Azzet reports on three ASX stocks with price-moving updates today.
Vulcan rallies on news of German contract
Shares in Vulcan Energy (ASX: VUL) were up around 14.4% By 1:10 pm AEST (3:10 am GMT) after the renewable energy producer told the market it had signed a $179 million contract with a consortium of Turboden and ROM Technik to develop and build a geothermal power plant near Landau, Germany.
As part of its phase one Lionheart project, the contract – subject to financing - includes the full scope of services required for the engineering, procurement and construction of the plant and is on a fixed lump-sum turnkey basis, with a value of €110 million ($196 million).
If you haven’t been playing along at home, Vulcan's Lionheart project, located in the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field bordering Germany and France, is the largest lithium resource in Europe and a tier-one lithium project globally.
It’s understood that Lionheart will have the capacity to produce 275 gigawatt hours of power, and 24,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide, enough for around 500,000 electric vehicles annually.
Commenting on today’s update, Vulcan's managing director and CEO, Cris Moreno, told the market that the geothermal power plant is a key component of its phase one [Lionheart] operation.
"Securing the services of both Turboden and ROM Technik, who are both leaders in their respective fields, will underpin the construction of the geothermal power plant, and we are fully confident in their ability to execute having delivered similar type projects in Germany and globally,” he said.
The geothermal power plant will utilise organic rankine cycle (ORC) technology in generating renewable power from Vulcan's geothermal brine.
Management reminded the market that renewable power is produced as a coproduct, alongside its lithium, which is also produced from the same brine source, at Vulcan's upstream Geothermal and Lithium Extraction Plant (G-LEP).
While Turboden is an Italian firm - part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry - specialises in the design, manufacture and maintenance of ORC systems both in Germany and globally, partner ROM Technik specialises in technical building equipment and installation services.
While Vulcan’s share price has rallied from a recent low of $3.71 to $5.48, the stock continues to trade well down on its 5-year high of $16.15 in September 2021.
Vulcan Energy has a market cap of $1.2 billion; the share price is up 26% in one year and up 40% in the last month.
While the lithium sector has taken investors and traders on a roller coaster ride over the past two years, a hollowing out of supply growth over 2026–2028 – due to low lithium prices – is expected to underpin pricing upside.
The stock appears to be in a Medium-term rally, confirmed by multiple indicators.
Consensus is Strong Buy.
CSL slides on Trump’s announced tariffs on pharma imports
Shares in CSL (ASX: CSL) were down around 1.9% after the biotechnology giant felt the brunt of White House changes to regulations relating to pharmaceutical imports.
What the market responded to this morning was revelations that U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled 100% tariffs on branded or patented pharmaceutical products from October 1, except for companies building new manufacturing plants in the U.S.
“Starting October 1, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America,” Trump said in a statement on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“IS BUILDING’ will be defined as, ‘breaking ground’ and/or ‘under construction.’ There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started.”
While CSL’s share price has been on a straight descent since 19 August, when it was trading at $245.45, Morgans remains very positive on CSL's outlook and continues to forecast double-digit earnings growth over the medium term.
Having concluded that CSL has been oversold, the broker now has a buy rating and $293.83 price target on the stock, which implies a 35% upside to current levels.
“As widely anticipated, CSL flagged a restructuring, streamlining R&D and commercial productivity, targeting US$500 million pre-tax savings by YE28, but surprised with Seqirus demerger and multi-year share buyback (US$500m FY26),” the broker noted.
“While investors have taken a glass half full approach, we believe the restructuring augments, not masks the underlying business, with streamlining operations and cost savings supporting double-digit earnings growth over the medium term.”
Having capitalised on recent share price volatility, fund manager Allan Gray recently added CSL to its $2.6 billion Australian equities fund.
Continued sell-offs throughout September - following announced job cuts and plans to spin off its vaccine business - pushed CSL’s share price below $200, a level not seen since 2019.
While new tariff regulations have clearly sparked concern among investors of pharmaceutical companies that export products to the U.S., CSL managed to retrace around half its early morning losses.
CSL has a market cap of $94.5 billion; the share price is down 33% in one year and down around 10% in the last month.
The stock’s shares appear to be in a long-term bearish trend confirmed by multiple indicators.
Consensus is Moderate Buy.
OpenLearning Limited soars on Brazilian reseller partnership
Shares in OpenLearning Limited (ASX: OLL) were trading around 13.6% higher after the AI-powered learning management system announced a three-year reseller partnership agreement with Learnbase Gestão E Consultoria Educacional S/A and Learnbase Education LLC (collectively ‘Learnbase’), a leading education technology distributor in Brazil.
The little-known microcap offers a full suite of tools for online learning, course creation, and delivery for educational institutions, corporations, and government. Learnbase distributes Coursera, TurnItIn, PowerSchool and other leading education technology products.
The newly-inked agreement with Learnbase – which distributes Coursera, TurnItIn, PowerSchool and other leading education technology products – will see the Brazilian education technology distributor tap OpenLearning’s full suite of tools for online learning, course creation, and delivery.
As a result, Learnbase will offer OpenLearning’s learning management system (LMS) to universities, schools, and enterprises throughout Brazil as part of its portfolio.
It’s understood that through this partnership agreement, OpenLearning will gain access to Brazil’s education market, which has over 8 million higher education students and growing demand for digital learning solutions.
Brazil has a large private higher education sector with 2,283 private institutions out of a total of 2,595 higher education institutions.
Commenting on today’s update, Adam Brimo, CEO of OpenLearning, told the market that this partnership provides the company with an efficient way to bring its AI-powered learning management system to universities and enterprises across Brazil.
“By partnering with Learnbase, a trusted distributor, we can efficiently bring our AI-powered learning management system to universities and enterprises across the country,” he said.
“This agreement builds on our success in the Philippines and reinforces our strategy of entering new markets by working with leading local partners who deeply understand the needs of learners and educators.”
While there are no minimum fees payable and no exclusivity, both companies consider the partnership strategically significant, as it provides a direct path for OpenLearning to enter a new geography and generate revenue depending on adoption.
Last month, OpenLearning revealed that Systems Plus College Foundation (SPCF), a comprehensive education provider in the Philippines, has entered into a five-year usage-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) agreement to utilise its AI-powered LMS across all of its institutions from grade school through to college.
OpenLearning’s market cap is $10.6 million; the share price is up 69% in one year and up 57% in the last month.
The stock appears to be in a strong bullish trend, confirmed by multiple indicators.
Consensus does not cover this stock.
“This article does not constitute financial or product advice. You should consider independent advice before making financial decisions.”
