Azzet reports on three stocks with price moving updates today.
Judo Bank lifts on trading update ~
Shares in Judo Capital Holdings - aka Judo Bank (ASX: JDO) were trading around 0.5% higher by 2 pm AEDT (3 am GMT) after the business banking specialist reported a 46% rise in statutory net profit after tax to $59.9 million in the six months to December 31.
What appears to have impressed the market today is the major inroads it has made into the business banking sector, which the Big Four banks have typically dominated.
Admittedly, Judo Bank’s market share is small – accounting for 1% of business lending and 2% of small-to-medium enterprise lending - however, it is the fastest-growing business lender in the Australian market, and UBS expects its loan book to double over the next three years to $20 billion.
While the bank’s own forecasts aren’t quite so robust, it did tell investors to expect its loan book to grow to between $14.4 billion and $14.7 billion, up from an earlier forecast of between $14.2 billion and $14.7 billion.
While lending margin, a key profitability metric for banks, remained steady at 3.03% and is expected to grow to 3.15% in 2H FY26, NIM is expected to reflect improved cost of new term deposits.
By comparison, major lenders like Westpac (ASX: WBC) tend to operate at a NIM of 2% or less, while National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB), Australia’s largest business bank with a 28% share of the SME lending market, delivered a 1.74% NIM in its latest full-year results.
Commenting on today’s update, CEO Chris Bayliss told the market it was on track to achieve its existing FY26 guidance for significant profit growth and realising the operating leverage inherent in its business model.
“A strong SME lending franchise, combined with our ability to stay nimble in a competitive market, has seen our lending book continue to grow above system,” said Bayliss.
“This momentum is being further supported by emerging productivity gains and banker enablement initiatives as we continue to expand into regional and agribusiness lending.”
Key numbers within today’s first half FY26 update include:
- Deposits up one-fifth to $10.9 billion.
- Lending book up 15% to $13.4 billion over the period.
- Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio remains strong at 12.6%.
- Profit before tax of $86.5 million, up 26% on the prior half and 53% versus the previous corresponding period (pcp).
- Asset quality performing in line with FY26 guidance.
To the uninitiated, Judo was co-founded by Chris Bayliss, along with fellow former National Australia Bank executives Joseph Healy and David Hornery, in 2016 and received a full banking license in 2019.
Prior to today’s result, Macquarie analysts gave Judo an “outperform” rating with a price target of $1.90.
Judo Capital Holdings has a market cap of $2.1 billion; the share price is up 1.1% in one year and up 8% in the last month.
While Judo does not currently pay a dividend on its ordinary shares (JDO), it does maintain quarterly distributions for its listed Capital Notes (JDOPA), with the most recent distribution rate set at 7.1067% p.a. for the period ending 15 February 2026.
The stock is in a strong bullish trend, confirmed by multiple indicators.
Consensus is Strong Buy.
Elementos soars on agreement on with L1 Capital
Shares in Elementos Limited (ASX: ELT) were trading 14.3% after the developer and producer of global tin projects secured a binding agreement with hedge fund L1 Capital (ASX: LG1) for a $29.5 million strategic private placement.
Upon completion, the placement will see L1 Capital acquire around 19.99% of Elementos’ issued shares, at a price of $0.34 per new share, 21.4% premium to the 2025 capital raising price of $0.28 per share and a 2.86% discount to the closing price of Shares on 13 February 2026.
Funds raised are expected to continue advancing the Oropesa Tin Project in Spain - A 100% owned, open-cut tin project located in the Guadiato Valley, Province of Cordoba - towards a Final Investment Decision (FID) and project financing.
A portion of the funds will also be earmarked for investment into Iberian Smelting (Robledollano Tin Smelter in Spain) and the ongoing assessment of the 100% owned Cleveland Tin Project’s re-start potential located around 80km southwest of Burnie in northwest in Tasmania.
In addition to having significant resources of tin and copper, the Cleveland Tin Project was recently upgraded with estimates for tungsten.
