Author: therawinformant

Overall, ASX shares rose in the first week of August with the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) up 1.3% last week. The first week of reporting season saw investors push the market higher despite the rising economic toll of Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak. The gold price reached US$2075 on Friday, fueling mining shares. 

Myer Holding Ltd (ASX: MYR) gave investors some reassurance last week announcing it expects to report a small cash positive position at the end of FY20. But Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) saw profits sink 60% as bushfires and coronavirus took their toll. On that note, let’s take a look at five of last week’s worst performing ASX shares. 

Last week’s worst performing ASX shares

Australian Ethical Investment Limited (ASX: AEF) 

The Australian Ethical Investment share price fell 16.50% last week to close the week at $5.06. The share price plunged on Friday morning when IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL) announced that it had sold 14.2 million of its 19.7 million shares in the company. The sale reduced IOOF’s stake in Australian Ethical Investment to 5.5 million shares, or 4.9%. IOOF CEO Renato Mota said, “Our investment in Australian Ethical Investment realised significant returns for our shareholders. This sale aligns to our transformation strategy which includes simplification of our business.” 

Australian Ethical Investment is one of Australia’s leading ethical investment managers. At 30 June 2020, this ASX share had $4.05 billion in funds under management, a 12.9% increase for the quarter. Despite challenging market conditions, Australian Ethical Investment achieved record net inflows of $0.66 billion in the financial year to 30 June 2020, which drove an 18.6% increase in funds under management over the full year. 

ResMed (ASX: RMD)

The ResMed share price dropped 11.39% last week to close the week at $25.06. The company released its fourth quarter results last week which disappointed investors. ResMed is a medical device manufacturer creating products to treat sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other chronic diseases. Demand for the company’s ventilators has been high during the coronavirus pandemic leading to a 9% increase in revenue in the fourth quarter. Over the full year, revenue increased 13% to US$3 billion, but this was not enough to satisfy the market which had pushed ResMed’s share price up 43% from its March low. 

Net operating profit increased 40% over the full year giving non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $4.76, up from $3.64 in FY19. CEO Mick Farrell says the company is confident in its ability to navigate through the current challenging clinical and economic environment. It is supporting the coronavirus fight through increased production of its ventilators and mask systems while also providing digital health solutions and tools to enable remote care for patients. The company has a strong foundation which it believes will accelerate growth over the longer term. 

Phoslock Environmental Technologies Ltd (ASX: PET) 

The Phoslock share price fell 9.3% last week to finish the week at 20 cents. The company had provided a business update the week before which revealed first half revenues were down substantially on the prior period. Flooding and COVID-19 have impacted progress on key projects in China. But Phoslock says it is well prepared to restart projects in the region when circumstances improve. Increased inventory will allow for the rapid start up of delayed projects. 

Several projects in Europe have also been impacted by COVID-19 related delays. Authorities with which Phoslock has contracted remediation works have cited more pressing expenditure priorities during the pandemic. While these projects have been delayed, Phoslock believes they will continue in due course. The company says its pipeline remains strong with a current contract value of $380 million. In China, the pipeline includes nearly $200 million in product sales and $50 million in engineering projects. Outside of China, the pipeline includes projects to the value of $130 million in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and Europe. 

Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Ltd (ASX: GMA) 

The Genworth share price fell 9.14% last week to close the week at $1.54. The mortgage insurer delivered its first half results the week before which revealed a statutory loss of $90 million. The result was affected by the anticipated economic impacts of COVID-19 which led to a $181.8 million write down and an additional $35.5 million loss reserving. No dividend was paid for the period, with the company believing it prudent to preserve capital to sustain its capital position. Genworth paid a dividend of 9 cents per share in 1H19. 

Genworth did deliver higher volume in its core lender mortgage insurance business, with new insurance written up 8.1% to $13.5 billion. This reflected pre-COVID-19 housing market growth and the benefit of a low interest rate environment. But post-COVID-19, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded its outlook on this ASX share to negative, with Fitch Ratings maintaining a negative outlook. At 30 June 2020, Genworth had received over 48,000 payment deferrals from its lender customers, representing 4% of insured loans in force. Genworth’s ultimate COVID-19 related claims will depend on the pace of economic recovery. 

NRW Holdings Limited (ASX: NRW) 

The NRW Holdings share price dropped 7.9% last week to close the week at $1.69. Shares in the diversified services company had risen sharply the week before on news it had been named the preferred proponent for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road Project. The Southwest Connex Alliance, of which NRW is a 40% partner, was named the preferred proponent for the $852 million project. The alliance now enters a period of negotiations. If these are successful, a contract is expected to be awarded next month. 

