Are you looking for small cap ASX shares to buy? If you are, you may want to check out the two listed below that have been tipped as buys by brokers.

Here’s why brokers are bullish on these small cap shares:

Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)

The first small cap ASX share to consider is this online marketplace provider for local services.

Management believes that it has a significant growth opportunity ahead of it. In fact, it estimates that it has a total addressable market (TAM) of $600 billion across Australia, the UK, and the US. This compares to the gross marketplace volume of $189.6 million that it achieved in FY 2022.

Morgans remains a big fan of Airtasker and believes it is well-placed for long term growth thanks to its huge TAM opportunity. It explained:

Whilst acknowledging the current volatile market conditions and broader sector sentiment, we continue to remain attracted to the strong growth opportunity ahead for ART, predicated on the company successfully implementing its strategy of penetrating the prodigious TAM opportunity both domestically and offshore.

Morgans has an add rating and $1.05 price target on the company’s shares.

Nitro Software Ltd (ASX: NTO)

Another small cap ASX share that could be a buy is Nitro Software. It is a growing software company driving digital transformation in businesses around the world across multiple industries with its Nitro Productivity Suite.

Nitro’s shares have been hammered this year due to the tech selloff and a recent guidance downgrade. And while the team at Goldman Sachs was disappointed with the update, it hasn’t changed its view that Nitro has enormous long term growth potential.

Goldman explained:

We see the update as re-basing market expectations on NTO’s growth outlook and highlighting the path to breakeven; however, we acknowledge that NTO will likely enter a “show me” phase where consecutive quarters of strong ARR performance are necessary to allay concerns over execution challenges. That said, we continue to see NTO as an undervalued global growth opportunity and highlight that the company now trades at ~12x FY24E EV/EBITDA on a capitalisation-adjusted basis.

The broker has a buy rating and $2.05 price target on its shares.

The post 2 exciting small cap ASX shares to buy according to brokers appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• ‘The smaller you get, the worse the performance has been’: Should ASX small-cap shares be avoided right now?
• Experts name 2 exciting small cap ASX shares to buy with huge upside potential
• Why I think these ASX tech shares are buys in August
• Goldman Sachs names 2 small cap ASX shares to buy with 80%+ upside
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today

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 recommended Airtasker Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nitro Software Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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If you’re looking to invest in exchange traded funds (ETFs), then it could be worth considering the two listed below.

These ETFs are popular with investors and it isn’t hard to see why. Here’s what you need to know about them:

BetaShares Global Banks ETF (ASX: BNKS)

The first ETF for investors to look at is BetaShares Global Banks ETF.

As you might have guessed from its name, this ETF gives investors exposure to many of the world’s largest banks. One key thing that is not given away with its name, however, is that this collection of banks excludes our own big four and regional players.

This means that if you’re looking for opportunities away from the status quo in Australia, this ETF gives you it in buckets. Among the banks included in the fund are Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo. Overall, as a group, they look well-placed to benefit from central banks raising interests rates across the globe.

BetaShares Global Energy Companies ETF (ASX: FUEL)

Another ETF for investors to consider next week is the BetaShares Global Energy Companies ETF.

While oil prices have thankfully retreated from their recent highs, they are still in or around the US$100 per barrel mark. This is significantly higher than the cost of production for many of the world’s largest energy producers, which means they are rolling in cash right now. This bodes well for earnings and dividends in the near term.

The good news is that the BetaShares Global Energy Companies ETF provides investors with easy access to many of these energy producers in one single easy investment. Among the companies that you’ll be buying a slice of are BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell.

The post 2 quality ETFs for ASX investors to buy in August appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 3 wonderful ETFs for ASX investors to buy today
• 3 highly rated ETFs for ASX investors to buy now

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 positions in and has recommended BetaShares Global Banks ETF – Currency Hedged and BetaShares Global Energy Companies ETF – Currency Hedged. 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 Scott Phillips.

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The Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN) share price has gained 26.2% this past month as it makes a steep recovery from being down 20.53% year to date.

Shares in the uranium miner were trading 3.25% lower at 75 cents apiece at the close on Friday. But from a wider viewpoint, the Paladin Energy share price is outperforming the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ), up just 5.80% over the past month.

Let’s find out what might be driving the recent rally.

Paladin restarts the Langer Henrich uranium mine

One major development stands out amid the Paladin Energy share price climb over the past month.

In July, my Foolish colleague Bernd Struben reported that Paladin would restart uranium production in its Langer Henrich mine, located off Africa’s southwest coast in Namibia.

Paladin’s profile on the Langer Henrich mine states it was placed under maintenance in May 2018 due to “unfavourable market conditions”. Cameco reported that uranium fetched a $22.73 spot price at the time. Today, the heavy metal sells for $47.75, representing a 47.60% increase.