Commenting on today’s update, Elementos’ chairman and major shareholder, Andy Greig, told the market that the addition of L1 Capital to the shareholder register - alongside Metals X (ASX: MLX), which holds a 19.98% stake – underpins the company’s strategy as it heads toward FID and detailed project financing discussions.
“L1’s investment is a testament to the critical milestones that Elementos has delivered over the last year and the exceptional and unique asset portfolio we have built,” said Greig.
“The placement strengthens the balance sheet and development pathway for the Oropesa Project, primed to be the only mine-to-metal tin supplier in the EU, as well as our Cleveland Project in Tasmania.”
Elementos raised $8.7 million from investors in November via long-time adviser and lead manager BW Equities to deliver on its Oropesa Tin (Andalucía) and Cleveland (Tasmania) projects.
Two weeks ago, Elementos increased its resource estimate at the Cleveland Tin Project in Tasmania by 100%.
The inferred resource now sits at 8.49 million tonnes @ 0.24% tungsten trioxide at a cut-off grade of 0.175% tungsten trioxide, increasing the contained tungsten tonnage to 20,610 tonnes from 10,360 tonnes in the 2014 resource estimate.
Tungsten trioxide feed grades have increased to 0.98% from an ore sorting testwork program last year that determined 0.25% tungsten trioxide.
This represents a 410% increase in grade uplift, as well as an 87% increase in metal recovery and a 79% increase in mass rejection.
On 1 October 2025, L1 Capital merged with ASX-listed Platinum Asset Management Limited, which subsequently changed its name to L1 Group Limited (ASX:L1G) which was trading 1.2% lower this morning.
Elementos has a market cap of $131 million; the share price is up 513% in one year and down 5% in the last month.
The stock appears to be in a long-term uptrend, confirmed by multiple indicators.
Consensus does not cover this stock.
BHP jumps on two major updates
Shares in BHP (ASX: BHP) were trading a whopping 6.3% higher after dropping two major announcements on the market this morning.
Firstly, stronger copper earnings - now accounting for 51% of group EBITDA - and margins saw the big miner’s first-half profit lift 28% to US$5.64 billion, which the market viewed as a clear improvement on the earnings slump it witnessed in FY25.
Underlying earnings were up 25% to US$15.5 billion in the first half of the financial year compared to a year ago.
Following strong output at Escondida and other Chilean operations, BHP raised FY26 copper production guidance to between 1.9 and 2 million tonnes, while WA iron ore delivered record first-half production and shipments, underpinning its position as the lowest-cost major producer.
Based on today’s result, BHP declared an interim dividend of US73¢, up from US50¢ a year earlier, representing a 60 per cent payout ratio.
Within a second announcement today, BHP told the market it had secured a US$4.3 billion upfront payment under a long-term silver financing deal with Wheaton Precious Metals.
The agreement will see BHP deliver silver equivalent to 33.75% of Antamina’s output - reflecting its ownership stake - subject to a 90% payable rate.
Once 100 million ounces are delivered, the stream falls to 22.5% for the remaining life of mine.
Wheaton will also pay 20% of the spot silver price for each ounce delivered.
BHP’s major infrastructure partnership with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), together with ongoing capital management through the Wheaton streaming are expected to help offset Jansen stage 1 capex pressures.
As of January 2026, the total investment estimate in Jansen rose to US$8.4 billion - a 47% increase from the initial US$5.7 billion budget approved in 2021.
Commenting on today’s update, BHP’s chief financial officer, Vandita Pant, told the market that the group has “quite a lot of opportunities” to unlock more value through managing its portfolio of assets.
However, he refrained from putting a deadline on a previously iterated target for generating as much as $10 billion from deals.
“We have a lot of infrastructure around in our company which could be undervalued, or assets which are undervalued…you should expect us to continue to be very sharp, around managing our capital base and asset base for incremental value on behalf of the shareholders, which these two transactions show.”
BHP has a market cap of $273 billion; the share price is up 31% in one year and up 8% in the last week.
The stock is in a strong bullish trend, confirmed by multiple indicators.
Consensus is Hold.
This article does not constitute financial or product advice. You should consider independent advice before making financial decisions.