NRW Holdings’ recent acquisition of BGC Contracting has significantly enhanced the company’s ability to participate as a large construction partner in public works projects. In its most recent update on its financial performance, for the 10 months to April, NRW Holdings reported record revenue of $1.6 billion. Earnings generation remained strong and there was a significant improvement in net debt which reached $115 million.

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: Surging commodity prices snap ASX 200’s losing streak
• Why ResMed shares could be a fantastic buy and hold option
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell next week
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• ASX 200 falls 0.6%, REA Group reports

Kate O’Brien has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Australian Ethical Investment Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Australian Ethical Investment Ltd. and ResMed Inc. 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.

The post These were the worst performing ASX shares last week appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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Instead of leaving a spare $5,000 sitting in a bank account, I would suggest investors consider putting their money to work in the share market.

After all, on a long enough time horizon, a $5,000 investment can grow into something significant.

According to Fidelity, the Australian share market has generated an average annual return of 9.2% in the 30-year period between 1990 and 2020. That means that a single $5,000 investment in 1990 would have grown to be worth approximately $70,000 today.

With that in mind, here’s where I would invest $5,000 this week:

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

The first option to consider investing $5,000 into is Altium. I believe it would be a great place to put these funds due to its outstanding long term growth potential. This is because of its industry leading electronic design software platform and its exposure to the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) market and artificial intelligence markets. Management is very confident in the company’s future. It is aiming to grow its revenue to US$500 million by FY 2025. This will be more than double Altium’s expected FY 2020 revenue of US$189 million.

CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)

I think that this global biotherapeutics company would be a great option for a $5,000 investment. Over the last 10 years the CSL share price has provided investors with an average total return of 24% per annum. The good news is that thanks to the strength of its CSL Behring and Seqirus businesses and their lucrative R&D pipelines, I believe that CSL shares could continue their market-beating form over the next decade. And with its shares pulling back notably from their 52-week high, now could be an opportune time to invest.

ELMO Software Ltd (ASX: ELO)

A final ASX share to consider investing $5,000 into is ELMO Software. It is a cloud-based human resources and payroll software company that provides a unified platform to streamline processes including employee administration, recruitment, on-boarding, and payroll. ELMO was a strong performer in FY 2020 despite the pandemic. It grew its annualised recurring revenue (ARR) by 19.7% to $55.1 million. Pleasingly, management expects similarly strong organic ARR growth in FY 2021. But this could be given a significant boost from its plan to deploy a good portion of its $140 million cash balance on value accretive acquisitions. Looking further ahead, I believe ELMO is well placed for long term growth thanks to its massive market opportunity and the continued shift to automated platforms.

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: Surging commodity prices snap ASX 200’s losing streak
• 3 top ASX growth shares you should never sell
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• 3 core holdings for a $100,000 ASX portfolio
• These ASX tech shares could be strong buys right now

James Mickleboro 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 Altium and Elmo Software. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Elmo Software. 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.

The post Where to invest $5,000 into ASX shares immediately appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has snapped its 2-week losing streak and recorded a solid 1.3% rise last week, once again pushing back over the 6,000-point threshold. Whilst ASX investors would have been cheering at the 1.3% gain, the ASX 200 is still very much stuck in the rut it has been trading in for the past 2 months. Although it has seen its fair share of ups and downs, the ASX 200 has actually been essentially flat since early June. That was when the index touched the 6,000 point level for the first time since the coronavirus-induced market crash struck back in March. But with the ASX 200 closing at 6,004.8 points on Friday afternoon, it’s obvious we haven’t really seen any sustained, breakout moves since. In other words, the ASX 200 is stuck in the mud, it seems.

But getting back to last week’s market moves, it was once again commodities that were the major forces behind the week’s gains. Both iron and gold were on fire last week, both pushing ever higher.

Gold and iron miners lead gains

Iron ore is still commanding over US$117 per tonne, albeit after a late-week fall on Friday. This saw iron miners like BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) surge in value over the week as investors fought to get their hands on mining shares. BHP was up nearly 7% to $39.30, while Rio was up 0.44% to $102.45, despite going ex-dividend on Thursday. Fortescue was also up more than 4% for the week after hitting a new all-time high of $18.64 on Tuesday.

