These are the ASX companies and sectors making headlines in afternoon trade.
Arafura Rare Earths (ASX: ARU) – Shares in rare earths developer rallied 19.6% after the company confirmed a $200 million convertible notes investment from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation.
Navigator Global Investments (ASX: NGI) – Shares in the Australian alternative investment management company rallied 8.1% after reporting total assets under management growth of 3.9% to $27.1 billion for the year ended 31 December 2024.
Baby Bunting Group (ASX: BBN) – Shares gained 7.4% after reporting preliminary first-half FY25 earnings. The key takeaways include:
1H25 gross profit margin up 260 bps to 39.8% (vs. Macquarie estimates of 39.0%)
Comparable store sales growth of 2.2%
1H25 NPAT up 37% to $4.8 million (in-line with Macquarie estimates)
Guided to FY25 NPAT of $9.5-12.5 million (12.2% beat at the midpoint)
AVJennings (ASX: AVJ) – Shares in the homebuilder gained another 6.3% following a competing takeover bid from Ho Bee Land. AVJennings previously received a takeover offer from Proprium Capital Partners (28 Nov 2024) at 67 cents cash per share. Ho Bee Land has approached AVJ with an unsolicited, conditional and non-binding bid at 70 cents per share.
Guzman y Gomez (ASX: GYG) – Shares up 6.2% after UBS upgraded the stock from Sell to Neutral and raised their target price from $37 to $40. The analysts forecast better-than-expected sales growth in FY25 and beyond, underpinned by factors such as menu innovation, daypart participation, delivery growth and longer opening hours. They also expect new store openings to accelerate and meet the figures within the IPO prospectus.
Nickel Industries (ASX: NIC) – Shares up 4.3% after Indonesia reportedly set a nickel ore mining quota of around 200 million tonnes for 2025 vs. 215 million tonnes produced in 2024.
Lithium stocks experienced a broad-based rally on Wednesday, led by Patriot Battery Metals (+8.0%) Liontown Resources (+5.5%), Pilbara Minerals (+3.6%), Global Lithium (+2.9%), Patriot Lithium(+2.3%) and Core Lithium (+2.3%)
Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX: NEU) – Shares dipped 6.7% after the company's US partner submitted a marketing authorisation application to the European medicines agency for trofintide (for the treatment of Rett syndrome).
Tech stocks continued to slide amid a pivot away from growth-related pockets of the market. The S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Index is on a six-day losing streak, down 6.1%. Today's top losers include Wisetech Global (-1.9%), Technology One (-1.8%) and Gentrack (-1.2%).
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