There are a large number of ASX shares to choose from on the Australian share market.

Two that come highly rated are listed below. Here’s why these ASX shares are being tipped as buys:

Hipages Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: HPG)

The first ASX share to look at is Hipages. It is a leading Australian-based online platform and software as a service (SaaS) provider connecting consumers with trusted tradies.

Hipages has been growing at a strong rate in recent years and appears well-placed to continue this trend in the future. Particularly given its leadership position in Australia and the recent agreement to acquire New Zealand-based rival Builderscrack that gives it access to a NZ$26 billion total addressable market.

In response to the news, the team at Goldman Sachs maintained their buy rating and lifted their price target on the company’s shares to $5.15. The broker sees a material growth opportunity ahead for Hipages and is forecasting a 24% revenue CAGR and a 38% EBITDA CAGR from FY 2021 to FY 2024. It also notes that the company currently only captures 5% of total industry advertising spend at present. Whereas the broker sees scope for this to grow materially in the future as its ecosystem builds out.

It commented: “We see HPG as an attractive medium-term growth stock – HPG currently captures c.5% of the total industry advertising spend; by contrast REA/CAR capture c.40-60% of spending in their respective categories. As HPG builds out its ecosystem (including the imminent launch of the new “TradieCore” field service software solution), we see scope for HPG to increase its share towards these levels over the long term as the marketplace leader.”

Life360 Inc (ASX: 360)

Another ASX share to look at is Life360. It operates in the digital consumer subscription services market and has a focus on products and services for digitally native families. This is where all members of the household are connected by smartphones. A massive 33.8 million monthly active users are using its app at present, which is underpinning stellar recurring revenue growth. In addition, Life360 has significant opportunities to monetise its user base further in the future through cross and upselling opportunities and acquisitions.

Bell Potter is bullish on Life360. It has a buy rating and $15.00 price target on the company’s shares. The broker is forecasting revenue growth of 37% to $110.8 million in FY 2021 and then the more than doubling of it to US$273 million in FY 2022. It expects this to be underpinned partly by the monetisation of its huge user base.

The broker said: “Life360 has the potential to leverage its large and growing user base to enter new markets and disrupt the legacy incumbents. An example is roadside assistance where Life360 launched a subscription-based product called Driver Protect which disrupted the market and helped enable monetisation of its user base. Other markets Life360 could potentially enter include insurance, item & pet tracking, senior monitoring, home security and/or identity theft.”

The post Analysts name 2 fantastic ASX shares to buy right now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are 4 ASX shares insiders are putting their money behind
• Here are the tech shares leading the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• 3 buy-rated ASX shares
• Sticky revenue winners. Here are the 5 best ASX SaaS shares of 2021

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns Life360, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Hipages Group Holdings Ltd. and Life360, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Hipages Group Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Generally, an individual’s risk appetite will fall with age. This is because someone in their 20s has a lot more time to recoup their losses compared to someone in their 60s who is nearing retirement and will soon be reliant on their nest egg to fund their future lifestyle.

In light of this, it could be important to focus on capital preservation when you are reaching retirement and select shares that are consistent with your risk profile and investing timeframe.

With that in mind, here are a couple of shares that could be suitable for a well-balanced retirement portfolio:

Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)

The first ASX share that could be a top option for a retirement portfolio is this supermarket giant.

This is due to Coles’ solid growth prospects thanks to its refreshed strategy, its generous dividend policy, and its defensive qualities. The latter was on display for all to see during the pandemic. Another positive is the company’s focus on automation which will cut costs and support its online business.

The team at Citi is positive on Coles. It recently upgraded the supermarket giant’s shares to a buy rating with a $19.60 price target. This implies almost 20% upside for investors, as well as an attractive ~4% yield based on Citi’s forecasts.

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)

Another top option for a retirement portfolio could be Telstra.

As with Coles, Telstra has defensive qualities, a favourable dividend policy, and solid growth prospects. The latter is being underpinned by the telco giant’s T25 strategy which replaces the highly successful and transformational T22 strategy later this year.

Morgans is very positive on Telstra’s outlook and has put an add rating and $4.55 price target on its shares. The broker also expects attractive fully franked dividend yields of 3.8% over the next couple of financial years.

The post 2 excellent ASX shares for a retirement portfolio appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price zoomed 43% higher in 2021
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares this Tuesday
• 2 big-name ASX shares to buy right now
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Monday
• 2 top ASX dividend shares to buy next week

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET and Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Key points

• The Universal Store share price traded as high as 8% today
• The retailer has repeated an 8.2% drop in sales for H1 FY22
• The Universal share price has increased by 20% in 12 months

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The Universal Store Holdings Ltd (ASX: UNI) share price surged today, jumping as high as 8% after the fashion retailer released a trading update. At the time of market close, the Universal Store share price was up 7% at $6.85 apiece.