Gold, however, continued to surge last week and printed several new all-time highs after first breaking its 2011 record of US$1,921 per ounce in the prior week. Last Friday, we saw a new high watermark of US$2,075.47 per ounce, meaning gold is up an incredible 36.6% for the year so far. As you would expect, gold ETFs and miners alike saw substantial gains during the week, although far more muted than the big iron miners. The ASX’s largest gold miner, Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM), was up 2.56% for the week, but smaller miners like Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) saw slightly larger jumps.

In other news, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left interest rates on hold (at the record low of 0.25%) in their monthly meeting on Tuesday. That was what most investors were expecting, judging by the lack of any significant ASX or Aussie dollar market moves following the decision.

How did the markets end the week?

The ASX 200 banked a 1.3% gain for the week after starting out at 5,927.8 points and finishing up at 6,004.8 points on Friday. Monday saw a relatively flat start to the week, but investors stepped on the gas on Tuesday with a 1.9% gain. Wednesday saw a muted 0.6% sell off, while Thursday saw this more-or-less reversed with a 0.7% gain. Friday saw another soft 0.6% loss, but it wasn’t enough to erase the gains achieved earlier in the week and the ASX 200 still finished well in the green.

Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries (INDEXASX: XAO) also had a strong week, starting at 6,058.3 points on Monday and finishing up at 6,114.9 points on Friday for a 1.4% gain for the week overall.

Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?

It’s time to take a look at our Foolish version of the gossip pages and investigate last week’s winners and losers. So while we put the kettle on, let’s start with the losers:

Worst ASX 200 losers	% loss for the week
ResMed Inc (ASX: RMD)	(11.39%)
Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL)	(8.82%)
NRW Holdings Limited (ASX: NWH)	(8.15%)
Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP)	(6.11%)

Taking out last week’s wooden spoon was sleeping aid company ResMed with a steep 11.4% decline. Investors evidently weren’t too impressed with the company’s quarterly and full-year update, which also came with a less-than-optimistic outlook for FY21, despite a 32% lift in net income for the year.

Contractor company NRW Holdings was also in the firing line last week after significant gains in the previous week. Investors were probably just taking some profits off the table with this one.

It’s a similar story with Credit Corp after the debt collector released a positive set of full-year results on 28 July.

Meanwhile, advertising-based Southern Cross Media shares continue to be unloved. The company’s shares are down more than 73% year to date after last week’s sell off.

With the bad news out of the way, let’s now check out last week’s winners:

Best ASX 200 gainers	% gain for the week
Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB)	16.4%
Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX: IPL)	15.14%
Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX: LYC)	12.11%
News Corporation (ASX: NWS)	11.78%

Medical company Mesoblast came out on top last week, despite no major news from the company. Perhaps investors are still just trying to jump on this bandwagon, given that Mesoblast shares have more than doubled in value over the year so far.

Chemicals manufacturer, Incitec Pivot, was also in demand last week. It seems investors are seeing this company as undervalued, given the shares are still down more than 33% in 2020.

Wesfarmers Ltd‘s (ASX: WES) old flame Lynas was also a hot stock last week. This lithium producer told the markets that one of its Malaysian deposit facilities has received government approval for construction.

Finally, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp was also bid higher last week after the company released its full-year results. Despite the company reporting a net loss of $1.55 billion, investors were clearly expecting a lot worse.

What is this week looking like for the ASX 200?

As per usual these days, all eyes will be on the coronavirus cases in Australia (as well as globally) as we start the new week. Victoria is tragically still struggling immensely with its outbreak, with continuing lockdowns a certainty for at least the next several weeks. New South Wales is also on high alert. If this situation deteriorates, we can at least expect to see some market volatility in my view. Our fingers are crossed this doesn’t eventuate.

In other news, we will finally get a look at Commonwealth Bank of Australia‘s (ASX: CBA) books on Wednesday when it releases its full-year results. The one metric that investors will be looking for is, of course, CommBank’s final dividend for 2020. Predictions are ranging from $1 per share to zero. CommBank is the last of the big four banks to report since the coronavirus crisis began, so it ill be interesting (and popcorn-worthy) viewing, to say the least.

Dividend investors will also be watching Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) this week, as it is also due to give its results and dividend announcement. Unlike with Commonwealth Bank, investors are hopeful Telstra will be able to keep its annual dividends at 16 cents per share. We’ll have to wait until Thursday to see if this hope translates into reality.

