from wsj:

Analysts' average target price for $WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ is AUD 8.25.

$WHITEHAVEN COAL LTD(WHC.AU)$ YTD performance was 219.13%.

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