But even though its share price was up, its sales revenue was not.

The retailer aims at customers between the ages of 16-35 with 76 fashion stores across Australia as well as an online presence. Let’s take a closer look at its news today.

Universal sales down

In today’s announcement, Universal Store released its expected unaudited financial results for the first half of FY22.

The company advised it expected overall sales for the 6 months ending 31 December 2021 to be down 8.2% to $108.3 million. Online sales generated $20.9 million and contributed to almost 20% of sales for the company.

The retailer said it lost 25.5% of potential trading days due to the Australian coronavirus lockdowns.

As such, the company reported a 0.6% increase in gross profit margin (excluding delivery costs for online sales) against the prior corresponding period, despite markdowns of merchandise due to store closures.

Freight costs associated with online sales has also affected the net gross profit margin.

Universal Store was happy with the growth of its online presence, despite its sales growth seeing half the traffic it had in the previous corresponding period.

While its trading operations were affected by the pandemic, Universal Store said it had not experienced disruption to its shipping or imported container supply.

Overall, Universal Store expects its underlying earnings before tax to fall between $19 million to $19.5 million. It expects its net cash for this quarter to be $33.7 million, entailing $48.8 million cash and $15.1 million of bank debt.

Universal Store said it was “satisfied with the overall result” of the figures. The company will release its results for H1 FY22 on 23 February.

Universal store share price snapshot

Over the last 12 months, the Universal Store share price has lifted almost 20%, but only 1% this year to date.

The fashion retailer saw its share price hit a 52-week-high of $8.34 in November last year before it reversed direction with steep drops and rebounds through the December period. Having said that, analysts at the Swiss investment bank, UBS, considered the stock a buy last month due to expansion opportunities and product pricing.

The company currently has a market capitalisation of $501 million and a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 17.2.

The post Why did the Universal Store (ASX:UNI) share price surge 7% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 2 ASX shares rated as strong buys by brokers
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today

Motley Fool contributor Alice de Bruin has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Key points

• ASX 200 tech shares had a tough day on Wednesday
• Technology shares followed a similar pattern as on US markets overnight
• Megaport had a particularly grim day, falling 16%.

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ASX technology shares finished in the red today after a tech selloff on the NASDAQ overnight and with Aussie tech company Megaport falling dramatically.

The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) fell 1.71% today while the S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech (ASX: XIJ) finished 2.56% lower. The Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) share price had a particularly disastrous day, shedding 16.15%.

Let’s take a look at what weighed on technology shares today.

Tech shares fall

ASX tech shares fell after the NASDAQ-100 Technology Sector Index (NASDAQ) dropped 3.39% in the US overnight. Australian technology shares often follow in the footsteps of their US peers, as Motley Fool Australia has noted previously.

Megaport led the pack in share fallers today. The company’s shares fell to their lowest level in 8 months, closing at $15.32. This is the worst result for the company’s shares since 7 June, when the company’s shares finished at $15.24.

As my Foolish colleague James reported earlier, investors appeared to expect better growth in the company’s second-quarter update.

Despite the company reporting an 8% gain in second-quarter revenue to $26.6 million, investors sold down the share.

The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price also fell 2.81% while Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) sunk 2.36%.

Meanwhile, Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) dropped 1.95% and TechnologyOne (ASX: TNE) fell 1.52%.

However, Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) bucked the trend today, gaining 3.87% to finish at $10.47.

Sadly, Afterpay’s drop today coincided with its last day trading on the market. The company will be taken over by Block Inc (NYSE: SQ) and replaced on the ASX with SQ2 shares.

ASX technology share recap

The All Technology Index has fallen 5.78% in the past year, while the Info Tech index has dropped 14.69%.

In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned 8.75% in the past year.

The post ASX tech shares fall amid Megaport (ASX: MP1) crash and NASDAQ fall appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Allkem, Megaport, Redbubble, and Temple & Webster’s shares are falling
• Are the worst-performing ASX 200 shares turnaround opportunities?
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: BHP’s update, Megaport sinks, HUB24 impresses
• Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen will say goodbye to their Afterpay (ASX:APT) shares tomorrow. What will they be left with?
• Why the Megaport (ASX:MP1) share price is crashing 12% today

The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Afterpay Limited, Altium, Appen Ltd, and MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Afterpay Limited and Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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