The best ASX growth shares are the ones that are going to make strong returns for your portfolio over the years. I’d buy these top ideas in June that will hopefully create those excellent market-beating returns this decade:

Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH)

Pushpay is one my favourite ASX growth shares now. Pushpay is an electronic donation business which is currently focused on the US medium and large church sector. The coronavirus is causing more churches to promote electronic giving, particularly in places where people can’t congregate yet. In FY21 the company is expecting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and foreign currency (EBITDAF) to approximately double.

MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF)

MFF Capital Investments is one of the best globally-focused listed investment companies (LIC) in my opinion. Chris Mackay owns a lot of MFF Capital shares and he has expertly guided the LIC to strong returns over the past decade. It currently has a large cash position which can be used for protection or opportunities over the coming months, whatever happens with COVID-19. It has large holdings of excellent the payment businesses Visa and Mastercard.

Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB)

Bubs is another of my favourite ASX growth shares right now. It produces and sells a variety of goat milk products. There are two key aspects I’m looking at right now, aside from the obvious stellar revenue growth. The first is that it’s rapidly expanding its distribution outside of Australia. Vietnam and China alone are two large markets which are producing attractive growth for Bubs. The other aspect is that its operating cashflow was positive last quarter, so it’s a safer prospect from here.

Magellan Global Trust (ASX: MGG)

I wouldn’t describe many of Australia’s blue chips as top ASX growth shares. So what we can do is choose to put our money in investment picks which give that exposure to leading growth shares overseas. I’m talking about businesses like Microsoft, Facebook, Alibaba, Visa, Alphabet and so on. This listed investment trust (LIT) just wants to invest in the best of the best in the world. It’s pretty defensive too in normal market sell-offs.

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

Altium is another of my top ASX growth share ideas. Though it’s priced quite highly at the moment considering potential COVID-19 impacts. Altium is an electronic PCB software business helping engineers design the products, devices and vehicles of the future. It’s aiming for market dominance this decade and I believe it has the management and plan to do it. It has been growing its profit margins and cash on the balance sheet. It could be tough in 2020, but if the share price were to fall again I’d be looking to snap up some shares.

City Chic Collective Ltd (ASX: CCX)

City Chic is one of the most compelling retail ASX growth shares in my opinion. It has a very high proportion of sales that come from online. That’s helpful to know that the customer base already knows how to get hold of the product. City Chic is growing internationally and I like the strategy of making international acquisitions as long as they are integrated well and can be adequately profitable.

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

Kogan.com is another exciting retail-related ASX growth share. During the coronavirus restrictions the company saw an enormous jump in sales volume last month. Ongoing growth might not be as strong going forwards, but it may help accelerate Australians to shop more online. I like the network effects that Kogan.com has where it can sell a variety of other affordable services to a growing customer base such as phone services, insurance and finance-related offerings.

A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

A2 Milk has been one of the best ASX growth shares for some time. It has built a brand of quality and it happily relies on other companies to provide the materials and production, allowing A2 Milk to have high margins. With growth across Asia and North America, A2 Milk is one of watch. It also a very nice cash pile on the balance sheet too. I like that it’s balancing short-term profit with investing for long-term growth.

WAM Microcap Limited (ASX: WMI)

Some of the best ASX growth shares are among the smallest. Small caps may not have the strongest economic moats in the world, but their small size means it’s much easier to double in size than a business like Microsoft.

WAM Microcap has an excellent small cap investment team which is very talented at finding the undervalued stars. Before the coronavirus it had generated very strong investment returns.

It also comes with a very nice dividend. If WAM Microcap were to get too big it would become less effective at investing in small caps.

Duxton Water Ltd (ASX: D2O)

A water entitlement business wouldn’t strike you as an ASX growth share. I believe there are two good reasons to consider it. The first is that water values are steadily rising over time. That’s partly due to the drier weather. But also because there are more high-value crops that need more water, like almonds.

The other reason is that it’s priced at a very large discount to its monthly net tangible assets (NTA) which gives a nice margin of safety even if water values were to drop in the short-term because of more rainfall.

Foolish takeaway

I like all of these ASX growth shares. At the current prices I’d buy Pushpay, WAM Microcap and Bubs. But I’d really like to buy them all for my portfolio.

More reading

• How you can get very rich with ASX 200 shares
• How to make $1,000 a month in dividends
• If you invested $10,000 in the a2 Milk Company ASX listing, this is how much you’d have now
• Brokers name 3 ASX 200 shares to buy right now
• Why Afterpay, Austal, Kogan, & Northern Star shares are charging higher

Tristan Harrison owns shares of Altium, DUXTON FPO, Magellan Flagship Fund Ltd, MAGLOBTRST UNITS, and WAM MICRO FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of BUBS AUST FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Kogan.com ltd and PUSHPAY FPO NZX. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of A2 Milk and Altium. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BUBS AUST FPO and DUXTON FPO. 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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The Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) share price could surge next week.

