The Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… DXN Limited, which exploded after signing an $8.8 million deal with a US Neo-Cloud operator to manufacture high-performance modular data centres. Energy World Company stormed higher after announcing the US$350 million sale of its Siemens gas and steam turbines to NASDAQ-listed Hallador Energy. Sheffield Resources climbed on improved May production numbers at its Thunderbird titanium operation and KTEK Aerosystems continued its strong post-IPO run as it ramps up drone component deliveries amid surging global defence spending.
The hype machine for the impending SpaceX initial public offering is now in overdrive, with news spreading that the float is now due to list on June 12th at US$135 a share. This would make it the biggest IPO in history with a colossal US$1.77 trillion market cap, accompanied by a lazy US$125 billion raising.
Goldman Sachs reported it expects SpaceX AI revenue – cornerstoned by Grok - to grow 100-fold by 2030 to US$332 billion – who or how they did those calculations we’ll never know but the figures are certainly impressive and will no doubt add to the fever pitch around the float. Those numbers would appear to be optimistic given the company’s xAI lost US$6.4 billion from operations in 2025, dragging the company definitively into the red despite its profitable Starlink satellite operation still making a quid.
In a move that screams “retail, come on in” financial services giant Fidelity has quietly slashed its minimum account requirement for the major IPO, from US$500,000 down to just US$2,000. That 99.6 per cent haircut is set to open the floodgates to millions of mum-and-dad punters just days before the biggest stock debut ever.
Many of the AI majors are seemingly following suit too, queueing up to put their hands out, with Alphabet and Anthropic announcing raises for US$80 billion (A$112.5 billion) and US$65 billion (A$91 billion) a piece.
One can’t help but wonder: do these cap raises reflect the glorious AI revolution, or are they the savviest cash-ups in history before the energy bottlenecks bite and we get a dot-com style bubble pop of almighty proportions?
The US markets feel increasingly toppy, with uncontrollable gains and fresh all-time highs for anything with even a whiff of AI, all while Microsoft is telling its top engineers to control their AI bills and a very real war rages in the Middle East, suffocating our oil and gas energy supplies.
Higher energy prices needed to power these monster data centres are showing they could be sticking around for longer. With Elon Musk continually warning that energy could become the new currency - and right now, that currency is getting very expensive.
Adding to the carnage, Bitcoin mogul Michael Saylor - the world’s number two largest holder - has finally broken his famous “never sell” doctrine, hitting the eject button on the crypto, which has dropped nearly 14 per cent since Sunday.
Labor is also crashing in Australia’s political polls, as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has incredibly taken first position this week, following the Labor government’s socialist leaning budget assault on the next generation’s prospects of getting ahead.
Bulls N’ Bears Runners procession this week stuck to the market’s thematics, with AI and energy ruling the roost. A couple of miners and defence contractors rounded out the list, with our top spot impressively ten-bagging in a week after landing an AI data centre contract with serious long-term implications.
Up 1000% (2c – 22c)
The Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is data centre specialist DXN Limited, after the Perth-based manufacturer inked an $8.8 million deal with a US Neo-Cloud operator on Wednesday, which it says could lead to more than $US200 million (A$280 million) in future orders.
The binding deal will see DXN design, engineer, manufacture and commission a 1.36MW high-performance computing (HPC) modular data centre. The project is being delivered as a pilot proof-of-concept, with management indicating a successful rollout could pave the way for more orders.
The company, which already operates two small data centres in Darwin and South Australia, manufactures its modular offerings in Perth's Welshpool.
DXN says its point of difference in the data-centre world lies in its speed-to-deployment, modular scalability and direct liquid cooling expertise.
Subject to successful delivery, the customer has indicated its intent to progress to a substantially larger campus program representing a potential revenue opportunity for DXN in excess of US$200 million for the existing site in the next 1- 2 years.
DXN shares flew off the shelf on Wednesday, with more stock being traded this week than for the previous two years combined. The company finished the week with a clean ten-bagger on its share price to a high of 22c from last week’s close of just 2c. A serious achievement in Runners world.
ENERGY WORLD COMPANY LTD (ASX: EWC)
Up 139% (3.6c – 8.6c)
Storming into second place this week was Southeast Asian energy player Energy World Company, after it unveiled a transformational US$350 million (A$540 million) deal to sell its Siemens gas and steam turbines to a NASDAQ-listed independent power producer, the A$1.25b Hallador Energy
The sale forms part of EWC's strategic review aimed at unlocking value from its sprawling asset portfolio and is expected to generate net proceeds of about US$331 million after transaction and restoration costs.
