Author: therawinformant

Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) recently consolidated part of its Target store network and made changes to its online strategy.

Is Wesfarmers in the buy zone in light of these recent changes?

Overhaul of Target store network

Last week, Wesfarmers announced it will implement a strategy to reduce its underperforming Target store network, including converting some larger Target stores into Kmart stores. Some of the Country Target stores will also be converted to either smaller Kmart stores or closed completely.

Wesfarmers’ aim is to end up with a stronger and more sustainable chain of retail businesses. The group’s network of Target stores has underperformed for quite some time despite implementing strategies to improve performance. The sharp downturn in foot traffic during the coronavirus crisis appears to have triggered Wesfarmers to take this latest action.

Enhancement of online retail strategy

Wesfarmers’ online offerings have seen strong growth over the past year or two, in particular, increased demand during the coronavirus crisis. This includes its online Target and Kmart offerings, as well as its pure online offering, Catch.

In a market update at the end of April, Wesfarmers revealed its retail businesses are expanding and upgrading their online offerings to support an increase in demand for product driven by the pandemic. Initiatives recently deployed include a ‘drive and collect’ service at its Bunnings and Officeworks stores nationwide.

Wesfarmers provided a further update on its evolving online strategy through a release last week, revealing that its Target network overhaul will be complemented by increased investment in its online capabilities.

Foolish takeaway

I am attracted to Wesfarmers as a potential company to buy during the coronavirus crisis due to its high level of diversification. Wesfarmers has operations in general retail segments of home improvement, merchandise and office supplies and other segments including industrial.

Wesfarmers has a track record of performing relatively well during challenging economic times such as the one we are in and the group’s strong balance sheet positions it well to ride out the current crisis.

I believe this latest move to consolidate its Kmart and Target portfolio and enhance its online offering should further strengthen an already solid business.

On current prices, Wesfarmers also pays an attractive trailing fully franked dividend yield of 3.87%.

More reading

• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Where will the Coles share price be in 1 year?
• 3 top ASX dividend shares I would buy for income right now
• 3 top ASX dividend shares to buy in June
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX 200 shares to sell today

Motley Fool contributor Phil Harpur has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of 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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The big four ASX banks are surging higher this morning with the National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) share price leading the charge after it boosted its capital raise limits due to strong demand.

The NAB share price jumped 5.3% to a more than two month high of $17.52 at the time of writing.

The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price and Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) share price aren’t far behind with a gain of around 5% each.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) is the laggard with a 2.4% rise to $62.79, although that is still well ahead of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO), which slipped 0.4% into the red.

More demand than supply

Optimism towards NAB was likely triggered by its share purchase plan (SPP) update. The bank more than doubled its intended takings from the SPP after receiving better than expected demand from retail shareholders.

NAB said it will now accept $1.25 billion in new capital from the SPP compared to its original target of $500 million.

It could have accepted even more as the bank will be scaling back valid applications from shareholders. Its promising to allocate a minimum of 176 SPP shares, which are priced at $14.15 each, but said around 98% of shareholders will at least receive their pro-rata allocation.

Extra cash means extra options

The SPP amount is on top of the $3 billion it raised from institutional investors through a placement, and I think this is a good outcome for NAB.

The extra cash injection will go a long way to remove any worries about its capital adequacy. NAB is the only one of the big four that undertook a cap raise although its bad debt provisioning is the smallest at around $800 million.

Analysts believe that is too little when CBA and Westpac have set aside around $1.5 billion each to buffer against loan defaults in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Money buys time

NAB will likely have to increase its provisioning and the extra cash will come in useful. The extra ammunition will also give its new boss Ross McEwan extra flexibility for the scandal-prone banks to play catch up.

Further, the scale-back of the SPP will likely leave pent-up demand for its stock on the secondary market (i.e. shares trading on the ASX). This means investors are unlikely to be able to buy shares in the bank as cheaply as the $14.15 offer price – at least not for the foreseeable future.

Foolish takeaway on ASX banks

The banks aren’t out of the woods yet and are still trading well below where they were earlier in the year. But the worst may be over unless we get a big second wave of coronavirus infection or some other black swan event.

This bodes well for the broader market and the economy as both can’t outperform if the banking sector is sick.

As my wise former colleague at the Australian Financial Review, Andrew Cornell, once told me during a discussion about super profits – the only thing worse than a profitable bank is an unprofitable one!

