Whilst it has been a tumultuous few months for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), there are several companies that have benefitted directly from coronavirus-related lockdowns. Companies such as JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) did a roaring trade in work from home equipment. So too did Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) subsidiary, Officeworks. Yet several others have also benefitted with little or no fanfare. 

An ASX 200 growth giant

Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX: JIN) is one of the great growth shares of the past 10 years. It returned investors over 25 times their initial investment on 1 January 2010. Yet year to date, the company’s share price is still 20% down. 

Jumbo predominantly sells lottery games online. Prior to lockdown, 75% of lottery tickets were sold via retail outlets. I believe it’s fair to assume that even if lottery sales declined overall during the lockdown, the volume sold online is likely to have grown. As mentioned, Jumbo Interactive’s share price is 20% down year to date. The company recorded its lowest share price of $6.99 on 16 March, one week earlier than most of the market.

Jumbo is one ASX 200 growth company I particularly like. It has sound financials across most major valuation metrics. Compare this to say, Xero Limited (ASX: XRO), a company that posted its first profit last financial year.

Over the past 8 years, Jumbo has grown its sales volumes by 12.5% on average. Last year’s sales grew by 42% after the company began to license its software to other lottery sales organisations. 

Healthcare benefits

Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) initially appeared to be one of the definite ASX 200 losers of the pandemic. Early bans on elective surgeries were in place to ensure the availability of resources should COVID-19 take hold in Australia. This is the core of Ramsay’s revenue streams. 

However, very smart and agile thinking on behalf of the company has, at least, trimmed those losses. Over the course of the pandemic, Ramsay has done deals with governments throughout Australia and in the United Kingdom. These deals ensure that for the period of the agreements, the company will not lose money on its private hospitals. In return, it has guaranteed the availability of beds for coronavirus patients should they be required. 

We have seen agility across a range of smaller companies during the lockdown. However, it is rare to find an ASX 200 company able to act swiftly enough to mitigate lost revenue to this extent. Ramsay’s share price is down by only 5.8% year to date and is up by 48% since its low point on March 23. 

While it is presently trading at a price-to-earnings ratio greater than its 10-year average, I believe the company is selling at a good price. It has shown consistent growth over the past decade, and I remain impressed by the current management. 

More reading

• Is the AFIC share price a buy right now?
• 2 ASX 200 shares to watch on Tuesday
• 3 ASX shares to buy and hold for the next 2 decades
• 3 strong ASX dividend shares to buy right now
• Buy these ASX growth shares for monster returns

Daryl Mather has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Jumbo Interactive Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Wesfarmers Limited and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Jumbo Interactive Limited and Ramsay Health Care Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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Is the Australian Foundation Investment Co.Ltd. (ASX: AFI) share price a buy? The AFIC share price is recovering after the previous coronavirus market selloff.

It has done particularly well recently after the strong ASX bank rally. That saw AFIC shares go up 7.1% between 25 May 2020 to now.

If you haven’t heard of AFIC it’s the largest listed investment company (LIC). It has been operating for close to 100 years. The job of a LIC is to invest in other shares on behalf of their shareholders. AFIC has been doing a reliable job for decades.

What are some of the shares that AFIC is invested in?

I’m sure you recognise AFIC’s largest investments with shares like CSL Limited (ASX: CSL), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES). Essentially, it’s mainly invested in those large Aussie blue chips. 

AFIC isn’t as invested in banks as the ASX index, which would have helped lessen the market selloff a couple of months ago.

How has it performed compared to the ASX 200?

The AFIC share price held up pretty well during the coronavirus selloff. At the end of May 2020 AFIC could show that its net asset performance (including franking) performed 2.6% better than the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index (including franking) over the past year, with a fall of just 3%. Despite that recent outperformance, it still lags the index over the past five and ten years.

However, at the moment the AFIC share price is trading at a 6.9% premium to the May 2020 net tangible assets (NTA). That means you’re buying $1 of AFIC for less than $1 of assets. Not a great deal.

The dividend has been reliable over the long-term – but will it continue to be sustainable if banks are not paying the same dividends as they were before? However, I do like that AFIC’s operating costs are so low at just 0.13% per annum.

AFIC isn’t a bad option. But it’s trading at a noticeable premium right now, so you may as well just go for an ASX 200 or ASX 300 exchange-traded fund (ETF) which you can buy at asset value.

More reading

• 2 cheap ASX 200 shares to buy right now
• Is the CSL share price a buy?
• 2 ASX 200 shares to watch on Tuesday
• 3 ASX shares to buy and hold for the next 2 decades
• 3 strong ASX dividend shares to buy right now

Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Transurban Group and Wesfarmers Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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So much for ‘sell in May and go away’.

May turned out to be a stellar month for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and the broader ASX share market.

Over the month, the ASX 200 returned 4.2%. This is around half of the total return you can typically expect from ASX 200 shares over a year. Not bad!

But of course, some shares fared better than others during the month, outperforming the ASX 200. And some blue chips, like the big four banks, did exceptionally well. Others, like Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) and Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), did relatively poorly.

So here are some of the best performing ASX shares over the month of May

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)

By any metric possible, the Afterpay share price had a phenomenal month in May. Afterpay started the month at $31.20 and finished it at $47.41. This delivered the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) giant a monthly gain of 52%. This ASX 200 stock also hit a new all-time high of $50.01 during May.

Afterpay shares are now over 400% higher than the lows we saw in March, proving once again how treacherous betting against this volatile company can be.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

Another ASX payments company, Zip had an even better month in May than Afterpay. Zip Co shares started off the month at $2.39 and finished up at $3.75 – a rise of 56.9%. Like Afterpay, investors’ concerns that BNPL companies would be inundated with defaults has proven to be largely unfounded.

It’s probably very good timing for the company to announce a trading halt and a capital acquisition program, which it did yesterday.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)

Fortescue Metals is another ASX 200 company that had a fantastic month during May. Its shares were up over 16% by the end of the month. This preceded the printing of another new, all-time high of $14.88 per share today.

A rising iron ore price, partly caused by production issues in Brazil throughout May, was the main driver of the rising Fortescue share price. Iron ore is now at a multi-year high at close to US$100 per tonne. If this price holds up for the rest of the year, I think we can expect the Fortescue share price to do the same.

Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB)

Here we have another ASX 200 company that pulled a rabbit out of its hat in May with a 35.3% increase in its share price for the month.

Webjet, as an ASX travel stock, was smashed in March as travel restrictions were implemented. But rumours of a possible ‘trans-Tasman bubble’ that will allow travel between Australia and New Zealand in the near future has partially restored investors’ confidence in the company. Even so, this ASX 200 share remains nearly 60% lower than its 2020 highs.

More reading

• 3 things ASX investors need to know about the RBA’s rate decision today
• Zip Co share price rockets 44% higher on U.S. expansion news
• Could Goldman Sachs’ 2020 predictions for the US share market spell the end of the ASX 200s remarkable rise?
• The 3 ASX tech stocks that helped this fund manager outperform in May
• 3 investing secrets for success with ASX shares

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO and Woolworths Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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