Before we go, here is a look at how the major ASX 200 blue chip shares are looking as we prepare to enter the breach once more:

And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:

•     S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) at 6,004.8 points
•     All Ordinaries (XAO) at 6,144.9 points
•     Dow Jones Industrial Average at 27,433.48 points after rising 0.17% on Friday night (our time)
•     Gold (Spot) swapping hands for US$2,035.99 per troy ounce
•     Iron ore asking US$117.85 per tonne
•     Crude oil (Brent) trading at US$44.69 per barrel
•     Crude oil (WTI) going for US$41.60 per barrel
•     Australian dollar buying 71.57 US cents
•    10-year Australian Government bonds yielding 0.82% per annum

Foolish takeaway

It remains an interesting time to be alive on the ASX, that’s for sure. Investors are clearly hedging their bets both ways by sending both the US share markets (risk-on assets) and the gold price (a risk-off asset) to all-time highs. If anyone else has a sense of sailing in uncharted waters, you’re not alone! So invest cautiously Fools, have some cash ready and be prepared for anything is my advice for this week. As always, stay safe out there, stay rational and stay Foolish!

More reading

• These were the worst performing ASX shares last week
• Where to invest $5,000 into ASX shares immediately
• 2 ASX dividend shares with generous yields to buy today
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Why ResMed shares could be a fantastic buy and hold option

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of National Australia Bank Limited, Newcrest Mining Limited, and Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited and Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET, Transurban Group, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ResMed Inc. 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.

The post ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: Surging commodity prices snap ASX 200’s losing streak appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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My ASX share of the week is MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF).

Quick overview of MFF Capital

MFF Capital is a listed investment company (LIC) which is listed on the ASX. The job of a LIC is to invest in other shares on your behalf. It aims to hold at least 20 shares in its portfolio.

It focuses on companies with attractive business characteristics. In other words, quality businesses.

The businesses it looks to buy must be trading at a discount to their intrinsic value. Meaning, the share has to be trading at good value for MFF Capital to decide to buy. 

It mostly invests in overseas shares, but it does own some ASX shares too. 

The person at the helm of MFF Capital is Chris Mackay, the co-founder of Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG). He owns more than $183 million of MFF Capital shares, so he’s very aligned with regular shareholders.  

How MFF Capital has performed

MFF Capital has been one of the best-performing LICs over the past decade. The ASX share has delivered an average total shareholder return per annum of 17.9% per annum.

For the 2010s MFF Capital was largely invested in US shares. It did very well with shares like MasterCard, Visa, Home Depot, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Alphabet, Lowe’s and HCA Healthcare. It didn’t hold much cash at all during the last decade.

The current assets of MFF Capital

One of the main advantages of LICs is that they can shift their holdings to the best opportunities.

Earlier this year MFF Capital decided to sell many of its positions and significantly increase its cash position as the COVID-19 situation was developing.

At 31 July 2020 MFF Capital’s net cash position was 41.7%. Despite the high cash position, it still has some high-conviction positions. At the end of last month, 17.9% was invested in Visa, 16.5% was invested in MasterCard, 9.6% was invested in Home Depot, 2.4% was invested in CVS Health, 3.7% was invested in Berkshire Hathaway and 2.1% was invested in Microsoft.

The ASX share’s cash position is largely in US dollars, so MFF Capital’s value in Australian dollar terms has been slowly falling since March as the Australian dollar strengthened against the US dollar.

Why I think MFF Capital is a great buy right now

I think there could be a lot more market volatility ahead, particularly as the US election gets closer. A LIC with a large cash position could be a good hedge for whatever happens next. If the market just keeps rising then its equity positions will benefit.

I think it’s a good time to buy things related to the US share market with how much stronger the Australian dollar is at $0.72 today.

There are only a certain number of investment managers that I think can outperform the market over the long-term. Chris Mackay is one of them. The fact that MFF Capital’s costs are fixed is a really useful thing – as the ASX share gets bigger its costs as a percentage of assets should fall.

I also like that MFF Capital is looking to increase the dividends to shareholders. It has a large franking credit balance that has more value in the hands of shareholders, so bigger dividends make sense. The LIC is aiming to increase the rate of six monthly dividends from the current rate of 3 cents per share to 5 cents per share within the next three years.

At the current MFF Capital share price, an annual dividend of $0.10 per share equates to a grossed-up dividend of 5.4%. That’s a solid future dividend yield for the ASX share. 