More reading

• Why ALS, Metcash, NAB, & Pointsbet shares are racing higher
• Where I would put $10,000 into ASX 200 shares today
• How much money should you have in your emergency fund going forwards?
• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau owns shares of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Limited, and Westpac Banking. Connect with me on Twitter @brenlau.

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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Over the past decade we have seen a large number of ASX growth stocks reach 10-bagger status. As the name suggests, a 10-bagger share returns 10 times its initial investment. Some of these have performed even more spectacularly, returning over 100 times their initial investment. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but what about the next 10 years?

2 ASX growth stocks with 10-bagger potential

LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH)

Many of the ASX 10-bagger shares of the past decade came from companies that either worked in, worked with or adapted electronic or internet technology. Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), for example, makes software to design printed circuit boards. Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX: JIN) took lottery sales online and then licensed the product to other lottery sales organisations.

When it comes to next 10 years, I think LiveHire is going to be a top ASX growth stock. In my view its share price is a strong contender to grow by at least 10 times. At the time of writing, LiveHire’s shares are sitting at $0.24 each and the company has a market cap of just $71 million. I have no problem seeing this company grow to a market cap of $710 million.

In a crowded job market, the company has found a way to differentiate itself. It holds career CV’s just like Microsoft’s LinkedIn and hosts job ads like SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK). But it also acts as a recruitment platform for many top tier organisations. Its share price jumped up yesterday on news that it had secured a contract with the Victorian government. Furthermore, the company had already secured a similar agreement with the Queensland government.

Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX: BGL)

I think one of this year’s great, ASX growth stock no-brainers is Bellevue Gold. I believe this company’s shares definitely have the potential to achieve 10-bagger status over the coming decade. A standout ASX 10-bagger share over the past 10 years was Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). Northern Star paid back over 470 times the initial investment. This turned an initial investment of $10,000 back in January 2010 into over $4.7 million today. 

Bellevue is a gold exploration company with one of the highest grade gold projects on the planet. The mine is a proven, gold-rich resource that has been mined for over 100 years. Using modern exploration techniques and technology, Bellevue has uncovered an additional 2.2 million oz gold resource. It is also at far shallower depths than other West Australian underground mines. 

Furthermore, Bellevue has managed to secure several operational leaders from Northern Star. These are people who have done this before and been on board during the Northern Star share price’s meteoric rise. I feel these factors, along with the company’s continued growth using existing infrastructure, will all stack up to deliver exceptional share price growth over the coming decade. 

Foolish takeaway

While there are many ASX growth stocks with the potential to become 10-bagger shares over the next decade, LiveHire and Bellevue have stood out to me as the most obvious over the past 6 months. Both have very competent and proven management teams. They each have competitive advantages and differentiate themselves well from other market players. Moreover, both have steadily increased their share price over the year to date. 

More reading

• Where I would put $10,000 into ASX 200 shares today
• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Tax planning for ASX 200 investors
• Why these 3 ASX 200 tech shares offer great value
• How to pick better shares and earn better 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 Altium. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Jumbo Interactive Limited and SEEK 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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The Cyclopharm Limited (ASX: CYC) share price has rocketed out of the gates this morning after the company announced another milestone in its quest to gain approval in the lucrative US market.

After jumping as much as 21.83% higher in early trade, Cyclopharm shares have pulled back somewhat to currently sit 9.16% higher at $1.55 per share. This takes its market capitalisation at the time of writing to around $121 million.

About Cyclopharm

Cyclopharm is a radiopharmaceutical company primarily involved in the field of nuclear medicine. It operates in the diagnostic imaging field, specialising in lung health.

The company’s core radiopharmaceutical product is Technegas, a structured ultra-fine dispersion of radioactive labelled carbon used in lung ventilation imaging.

Cyclopharm has a global presence, distributing its products in 57 countries throughout the world with more than 1,500 medicine departments utilising Technegas.

Why is the Cyclopharm share price rocketing?

This morning, Cyclopharm announced that it has been granted approval to file status for its new drug application (NDA) for Technegas. 

As a result, Technegas will now proceed to the next stage of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process – review. The review stage will involve a 10-month qualitative review where the FDA will assess “the safety and efficacy of Technegas as a nuclear medicine functional lung ventilation imaging agent”

The NDA approval announced today marks the 3rd milestone in the company’s 7-step pathway to achieving FDA approval for Technegas.

