PayPal, Desert Gold Ventures, and Nel ASA facing decisive milestones

PayPal - End of the bottoming process

For months, investors have been expecting an end to the bottoming out and a strong rebound that would at least push the share price back into the three-digit range after the horrendous price losses of recent years. After the payment provider's share marked a double bottom at USD 56.97 at the end of July, it rose impulsively to the current level of USD 73.16. The next resistance area is USD 76.54, after which the downward gap at USD 85.20 that was torn in February 2023 beckons.

PayPal shares received a tailwind last week with the announcement of the expansion of the partnership with payment service provider Fiserv. The common goal is to simplify the integration of PayPal services for merchants in the US. This marks another step in the decade-long collaboration between the two companies, which focuses on improving the customer experience through innovative payment solutions.

Highlighted is the PayPal product Fastlane, which allows customers to make payments with just one click, even without an account with a merchant. This functionality is in line with similar efforts in the recent cooperation with payment processor Adyen.

"This partnership underscores our commitment to improving the checkout experience by working with leading payment processors and e-commerce platforms," said Frank Keller, Executive Vice President and General Manager of PayPal's Large Enterprise and Merchant Platform Group.

Desert Gold Ventures with significant catch-up potential

The exploration company Desert Gold Ventures has benefited significantly from the rising gold price in recent months, posting a performance of over 100% to reach CAD 0.075. However, the share price has still lost almost 80% since its high of CAD 0.35 in July 2020. This could change quickly for two reasons. Firstly, smaller mining companies perform with a time lag compared to the gold price, but in a longer upward cycle, they have historically made up for this performance with leverage. On the other hand, Desert Gold Ventures owns a real gold gem in its portfolio with the SMSZ project in West Mali, Africa.

The 440 sq km land area, which has proven mineral resources of almost 1.1 million ounces, is located in the highly mineralized Senegal-Mali shear zone, in the immediate vicinity of producing mines operated by Barrick Gold, Allied Gold, Endeavour Mining, and B2Gold.

Recently, CEO Jared Scharf released an update on the project's preliminary economic assessment (PEA), which includes oxide and transitional resources from the Barani East and Gourbassi West zones and is expected in the fourth quarter. According to the update, the new assay results from 12 drill holes show promising gold grades and have been sent to South Africa for further investigation. In addition, drone surveys were carried out to obtain precise topographical data for the planning of the mining infrastructure.

In their latest study, the experts at the analyst firm GBC AG set a target price of CAD 0.425. In addition to the extensive 30,000 m drilling program, the prospect of the construction of a profitable heap leach mine is likely to trigger a sharp rise in the share price.

Nel ASA - Subsidiary monetized

Hydrogen innovator Nel ASA has been hit even harder than payment service provider PayPal in recent years. After peaking at USD 4.20 in January 2021, the Norwegian company's share price fell by over 87%. Disappointing results and postponements were the reasons for this decline. The Nel ASA share is currently trading at USD 0.52 but could be ripe for a stronger countermovement in the coming weeks. On the one hand, the price is on the verge of breaking above the 50-day line, while on the other hand, several bullish divergences have been forming for months in both the RSI and the trend-following indicator MACD.

The share price received a tailwind in recent trading days from the news that Faro BidCo ApS, an indirect subsidiary of an infrastructure investment fund of Swiss Life Management AG, has submitted a takeover bid. The bid is the equivalent of EUR 1.11, which equates to a valuation for Everfuel of around EUR 96 million.

The three major shareholders of Everfuel, HvVC ApS, the Clean H2 Infra Fund, and E.F.Holding, which together hold around 75% of the shares in the Company, have agreed to the takeover bid.

In its latest study, US analyst Bernstein upgraded the Nel ASA share from NOK 6.75 to NOK 7.25, equivalent to EUR 0.62, and gave it a "Neutral" rating. Following the hydrogen company's exit from the refueling business, which has diluted liquidity, the focus is now back on electrolysis.

The payment service provider PayPal announced an expansion of its cooperation with Fiserv and celebrated reaching a new 52-week high. Nel ASA continues to focus on its electrolysis business. According to the experts at GBC, Desert Gold Ventures will benefit from a further rise in the gold price and has multiplication potential.