In spite of economic challenges looming, brokerage firm Morningstar is confident that travel company Webjet (ASX:WEB) will have a strong fiscal year in 2024 if market conditions remain favorable.

Morningstar forecasts that Webjet’s EBITDA will increase by 40% to A$182 million.

The company is poised to achieve its three-year EBITDA compound annual growth rate projection of 22%, culminating in A$231 million in fiscal 2026, up from A$127 million in fiscal 2023.

Morningstar favors focusing on Webjet’s longer-term maintainable earnings, which are normalizing to pre-pandemic levels following an upturn in the wake of COVID-19.

From the company’s unit WebBeds, which generates nearly 70% of the group’s revenue, Morningstar anticipates short-term growth momentum as demand remains favorable.

As market situations enhance, Morningstar expects that ongoing dividends will be paid starting sometime in the fiscal year 2025 at a ratio approximately 50%, akin to the historical average.

Thus far this year, the company’s stock has increased by 8.4% as of the last close.

Webjet (ASX:WEB) is a global online travel agency specializing in flights, hotels, car hires, and insurance services.

Rubix Resources (ASX:RB6) has made the announcement about the appointment of Casey Blundell to fill in the role of the Chief Executive Officer.

Rubix Resources is a mining and exploration company focused on gold and other precious metals.

Fonterra Co-Operative Group (ASX:FCG) has announced its fiscal year reported profit after tax of NZ$1.6 billion, presenting an increase of 170%.

The company’s guidance for the 2023/24 earnings estimates a range of 45-60 NZ cents per share.

Fonterra’s total revenue for the fiscal year reached NZ$26.05 billion, a rise from last year’s NZ$23.43 billion.

The forecast 2023/34 season farmgate milk price range is expected to be NZ$6.00 - NZ$7.50 per kgms, with the final 2022/23 season farmgate milk price amounting to NZ$8.22 per kgms.

There are indications of renewed demand for New Zealand milk powders beginning from early 2024.

Additionally, Fonterra has declared a final dividend of 40 NZ cents per share.

The company anticipates improved margins across its consumer and foodservice channels for the fiscal year 2024.

Fonterra has also set an environmental goal of achieving a 50% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, from a 2018 baseline.

Lastly, the company is updating its long-term strategy and plans to share it early next year.

Fonterra Co-Operative Group (ASX:FCG) is one of the world’s largest processors of milk and a leading producer of dairy products.

Global optimism centered on China’s increasing demand for metals and a weaker dollar sparked a rise in copper miners, closely following the price of the red metal.

The London Metal Exchange’s benchmark three-month copper climbed 0.5% to $8,334 per tonne.

The rising copper prices virtually ignored the added pressure from increasing inventories and a wave of caution in anticipation of the U.S.

Federal Reserve’s impending rate decision.

Shares of Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and BHP Group (ASX:BHP) listed in the U.S.

witnessed an ascent of 1.4% and 0.7%, respectively.

Also gaining were copper miners Southern Copper (ASX:SCCO) and Freeport-McMoRan (ASX:FCX) at 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively.

Canadian miners Teck Resources (ASX:TECKb), Ero Copper (ASX:ERO), Hudbay Minerals (ASX:HBM), and First Quantum Minerals (ASX:FM) saw a rise between 1.2% and 2.6%.

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is a global mining giant that focuses on the exploration, mining, and processing of mineral resources.

Shares of maker of skin treatment devices, Beauty Health (ASX:SKIN), have risen 5% to $6.35 in premarket trading.

The company has announced a stock buyback program set to begin on September 26.

The move follows a recent authorization by the board to repurchase up to $100 million of its common stock.

Beauty Health intends to fund the share repurchases with already available cash reserves.

The company had previously released an announcement on September 12 concerning the provided share repurchase authorization, but stated incorrectly that the trading plan would be implemented during Q3 2024.

Instead, the company plans to implement the trading plan in Q3 2023.

Among 11 brokerages, seven rate the Beauty Health stock as ‘buy’ or higher, with the remaining four rating ‘hold’.

Median price target is set at $10.50, according to LSEG data.

Despite the recent rise, the stock has recorded a drop of 33.5% from the start of this year to Tuesday’s close.

Beauty Health (ASX:SKIN) is a manufacturer of skin treatment devices.

FX option prices remain cautious of the increased FX volatility risk to GBP due to Thursday’s proposed policy announcement by the Bank Of England (ASX:BoE).

These prices still fall short of the levels witnessed prior to the August 3 and June 22 UK policy adjustments.

The foreign exchange option market’s estimation of future FX volatility, known as ‘implied volatility’, presents a trading window if it differs from actual FX volatility.

An increase in implied volatility linked with the U.S policy announcement late on Wednesday has already been noted, yet overall the prices remain somewhat subdued when juxtaposed with the values seen before the UK interest rate decisions in August and June.

The figure for overnight GBP/USD implied volatility is presently 14.0, contrasted against Tuesday’s 8.5 before the Federal Reserve and Bank Of England announcements were factored in.

Comparatively, overnight EUR/GBP has not been significantly impacted by Wednesday’s Fed announcement.

Its overnight expiry implied volatility is 9.5, up from 6.5 before the BoE announcement - a premium break-even of 35 GBP pips from 24 GBP pips.

Despite this, it marked a lower 11.0 implied volatility or 40 GBP pips before last week’s ECB rate decision and was more than 16.0 (58 GBP pips) prior to the August and June MPC announcements.

(Note - Richard Pace, market analyst, provided these analysis.

His views are individual and not representative of any organization.)

S2 Resources (ASX:S2R) made a public announcement regarding their financial situation.

The company reported an after-tax loss from continuous operations for the year, amounting to A$6.8 million.

The S2 Resources (ASX:S2R) team has yet to comment on plans for the future.

S2 Resources (ASX:S2R) is an exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold and other base metal properties.

FAR (ASX:FAR), formerly known as FAR Ltd, provided an update on a class ruling from Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

The ruling states that the capital return will not be counted as a dividend.

Furthermore, it adds that qualifying shareholders, i.e., those who were on the company’s shareholder list as of August 24th and received a capital return payment of 40 AU cents per share, can treat any resulting capital gain as a discount capital gain.

Note that this ruling applies only to those shareholders who meet these criteria.

FAR is an oil and gas company specializing in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas properties.

Challenger Gold has declared the appointment of Sergio Rotondo as the new Chairman.

Additionally, current Chairman Fletcher Quinn will continue his term on the board as a non-executive director.

Challenger Gold is a respected mining company specializing in the exploration and development of precious metals.

National Tyre & Wheel (ASX:NTD) has agreed to distribute Dunlop Tyres in Australia and New Zealand.

The agreement is expected to generate an additional annualised group revenue across both countries estimated at A$118 million.

The distribution agreement is projected to be accretive to earnings per share from the fourth quarter of 2024.

The distribution of Dunlop Tyres is expected to start in New Zealand in November 2023 and in Australia by April 2024.

The company also anticipates that the distribution of Dunlop tyres will be carried out with a modest increase in fixed costs.

National Tyre & Wheel (ASX:NTD) is a company involved in tyre distribution and auto services.