Commenting on today’s update, CEO James McBrayer said:

We are absolutely thrilled with the progress we are making in completing the steps to gain approval to market Technegas in the USA. This Approval to File follows our successful lodgment in March and a full USD $2.9m Fee Waiver designation in April. Today’s notification confirms that we are on track for Technegas to be approved early next year.

As for Cyclopharm’s total addressable market opportunity, Mr McBrayer stated:

The United States is the largest nuclear medicine market in the world. We estimate the size of the US market for Technegas in diagnosing the presence of Pulmonary Embolism (PE) is approximately US$90 million in sales per annum. Following USFDA approval to sell into that market, we will be targeting a 50% share of this market in the first 2 to 3 years, rising to 80% over 5 to 7 years.

The company also has plans to expand Technegas beyond PE into new applications, such as the diagnosis and monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and other respiratory diseases.

More reading

• Is Wesfarmers in the buy zone?
• Why the NAB share price is surging higher today
• 2 ASX growth stocks that could become 10-baggers in the next decade
• Why Afterpay, CSL, Fortescue, & Newcrest shares are dropping lower
• Why ALS, Metcash, NAB, & Pointsbet shares are racing higher

Motley Fool contributor Cathryn Goh 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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In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) looks set to end its positive run. Although it is off its lows, the benchmark index is still down 0.35% to 5,761.4 points.

Four shares that have fallen more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are dropping lower:

The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is down 5% to $46.61. Investors appear to be taking profit off the table after some stellar gains over the last few weeks. On Tuesday the Afterpay share price broke through the $50.00 mark for the first time. This strong gain has been driven largely by its impressive sales and customer growth and the arrival of Tencent Holdings as a substantial shareholder. Tencent is the ~US$500 billion company behind the massive WeChat app.

The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price has dropped 4.5% to $293.21. This is despite there being no news out of the biotherapeutics company. I suspect that investors are taking profit after its shares stormed higher in 2020. Prior to today, they were up approximately 12% year to date.

The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price has fallen over 3.5% to $13.26. Investors have been selling Fortescue’s shares today after a pullback in the iron ore price overnight. According to CommSec, iron ore fell by US$2.25 or 2.3% to US$94.60 a tonne after data showed that global steel production fell 13% in April.

The Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) share price is sinking 4.5% lower to $30.42. Investors have been selling Newcrest and the rest of the gold miners after a pullback in the price of the precious metal. Overnight the spot gold price fell by almost 2% after demand for safe haven assets reduced. At the time of writing the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index is down a sizeable 5.4%.

More reading

• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• 3 quality ASX 200 blue chip shares to buy right now
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• 3 timeless investing lessons from 2020 (so far!)

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 CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T 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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In morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to give back some of yesterday’s gains. At the time of writing the benchmark index is down 0.45% to 5,754.3 points.

Four shares that have not let that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are racing higher:

The ALS Ltd (ASX: ALQ) share price is up almost 2.5% to $7.21 after the release of its full year results. This morning the testing services company reported a 10% increase in revenue to $1,831.9 million and a 4.3% lift in underlying net profit to $188.8 million (both from continuing operations). The latter was in line with its guidance range. ALS was confident enough in its outlook and balance sheet to declare a final dividend of 6.1 cents per share.

The Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) share price is up 2% to $2.69. This appears to have been driven by a broker note out of UBS this morning. According to the note, the broker has upgraded Metcash’s shares to a buy rating with a $2.85 price target. It likes Metcash because of the strength of the grocery channel and the improving outlook for the hardware channel.

The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price has jumped a further 5% to $17.47. The big four banks are on fire again on Wednesday. Investors continue to pile in on the belief that they were oversold during the pandemic. Especially given Australia’s quicker than expected reopening, which looks set to lessen the economic damage.

The Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price has stormed 8% higher to $5.48. Investors have been buying the sports betting company’s shares after the release of a trading update. That update revealed that its Australian business has achieved a net win of $18.2 million for the period 1 April to 25 May. This has been driven by a shift in gambling online following the closure of retail venues.

More reading

• Why the NAB share price is surging higher today
• Why the PointsBet share price is on a winning streak this morning
• How much money should you have in your emergency fund going forwards?
• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday

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 Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointsbet Holdings 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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If I had $10,000 to put into S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares today, it wouldn’t be an easy decision. Since the lows we saw in March, the ASX 200 has rallied considerably – rising over 27% on yesterday’s close. That means that ASX 200 shares that I might have considered cheap back then are less so today.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean there are no good opportunities out there. So here are 2 ASX 200 shares that I would invest $10,000 in today.