According to reporting by the Australian Financial Review, apparently there is a new National Health Reform Agreement which could stop public hospitals charging privately insured patients for insurance benefits.

The agreement means the public hospitals won’t be able to get any extra financial benefits for treating private patients. Apparently around 14% of public hospital beds are being used by private patients. This causes non-private patients to have to wait longer.

Michael Roff from the Australian Private Hospitals Association said: “We know the practice has driven up premiums and disadvantages public patients who are pushed further down public hospital waiting lists.” Not so good for the Ramsay share price or earnings if private patients are in public hospitals.

Why this could cause the Ramsay Health Care share price to surge

I think the Ramsay Health Care share price could be a good performer next week, assuming the overall share market doesn’t fall.

There are at least two key reasons why people are happy to go to a Ramsay hospital. They think the cost isn’t too much. And they think they’ll get quicker (and arguably a better) service at Ramsay than using a public hospital. This change could help both of those factors. Why go to a private hospital if you get cheaper, preferential treatment at a public hospital?

This practice by public hospitals has reportedly pushed up the price of private health insurance premiums, which would also essentially indirectly push up the cost for policyholders. Lower private health costs could mean more patients for Ramsay. Potentially good news for the Ramsay share price. Volume is important for private hospitals, just like hotels. 

People may also decide that they don’t want to wait longer for public hospital service. They may be inclined to go to a private hospital like Ramsay. As the largest private hospital business it would likely be the biggest beneficiary from this agreement.

Foolish takeaway

With the ongoing coronavirus global pandemic, we’re not likely to see a huge increase in patients for Ramsay. But it tilts the scales for Ramsay. The Ramsay share price certainly isn’t cheap right now. But it usually isn’t. The coronavirus spread will stop in Europe eventually. Ramsay’s earnings could come bouncing back. The Ramsay share price may rise before then, perhaps as early as next week.

More reading

• These ASX healthcare shares could bring your portfolio to life
• New to investing? Put $500 into these top ASX 200 shares
• $3,000 invested in these 3 ASX industries could make you a fortune in the future
• 3 high quality ASX healthcare shares to buy and hold forever
• If you invested $10,000 in the Ramsay Health Care IPO, this is how much you’d have now

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended 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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Can gold really protect a portfolio of ASX shares?

There used to be many different asset classes you could use to protect an ASX share portfolio. Cash was always a favourite – as evidenced by the old phrase ‘cash is king’. But fixed-interest instruments like government bonds were another alternative. These assets even had the potential to increase in value during a share market crash or a recession if the government decided to cut interest rates.

Unfortunately, today we live in a whole new world.

Since interest rates are now effectively zero (or 0.25% to be completely accurate), cash is no longer the ‘safe place’ to store wealth for more than a few months. Even if you manage to snag an interest rate on a term deposit or savings account of 1.5% (rare these days), your money is still losing value to inflation.

Government bonds are even worse today. Right now, the yield you can expect from a 10-year Treasury bond is sitting at 0.87% per annum. And these government bonds will only meaningfully rise further in value if interest rates go negative, which probably won’t happen anytime soon.

So where does that leave us if we want to protect our portfolios from any future market crashes? The only real answer that comes to mind is gold.

Gold has always been viewed as a ‘safe haven’ asset and as a powerful vessel for wealth preservation. But is the yellow metal still relevant as a ‘guardian angel’ of an ASX portfolio? Let’s look at some numbers.

A golden protector?

Let’s take a look at how the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) performed during the most recent market crash.

So from the peak (20 February) to the trough (23 March), the ASX 200 fell approximately 36.5%.

Over the same period the price of gold went from around US$1,611 an ounce to US$1,500 – hardly a protective cloak for a share portfolio.

But let’s also look at gold priced in Australia dollars. So on 20 February, an ounce of gold would have cost an Australian investor around $2,422. On 23 March, this same ounce would have set the investor back roughly $2,600 – giving a nice 7.35% return over the month.

Not quite enough to offset the losses from the share market, but better than a poke in the eye, that’s for sure.

Should we use gold as portfolio protection?

As we have seen, gold can provide some protection in an ASX portfolio, but it is by no means a perfect mechanism. I think investing in gold isn’t really worth doing if portfolio protection is your only goal. If you’re truly a long-term investor, having some short-term cash on the sides is probably a better protection mechanism.

There are other reasons why gold can be useful. Protecting against currency debasement and inflation is one, having a physical and incorruptible store of wealth is another.

But if you really want to build wealth instead of storing it, ASX shares are a far better bet in my view!

More reading

• How you can get very rich with ASX 200 shares
• How I would build a $100,000 ASX portfolio with ETFs
• The TPG share price is up 26.68% in 2020. Too late to invest?
• 3 ASX dividend shares with yields over 10%
• How does the economy affect the ASX 200 share market?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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