The deal effectively hands EWC management a massive war chest to pursue its next phase of growth.
The focus now shifts to EWC's flagship Pagbilao LNG Hub and adjacent 650MW gas-fired power project in the Philippines, a long-awaited development designed to become the country's first integrated LNG import and power generation facility.
The company has previously flagged Pagbilao as its key growth engine and recently completed technical due diligence on major equipment ahead of pursuing project-level funding.
Beyond the Philippines, EWC retains a substantial portfolio of energy infrastructure assets across Indonesia and Australia.
In Indonesia, the company owns the 315MW Sengkang power plant, a 50 per cent interest in the Sengkang gas field and plans for a 2 million tonne-per-annum LNG project in South Sulawesi. Meanwhile in Australia, EWC holds multiple gas field interests, an LNG facility at Alice Springs, an 8MW power station and is advancing plans for a 56,000-tonne-per-annum LNG liquefaction plant.
With hundreds of millions of dollars set to flow into the business and management now free to concentrate on higher-value LNG and power opportunities, investors appear to be betting this turbine sale could mark the beginning of a much larger corporate reset.
SHEFFIELD RESOURCES LTD (ASX: SFX)
Up 94% (3.5c – 6.8c)
But it would be no show without Punch and the miners once again muscled their way onto the podium with the bronze spot handed to titanium producer Sheffield Resources after delivering a promising operational update from its flagship Thunderbird mineral sands mine. The company is simultaneously negotiating a crucial debt deferral ahead of a looming 30 June deadline.
Thunderbird, owned 50/50 with Chinese steel giant Yansteel, posted a markedly stronger May performance. Ore mined topped 1 million tonnes, up from 780,000 tonnes in April, while ilmenite concentrate production surged 64 per cent to 60,000 tonnes and zircon output jumped 65 per cent to 16,500 tonnes.
Management attributed the turnaround to improved availability of the dry mining unit and dozer fleet, alongside process plant optimisation initiatives that boosted recoveries and overall operating efficiencies.
The stronger production numbers come as Sheffield holds discussions with senior lenders, including Sheng Feng and NAIF, regarding a deferral of upcoming interest payments.
A successful outcome would provide additional breathing room for the operation to build on its recent momentum and continue ramping up production.
Importantly, Yansteel remains both a 50 per cent joint venture partner and the operation's key offtake customer, providing Thunderbird with a guaranteed market for its titanium feedstock.
For now, Sheffield remains a story of improving operations but unresolved financing. The production data suggests the turnaround is gaining traction and the next crucial catalyst will be securing the balance sheet flexibility needed to keep it moving.
KTEK AEROSYSTEMS LTD (ASX: KTK)
Up 94% (32c – 62c)
Rounding out our Runners is an early contender for IPO of the year in KTEK Aerosystems.
There was no news out on the week for the defence drone dynamo that listed on the ASX just two weeks ago, but last Friday it announced that its supply chain and logistics constraints arising from the Middle East have eased and that production and delivery activity has resumed to business as usual.
KTEK has kicked off deliveries to a major drone OEM customer, with its first shipment of advanced composite airframe components leaving Europe and expected to generate about $500,000 in revenue.
The delivery marks the beginning of a rapid production ramp-up, with monthly output targeted to reach 150 units within five months. Existing orders are already locked in and the company retains the flexibility to scale further as demand grows.
With regular shipments set to increase and backlog orders from the conflict period now being fulfilled, KTEK appears poised to convert production momentum into accelerating revenues.
Cheap, lightweight drones have revolutionised war since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with millions of drones costing a fraction of previous prices now able to fly in large, indefensible groups targeting all things from tanks to naval fleets.
Last year, the US re-designated drones from the aerospace budget to the ammunition budget, signalling a shift to mass production. Annual US military drone purchases are forecast to move from 50,000 last year to 300,000 this year and potentially a million within a few years.
The spending wave is staggering. The US Defence budget for FY27 has set aside US$75 billion (A$105B) for drones and counter-drone warfare alone, while NATO members are committing to a defence spend equal to five per cent of GDP by 2035. Even Australia, with its poultry defence budget has decided it’s a good idea to tip in A$22 billion just for drones over the next decade.
KTEK says it can deliver full turnkey sub-assemblies for military UAVs, integrating mechanical, electrical and firmware components into "ship-ready" units for Tier 1 and Tier 2 defence contractors.
The company was up nearly 200 per cent since listing and is an early leader in IPO of the year market.
With warfare rapidly embracing drones around the globe, early movers like KTEK are well placed to take advantage of the fever pitch around this particularly effective military strategy.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