Paladin confirmed that its restart plan coincided with a more favourable backdrop for the uranium market.

The miner expects to realise first production volumes from Langer Henrich in the first quarter of 2024.

Global demand for uranium increases

As governments look toward cleaner energy sources to reach emission targets, it’s possible that nuclear energy, and by extension, uranium, could enter into an unprecedented supercycle in the power generation industry.

In July, the European Union did not object to including nuclear power generation as a sustainable economic activity. 

And according to energy, mining, and commodities expert Ben Cleary, this trend is also seen in other countries. Cleary said:

The American government are very supportive of nuclear generation. So is China. 

So uranium has a really strong governmental backing as a baseload energy source given it produces lower carbon emissions versus other fossil fuels going forward.

The development of nuclear energy as a power source is also being spurred through the research of nuclear fusion technology.

Investment specialist Michael Collins wrote in Livewire today that nuclear fusion prevented the risk of disasters such as nuclear meltdown. The second benefit is that no harmful waste is produced from its activities.

The difference between nuclear fission and fusion is how power is generated. Nuclear fission is the process of splitting an atom, while nuclear fusion is the process of combining atoms. Fusion is approximately four times more powerful than fission and is more expensive to research.

No nuclear power plants currently use fusion to generate power as the technology is still being developed. The consensus varies when it will be commercially available, but one BBC estimate puts it in the 20-year ballpark.

Paladin Energy share price snapshot

The Paladin Energy share price is down 21.5% year to date. That’s significantly below the broader market’s performance as the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) has fallen 7.41% over the same period.

Paladin’s market capitalisation is $2.2 billion at the current share price. 

The post Up 26% in a month, is the Paladin Energy share price on the comeback trail? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• The ASX shares with 30% to 50% upside: fundie
• Why did the Paladin Energy share price rocket 28% in July?
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Paladin Energy share price lights up on uranium project restart
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today

Motley Fool contributor Matthew Farley 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 Scott Phillips.

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When board directors spend bucketloads of their own money buying more ASX shares in the companies they run, it’s a pretty clear sign of confidence.

To reiterate, we’re not talking about the exercising of options or rights issues. Nor director’s remuneration (where the issuing of new shares forms part of a director’s salary package). We’re talking about on-market trades using personal cash savings, super funds, or monies held within companies they own or control.

Who’s been buying shares in the ASX companies they run?

Listed companies are required to publicly advise the ASX when a director has purchased shares.

In a statement this week, Straker Translations Ltd (ASX: STG) told the ASX that director Steve Donovan had acquired 40,000 shares in an on-market trade worth more than $1.7 million on 3 August.

On Friday, the Straker share price closed at $1.13, up 7.1% for the day and down 29.4% year to date.

Eagers Automotive Ltd (ASX: APE) director Nicholas Politis AM has also made a series of share purchases through his companies, WFM Motors Pty Ltd and NGP Investments (No 2) Pty Ltd.

Politis has been buying more ASX shares in Eagers for several weeks. In July, he spent $1.5 million buying Eagers shares. By the end of the month, he held more than 70.33 million shares.

He’s bought another 100,000 Eagers shares in August, the latest being a 10,000 parcel bought on Thursday.

On Friday, Eagers closed at $13.10, making his stake in the ASX 200 company worth about $922 million.

Eagers has a market capitalisation of $3.47 billion with approximately 257 million shares on issue.

The Eagers share price dipped 3.1% on Friday and is down 6.1% year to date.

Also this week, United Malt Group Ltd (ASX: UMG) told the ASX that three directors had bought shares.

Independent chair and non-executive director Graham Bradley AM purchased 75,000 shares on the ASX between 3 and 8 August. The average price was $3.04 per share for a total consideration of $227,994. He now directly owns 196,395 shares in the company.

United Malt CEO and managing director Mark Palmquist purchased 50,000 shares on 4 August at an average price of $2.95 per share for a total consideration of $147,625. He now directly owns 543,222 shares in the company.

Independent non-executive director Gary Mize purchased 17,317 shares on 4 August at an average price of $2.85 per share for a total consideration of $49,353. He now owns 48,200 shares in the company.

The United Malt share price closed Friday’s session at $3.29, up 1.9%. It’s down 27.2% year to date.

The post 5 ASX directors loading up on their companies’ shares in August appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• This ASX share rocketed 29% last month, but it’s not too late to buy: Celeste
• Winner winner chicken dinner: Expert names 2 ASX shares to buy now
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• This ASX 200 director bought $1.5 million worth of his company’s shares in July… and he’s still buying

Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen 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 recommended Straker Translations. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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