Azzet reports on three stocks with price moving updates today.
Light & Wonder rallies after finalising dispute with Aristocrat
Shares in Light & Wonder (ASX: LNW) were trading over 15% higher at the open after the cross-platform global games company told the market that its court action with its rival Aristocrat Leisure (ASX: ALL) in Australia and the U.S. has finally been settled.
Light & Wonder will now pay Aristocrat US$127.5 million to resolve claims that it used Aristocrat’s trade secrets and copyrighted material in its Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon games.
Light & Wonder – which acknowledged that certain Aristocrat math information was used in the development of both titles - will permanently cease commercialisation of Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon globally and will make best efforts to remove existing installations.
As a result, Light & Wonder will stop selling the two games around the world and permanently destroy all documents relating to the appropriated maths information.
In addition to permanently destroying all documents reflecting that information, Light & Wonder has also agreed not to use the contested math information or copyright works again.
The dispute arose when a former employee inappropriately used certain Aristocrat math without the knowledge of Light & Wonder management.
While the market is clearly relieved that this dispute is no longer an overhang for the Light & Wonder share price, shareholders can also breathe easier knowing that the stock has exited this issue relatively unscathed.
The market’s response also reflects the strength of Light & Wonder’s balance sheet and cash generation.
Up until today’s announcement, Aristocrat was still in the process of discovery, a pre-trial phase of a lawsuit where the companies must disclose relevant evidence, including millions of documents.
Commenting on today’s update, Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson told the market:
“This settlement protects the interests of our customers, employees, and shareholders, and allows us to continue our focus on developing and delivering the market-leading content our customers expect—without distraction or disruption.”
However, while confidential procedures were also established to identify and resolve any ongoing - issues involving Aristocrat math in existing Light & Wonder hold-and-spin games and titles under development – the former’s shareholders weren’t so convinced that today’s announced resolution was the win they were looking for.
While Aristocrat is expected a receive one-off 9% boost to FY26 earnings per share – resulting from today’s settlement - Light & Wonder’s payout appears to be largely priced-in already.
Interestingly, Light & Wonder’s share price is up 32.6% over 12 months, while the Aristocrat share price is down 18.2% over this same period.
Operated by former Aristocrat executives Jamie Odell, Toni Korsanos and chief executive Matt Wilson, Light & Wonder – which is backed by Sydney-based hedge fund Caledonia - recently delisted on the Nasdaq hoping to maximise value on the local bourse, where it has a market capitalisation of more than $14.3 billion.
Early November, Light & Wonder reported a 78% increase in net income to $114 million and a 3% rise in revenue to $841 million, with significant growth in earnings and adjusted net profit after tax (PPATA).
The company reaffirmed its FY25 guidance, forecasting consolidated earnings of between $1.43 billion and $1.47 billion and adjusted NPATA of $550–$575 million.
Light & Wonder's fiscal year ends on December 31 and FY FY25 results are expected to be announced next month.
Light & Wonder’s share price is up 30% in one year and up 18% in the last month.
The stock is in a solid uptrend marked by a five-day moving average above the 50-day moving average.
However, the Stochastic Oscillator is overbought and signals that the present move may be overdone and it is likely the stock will consolidate before it can make another move up.
The consensus recommendation is Moderate Buy.
Brazilian Critical Minerals rallies on market update
Shares in Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM), formerly BBX Minerals, were trading 5% higher at noon after the rare earth element (REE) focussed small capitalisation company updated the market on a successful bench-scale field trial with Rare Earth Technologies Inc in the U.S (RETi).
Using proprietary solid-phase extraction and chromatography technology developed by Rare Earth Technologies Inc, the company achieved a 200-times concentration upgrade from its pregnant liquor solution, lifting rare earth content from 930ppm to 18.6% without material loss.
The process removed 99.4% of cerium in an initial step and delivered cleanly separated rare earth oxides over a 24-minute cycle.
Achieving 99.9% purity for separated rare earth oxides using "RETi" technology, is seen as a significant step toward commercialisation.
