ASX retail stock Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV) is rocketing 19% to $29.22 on Wednesday morning, taking its monthly gain to 35%.

Despite the surge, the jewellery retailer remains 22% lower over the past 12 months, while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained around 2%.

So, what’s driving today’s dramatic rebound?

Lovisa delivers another strong year

Investors are responding to a solid full-year result, with Lovisa delivering growth across its key financial metrics. Total revenue increased 17.6% to $938.8 million, while comparable-store sales rose 2.0%.

The ASX retail stock also lifted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by 14.1% to $158.2 million. Net profit after tax climbed 10.7% to $95.6 million.

Lovisa generated $294.5 million in operating cash flow, up 21.0%, demonstrating the company’s ability to fund its expansion while continuing to generate substantial cash.

Shareholders also received a boost, with the full-year dividend increasing 11.7% to 86 cents per share.

Global expansion remains a key growth driver

Lovisa continued its aggressive international expansion during the year, opening 160 new stores and finishing with 1,136 stores across more than 50 markets. Europe was the standout region for store growth, with 76 new locations added, including 34 in the UK and 20 in Germany.

However, management isn’t simply opening stores for the sake of growth. Lovisa closed 43 underperforming locations and relocated another 12, highlighting its focus on improving store profitability and optimising its global network.

The ASX retail stock also continued investing in technology, its supply chain, and global retail operations. Importantly, Lovisa said these investments were fully funded by existing cash flows.

What did Lovisa management say?

Lovisa Global Chief Executive Officer John Cheston said:

Lovisa has once again been able to deliver strong global sales and profit growth, with the highlights being continued growth in the Americas and Europe and another exceptional Gross Margin performance.

What’s next for Lovisa shares?

The early signs from FY27 are encouraging. Lovisa reported total sales growth of 16.4% on a constant-currency basis during the first eight weeks, while comparable-store sales increased 3.0%.

The retailer plans to continue expanding its physical and digital presence, supported by its strong balance sheet and steady cash generation.

After a 22% decline over the past year, today’s 19% rally of the ASX retail stock suggests investors are reassessing Lovisa’s growth prospects.

Whether the recovery can continue, however, will depend on the company maintaining strong comparable-store growth while successfully scaling its rapidly expanding international footprint.

The post Why is this $3 billion ASX retail stock rocketing 19% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Marc Van Dinther 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 Lovisa. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Lovisa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) shares have crashed into the red in Wednesday morning trade.

At the time of writing, the shares are down around 8.5% to $41.73 per share.

This means the shares are now down 39% for the year to date and are now 64% lower than trading levels seen this time last year.

Today’s decline follows the company’s FY26 results announcement, which it posted to the ASX ahead of the market open this morning.

It looks like the announcement spooked investors, with many rushing for the exit this morning.

What did WiseTech report this morning?

WiseTech reported that it has raised its annual earnings and flagged growth for FY27 in line with analysts’ expectations.

The company reported a 46% increase in EBITDA to US$558.4 million for the 12 months through to the 30th of June. The result was in line with the company’s $550 million to $585 million guidance range but short of market forecasts of $569.5 million.

But WiseTech’s EBITDA beat the average analyst forecast of $599.9 million on an underlying basis. WiseTech reported a 56% jump in underlying EBITDA to $644.5 million at a 42% margin.

The company’s total revenue increased by 79% compared to the prior year, and its underlying NPAT increased by 29% due to organic growth from its e2open acquisition.

WiseTech said its cost-saving programs also delivered around US$115 million in annualised savings, including efficiencies from adopting AI in operations.

The company also raised its final dividend to 88 US cents per share, up from 77 US cents per share.

Looking ahead, WiseTech is guiding total revenue growth between 6% and 10% (US$1.48 billion to US$1.54 billion) for FY27, and underlying EBITDA growth between 12% and 21%, with a margin uplift to 49% to 51%. 

Where to now for WiseTech shares?

At the time of writing, the outlook for WiseTech shares is unchanged, although I expect some market experts could revise their outlook in the coming days following today’s results.

At the time of writing, brokers and analysts are still very bullish on where we’ll see the share price travel from here.

Market Index shows that the majority of brokers (three out of four) are very bullish on the ASX tech stock and hold a strong buy rating. The average $54.71 target price implies a potential 27% upside over the next 12 months, at the time of writing.

TradingView data shows something similar. Of 12 analysts, 10 have a buy/strong buy rating, and the other two rate the shares as a hold.

The $60.63 average target price implies a potential 46% upside over the next 12 months, at the time of writing.

The post Why are WiseTech shares crashing 8.5% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Samantha Menzies 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 WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) shares have taken a sharp hit, falling 21% over the past five trading days. That makes the recent sell-off hard to ignore.

Yet the bigger picture looks very different: Megaport shares remain up around 54% year to date and 30% over the past 12 months.

So, is this pullback an opportunity for investors to buy the dip?

Turning into an AI infrastructure play

Megaport’s investment case is increasingly tied to its role in the booming artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure market.

Unlike traditional data centre operators, Megaport offers exposure to AI-driven demand through an asset-light model. Its connectivity services can have shorter implementation lead times and require significantly less capital expenditure, making the company an interesting way to participate in global AI infrastructure growth.

The acquisition of Latitude.sh has broadened that opportunity. Latitude.sh is a compute-as-a-service platform providing high-performance CPU and GPU infrastructure. The deal gave Megaport a new way to serve customers who need not only connectivity but also the computing power underpinning AI, cloud-native applications, and data-heavy workloads.

That means Megaport is no longer simply selling flexible digital connections. It is moving towards a broader platform that combines compute, network, and storage. In an AI boom, that’s an increasingly attractive proposition.

Big contracts boosted the bull case

The share price strength was also supported by several major contract wins following the Latitude.sh acquisition.

In April, Megaport announced that Latitude.sh had secured a 36-month compute and storage contract worth approximately A$35.4 million. The company also reported strong growth in Compute’s annualised recurring revenue (ARR), excluding that contract, since the acquisition.

Momentum accelerated in May, when Megaport announced three major GPU, CPU, and network and storage contracts with two US-based technology customers running AI applications and inference workloads.

The contracts had a combined total contract value of approximately A$254 million and were expected to contribute about A$90.6 million in ARR once fully deployed.

Why did Megaport shares fall?

The enthusiasm cooled following the release of Megaport’s FY 2026 results. The company delivered full-year revenue of $312 million, up 37% from FY 2025, while EBITDA increased 24% to $77 million.

However, statutory net loss widened dramatically, from $300,000 in FY 2025 to $39 million in FY 2026.

That bottom-line deterioration clearly caught investors’ attention and appears to have prompted some profit-taking after the stock’s substantial gains.

Are Megaport shares a buy?

Analysts remain broadly bullish. According to TradingView data, 14 of 16 analysts covering the ASX technology share currently have a buy or strong buy rating. The average price target of $26.02 implies roughly 49% upside from the current $17.52 share price.

The most bullish target is $33.52, representing potential upside of about 91%.

UBS was also positive on the results, saying the net outcome was “firmly in the positive”. The broker has raised its price target from $24.20 to $26.40 and is forecasting EBITDA of $624 million in FY 2028.

The post Megaport shares just plunged 20%. Is this a buying opportunity? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Marc Van Dinther 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 Megaport. 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.