In terms of valuation, the MFF Capital pre-tax net tangible assets (NTA) was $2.74 per share, which is a discount of 3.3% compared to the MFF Capital share price. I’d be happy to buy another parcel of MFF Capital shares today.

More reading

• Got $3,000? Buy these 3 top ASX shares right now
• Got $1,500? Here are 3 ASX shares I’d buy
• How to become a millionaire with ASX shares starting with $0
• 4 ASX shares I’d buy with $4,000
• How to create a yearly income of $65,000 in dividends

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns shares of Magellan Flagship Fund Ltd. 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.

The post My ASX share of the week appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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If you’re wanting to gain some exposure to the small side of the market, then I think the three small caps listed below would be worth a closer look.

Here’s why I think they have the potential to grow strongly in the future:

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8)

The first small cap share to look at is Audinate. It is a digital audio-visual networking technologies provider which is best known for its innovative Dante product. This award-winning audio over IP networking solution is being used widely across the professional live sound, commercial installation, broadcast, and recording industries globally. Unfortunately, the pandemic has hit its sales incredibly hard this year, which has ultimately weighed heavily on the Audinate share price. I think this could be a buying opportunity and expect demand for its products to increase materially when things return to normal.

Bigtincan Holdings Ltd (ASX: BTH)

Another small cap to consider buying is Bigtincan. It is a provider of enterprise mobility software which allows sales and service organisations to increase their sales win rates and reduce costs. Its platform has been attracting a lot of attention from some of the world’s biggest companies, which has supported very strong recurring revenue growth. Over the last year or so, Bigtincan has signed agreements with sports giant Nike, global beauty retailer Sephora, and energy drink Red Bull. I believe this is a testament to the quality of its product and feel that it bodes well for its performance in the coming years.

Whispir (ASX: WSP)

A final small cap share to look at is Whispir. It is a software-as-a-service communications workflow platform provider. Whispir’s industry-leading software platform allows companies to deliver actionable two-way interactions at scale using automated multi-channel communication workflows. This means companies can make their operations more efficient and cut down the number of service desk support calls. As with Bigtincan, it counts a number of blue chips as customers. This includes companies such as AIA Insurance, Disney, and Foxtel.

More reading

• Deepening partnership with Telstra fails to excite the Dubber share price
• 3 top ASX tech shares to buy right now
• Why Sezzle and these ASX shares recorded huge gains in July
• Top ASX Stock Picks for August 2020
• 3 exciting small cap ASX shares to put on your watchlist immediately

James Mickleboro 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 BIGTINCAN FPO and Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of AUDINATEGL FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended AUDINATEGL FPO, BIGTINCAN FPO, and Whispir Ltd. 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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Unfortunately, it looks as though interest rates are going to be staying at these ultra low levels for some time to come. In light of this, I continue to believe the share market is the best place to earn a passive income.

But which ASX dividend shares should you buy this week? Here are two dividend shares I would buy right now:

Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR)

Dicker Data is Australia’s leading distributor of IT hardware, software, cloud, and Internet of Things solutions with over 5,500 reseller partners. Thanks to an increasing number of vendor agreements over recent years, it now distributes a wide suite of products from the world’s leading technology vendors. These include Cisco, Citrix, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft.

Due to a combination of these vendor agreements and the growing demand for information technology products, Dicker Data has delivered consistently solid earnings and dividend growth over the last few years. Pleasingly, this strong form has continued during the pandemic as demand for IT and cloud products increases thanks partly to the work from home initiative. In light of this, management expects to increase its fully franked dividend by 31% to 35.5 cents per share in FY 2020. Based on the latest Dicker Data share price, this represents an attractive 4.75% dividend yield.

Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (ASX: VHY)

A second option for income investors to consider buying right now is an exchange traded fund. I think the Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF is a great option due to its focus on high yield shares. The fund is invested in a total of 66 of them, which I believe provides some much-needed diversity. Something which has proved to be very important during the pandemic.

Among its holdings you will find the banks, BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), and Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) to name just a few. Based on the current Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF share price, I estimate that it offers a FY 2021 dividend yield somewhere in the region of 4% to 5%.

More reading

• Cash rate on hold until after 2022? Buy these ASX dividend shares
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 next week
• Ready for the “80% stock market crash”?
• 2 safe ASX dividend shares to buy in uncertain times
• The latest ASX 200 stocks downgraded by top brokers

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Dicker Data Limited and Telstra 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.

The post 2 ASX dividend shares with generous yields to buy today appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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