Azzet reports on three stocks with price moving updates today.
Web Travel recovers on guidance reassurances ~
Following its disastrous 38% routing on Friday - after dropping the Spanish tax audit bombshell on the market - shares in Web Travel (ASX: WEB) clawed back 17.7% by 2:30 pm AEDT (3:30 am GMT) after the hotel room aggregator reassured the market that Friday’s sell-off was a massive overreaction.
While the raid on the company’s Palma offices by Spanish tax authorities would suggest something far more sinister was going on, the group’s managing director, John Guscic, in a nothing-to-see-here tone, reaffirmed guidance for the business’s underlying earnings.
“If we felt it was in any way material to guidance, future performance or business model, we would have disclosed it,” he told the market today.
While that’s reassuring, wary investors clearly want more detail on what the audit is actually about.
Assuming Guscic is right in concluding that the Spanish audit won’t impact the travel agent’s prospects for FY26, the share price presents some attractive buying opportunities on a stock that has been trading at a significant discount to its valuation for some time.
Based on Morningstar’s valuations – which are typically conservative - Web Travel’s fair value is $5.68, while the brokers who cover the stock, as reported by FN Arena, have a consensus Target price of $6.36.
While many analysts maintained their Buy ratings prior to this sell-off, citing strong underlying earnings growth of over 20%, the market is clearly weighing these growth prospects against the risks associated with the tax audit and the upcoming resignation of the CFO in May 2026.
What’s also creating something of an overhang for the share price is investor wariness over Corporate Travel Management (ASX: CDT), which remains suspended from trading, unable to say when it will be able to report its FY25 earnings.
Corporate Travel initially said its auditors had found discrepancies in its accounts that would be immaterial to earnings, before later revealing it would have to refund more than $161 million to the UK government.
What’s also weighing on the investor sentiment is the lingering memory that following the 2024 demerger from Webjet Group, the company dealt with delayed results and accounting restatements.
While management said those issues were not material, investors were quick to assume the worst.
Late November saw Web Travel report record first-half results.
Revenue reached $204.6 million, up 20% for 1H FY26.
WebBeds' earnings came in at $94 million with a strong 45.9% margin, comfortably within its guided range.
The company sits on $481 million in cash with $699 million in total liquidity, giving it more than enough buffer to handle a difficult outcome if one arises.
Meanwhile, management expects full-year earnings of $147 to $155 million and told the market that second-half trading is running 23% ahead of last year.
Based on these dynamics, the scale of the recent sell-off is puzzling.
Web Travel market cap of $1.2 billion; the share price is down 33% in one year and down 26% in the last week.
Consensus is Moderate Buy.
Pepper soars on takeover bid
Shares in beleaguered non-bank lender Pepper Money (ASX: PPM) were trading 26.1% higher following revelations that investment management firm, Challenger (ASX: CFG) – the company’s existing cornerstone shareholder - wants to acquire 100% of the company via a scheme of arrangement at $2.60 per share.
However, the takeover offer did no favours to Challenger’s share price, which was down around 4% at midday.
Assuming the deal proceeds, the non-bank lender will be the next mid-cap stock to exit the ASX, in what’s being presented as a partnership between its current major shareholders and Challenger - the proposed minority partner in the deal.
Within its current form, here’s what is being proposed:
- Pepper shareholders (excluding Pepper Group) to receive $2.60 per share in cash, less the FY25 final dividend and any special dividends.
- Pepper Group would roll its existing stake into the new private vehicle.
- Challenger's ownership would be capped at 25%, with Pepper Group retaining majority control.
While Pepper Money's board has granted Challenger exclusivity to conduct due diligence and negotiate the transaction, there's no certainty that the deal will be completed.
This explains why the discount between the $2.60 offer price and Pepper Money’s share price still exists.
Today’s offer is welcome relief for Pepper shareholders who have watched the share price bounce progressively lower since late November last year.
While Challenger sees the potential Pepper transaction as strategic and EPS-accretive – providing long-duration, higher-yielding fixed income assets, which neatly supports its retirement and annuities business – investors in the annuity provider remain unconvinced.
Global investment firm, KKR (formerly Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co), first took Pepper Money private via its credit investment unit in 2017 and relisted the company in 2021 at an issue price of $2.89 per share.
In its most recent interim financial results for the half-year ending 30 June 2025, Pepper Money reported a statutory Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) of $47.0 million, representing a 2% increase over the previous period.
Pepper Money has a market cap of $969 million; the share price is up 45% in one year and up 10% in the last week.
The stock’s shares are in a downtrend confirmed within multiple periods.
In the near-term, the 5-day moving average lies beneath the 20-day moving average.
Longer term, the 5-day is also under the 50-day moving average.
Consensus is Moderate Buy.
Reach Resources jumps on positive results at Murchison
Shares in Reach Resources Limited (ASX: RR1) were trading 15.4% higher this afternoon following the mineral explorers updated on strong initial metallurgical testwork from its Murchison South Gold Project in Western Australia (WA).
In late December, the miner completed 48 reverse circulation (RC) holes for 5,281 metres across a suite of priority pit-scale targets, with the work aimed squarely at upgrading portions of its existing inferred resources into the indicated category.
Initial results suggest the ore is free-milling, relatively soft and amenable to conventional gravity and cyanide leach processing with high gold recoveries above 95% and 97.4% via gravity/cyanide leach at P80 106μm across three composite samples representative of early production.
These results were obtained under test conditions that align with those of nearby toll milling and ore-purchase facilities, with all tests performed using water sourced from the project site.
The testwork also indicated low lime and cyanide consumption and no evidence of significant deleterious elements.
Commenting on today’s update, CEO Jeremy Bower told the market that the outcomes provide technical support for further assessment of processing options for the Murchison South Gold Project.
Further results indicated rapid leach dissolution for all composites with no evidence of preg-robbing and minimal grind sensitivity observed above P80 150μm.
Crushing, comminution, and rheological characteristics are also considered favourable for conventional processing.
The results support the potential treatment of ore through third-party toll milling or ore-purchase facilities located within cost-effective trucking distance of the project.
To the uninitiated, the company also has advanced lithium, manganese and REE exploration assets in the resource-rich Gascoyne Mineral Field.
The Company had $1.5 million in cash at 31 December 2025.
Reach Resources has a market cap of $13 million; the share price is up 114% in one year and up 36% 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.