Managing Director Andrew Reid told the market that the RETi bench-scale test suggests the technology was capable of achieving up to a 200× upgrade from feed to product, delivering cleanly separated rare earth oxides with minimal impurity carryover in a single processing route.
This resulted in a grade of 186,000ppm (18.6%) TREO-Ce.
This also resulted in recoveries of near-total REE capture from the liquor, but where also highly selective and effective in the rejection of alkali/alkaline-earth impurities (e.g. Magnesium).
This process is understood to be highly efficient, faster, with fewer steps, and lower energy/chemical consumption compared to traditional methods.
“This process further adds to the already high ESG credentials of the Ema ISR project and BCM plans further additional testwork to determine potential scale, commercial applicability an independent validation in 2026,” he said.
Meantime, RETI president Steve Levin told the market Brazilian Critical’s technology - already in commercial use in Europe - was an excellent candidate for its two midstream rare earth processing solutions, demonstrating the ability to deliver highly purified light and heavy rare earth elements to the marketplace.
“The successful upgrading of the BCM PLS liquor via RETI’s solid phase extraction technology favourably indicates scaling to the next step, pilot-scale extraction,” Levin said.
“Output will be separated on RETI’s tonne-scale high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) process, which has been operational since August 2024. We look forward to rapidly, yet conservatively, expanding scale with BCM with the goal of sending light and heavy rare earths to the marketplace.”
Brazilian Critical operates the Ema and Apuí projects in the Apuí region of Amazonas, Brazil.
Ema Rare Earths Project is understood to be a world-class ionic adsorbed clay (IAC) deposit with a resource of 943 million tonnes at 716 ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO).
In early December the company released the first results from infill auger drilling at the Ema rare earth elements (REE) project in Brazil’s Apui region, aimed at increasing confidence in the mineral resource estimate.
A total of 24 holes of the 101-hole program returned thick mineralised intercepts with the highest grades of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) located at the bottom of holes within the semi-weathered zone and directly above the fresh rock interface.
Grades above 200 parts per million for magnetic REE – including NdPr, dysprosium, and terbium – reinforced the high-quality composition of the mineralisation and the potential for a long-life, low-cost in-situ recovery (ISR) project.
Brazilian Critical Minerals has a market capitalisation of $60 million; the share price is up 210% in one year and 40% in the last month.
The stock appears to be in a strong bullish trend confirmed by multiple indicators.
Specifically, a five-day moving average of the stock price is above the 20 and 50-day moving averages.
Additionally, a long-term bullish signal is offered by the 200-day moving average which is trending higher.
There is no recommendation for this stock.
Super Retail Group falls after guiding on lower 1H FY26 earnings
Shares in Super Retail Group (ASX: SUL) were trading around 6% lower this afternoon after the Supercheap Auto owner guided the market to first-half earnings below market expectations, despite sales being broadly in line with market forecasts.
While the retailer posted group sales of $2.195 billion for 1H FY26, in line with Visible Alpha consensus, underlying profit before tax of $172 million to $175 million was around 7% below consensus at the midpoint.
Much of today’s disappointing result is being attributed the Rebel Sport operation where heavy discounting is understood to have eaten into margins and pushed estimated earnings to between 15 to 20% below both the group’s own and consensus forecasts.
Despite steadier performances across the rest of the group, the market has fixated on the magnitude of the Rebel miss today.
However, today’s market reaction isn’t unwarranted given that Rebel typically contributes around a third of total sales.
Recent H1 FY26 preliminary results shows that Rebel's $741 million revenue comprises a large chunk of the group's record $2.2 billion revenue.
Given broker forecasts are now under review, a near-term outlook for the stock’s share price could be subject to recommendation downgrades.
Super Retail Group has a market cap of $3.3 billion; the share price is down 3.5% in one year and down 8% year to date.
The stock’s shares appear to be in a near-term downtrend confirmed by its 20-day moving average.
Specifically, the 20-day moving average is falling and implies that investors see better opportunities elsewhere.
Consensus is Moderate Buy.
This article does not constitute financial or product advice. You should consider independent advice before making financial decisions.