Stocks making the biggest moves at noon Synlait Milk, AMP, Kogan and more

These are the ASX companies and sectors making headlines in afternoon trade.

Synlait Milk (ASX: SM1) – Shares in the dairy processing company surged 25% after providing guidance for the first-half of FY25, including:

• EBITDA to be in the range of $58-63 million compared to $19.9m a year ago

• The significant performance uplift was driven by new business development, strong performance in the ingredients business, and continued cost control

Earlypay (ASX: EPY) – Shares rallied 12.8% after the company hired the corporate advisory firm Highbury Partnership to assist with 'strategic initiatives.' The Financial Review noted that the company's major shareholder COG Financial Services plans to sell its 21.4% stake. Instead, Earlypay is seeking bids for the entire company

Cog Financial Services (ASX: COG) – Shares ticked 4.6% higher in relation to the above news. A potential takeover of Earlypay could result in substantial profits for COG from its stake.

IGO (ASX: IGO) – Shares up 2.0% after the lithium miner announced the shutdown of its Lithium Hydroxide Plant 2 at Kwinana, WA. This decision follows an inventory build-up at the Kwinana Lithium Hydroxide Refinery (Plant 1) in December 2024, which reflected weak lithium demand and pricing. IGO, currently completing an impairment testing process, saw its stock respond positively to the strategic move to halt operations at an underperforming asset

AMP (ASX: AMP) – Shares rallied 4.2% to levels not seen since July 2020 after Morgan Stanley flagged the company as "our preferred play" in the Australian wealth management sector. The report noted, 'Trading on ~12x underlying FY25E P/E and offering >35% FY23-25E EPS CAGR, AMP presents a compelling case." The analysts retained an Overweight rating for AMP, and lifted their target price from $1.70 to $1.90.

Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) – Shares ticked 2.3% higher after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy, and lifted their target price to $78.70 (from $69.50). The report highlighted new growth drivers for Wesfarmers, including Bunnings market share gains, eCommerce growth, and the scaling of its lithium and healthcare businesses

Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX: CU6) – Shares rose 2.0% after the company received US FDA Fast Track Designation for its Cu64 SAR-bisPSMA, a treatment for biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.

Kogan (ASX: KGN) – Shares tumbled 12.2% after the company reported a weaker-than-expected preliminary 1H25 report, which included:

• Revenue up 9.9% to $272.7m vs. Citi estimates of $267.2m (2.0% beat)

• Adjusted EBIT up 21.2% to $19.0m vs. Citi estimates of $21.4m (11.2% miss)

• Implementation and technology challenges temporarily affected Mighty Ape sales and profitability during the peak period. These issues have largely been resolved, and the new unified platform is expected to deliver significant long-term benefits.