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

Altium is one of those companies that have rebounded exceptionally well over the last 2 months – rising over 50% from a March low of $23.11 to yesterday’s closing price of $37.15.

Even though it would have been far better to nab Altium shares at March prices, I think this company still has a considerable upside on current prices if one has a long-term mindset.

The printed circuit board software that Altium sells is wildly popular in the electrical engineering space and has plenty of fertile ground to till. Almost every single moderately complex electronic device you can think of has some form of a printed circuit board within it, and these need to be individually designed to fit each application. 

With technology constantly evolving and new applications for electronics ever-growing, I envision this industry being far larger in a decade’s time. I also think Altium will continue to be a market leader, making this a great investment for $10,000 today, in my view.

MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF)

MFF is a listed investment company (LIC) that employs a Warren Buffett-esque long-term, buy-and-hold investing philosophy. It primarily invests in top-quality US companies, including Mastercard, Visa, and Home Depot, as well as Wells Fargo, Microsoft, and JP Morgan Chase, which it has owned for many years. Its portfolio manager is Chris Mackay, one of the co-founders of Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) and one of the most respected fund managers in the country

The fact that MFF is currently holding a considerable cash position (38% as of 30 April) also gives me a lot of confidence that the company will be ready to put cash to work if the markets take a turn for the worse.

The MFF share price has recently come off the boil and is going for $2.80 as of yesterday’s close – a long way away from the highs of $3.88 we saw in February. As such, I think this is a good buying opportunity with $10,000 today, particularly for those investors who might be looking for an easy way to increase US exposure.

More reading

• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• Where will the Coles share price be in 1 year?
• Tax planning for ASX 200 investors
• Is the BHP share price a buy?

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Magellan Flagship Fund Ltd, JP Morgan Chase, Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Mastercard and Visa. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Altium. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Mastercard. 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 Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price has taken off in early trade, up 9.09% at the time of writing while many other ASX growth shares are in the red.

Why is the PointsBet share price spiking?

This morning, the company announced it had signed an agreement in Australia to become the exclusive wagering partner for Fox Sports AFL (Fox Footy) during the 2020 season. According to PointsBet, this highlights management’s continued deliberate approach to targeting media assets to deliver efficient client acquisition and increased betting volumes.

Additionally, the company also provided a net win trading update for the fourth quarter of FY20. As previously announced in its third-quarter update, PointsBet’s Australian trading business achieved a record net win month in February 2020, and again in March 2020.

PointsBet considers net win as the dollar amount received from clients who placed losing bets less the dollar amount paid to clients who placed winning bets, less client promotional costs such as money-back offers and bonus bets. So in other words, gross profit.

PointsBet revealed this positive trend is continuing in Q4, with the Australian trading business achieving net win of $18.2 million for the period from 1 April to 25 May 2020 (unaudited). And despite the closure of the major sporting leagues, the United States business recorded net win of $0.3 million for the same period.

Group year-to-date net win from 1 July 2019 to 25 May 2020 came in at $67.2 million (unaudited). For context, PointsBet achieved full-year net win of $28.9 million in FY19, up 181% on the prior corresponding period of FY18.

The company attributed the continued strong performance of the Australian trading business to 3 primary factors:

• The shift of gambling spend online due to retail venue closures;
• PointsBet’s year-over-year racing turnover growth outperforming other wagering service platforms – according to Racing Victoria’s 4-week average ending 10 May 2020; and
• The improvement in PointsBet’s overall product offering, leading to a greater share of wallet from existing clients.

What now?

As has already been announced, 2 of the major Australian sporting codes will soon be resuming their respective 2020 seasons – NRL on Thursday, 28 May and AFL on Thursday, 11 June. The resumption of both the NRL and AFL seasons expands PointsBet’s product offerings and is certainly welcome news for the revenue and growth of its Australian business.

As for the US, timing still remains unclear as to the start of the major sporting leagues. However, both the NBA (basketball) and MLB (baseball) are looking to resume their seasons in July. Meanwhile, the PGA (golf) has already announced the commencement of the PGA Tour on 11 June 2020.

According to PointsBet, its US business has continued to keep clients engaged during the shutdown period with the offering of additional wagering contingencies that are not impacted by COVID-19, along with its free to play offering.

In the meantime, the company reported a cash position of $149.4 million and no debt as of 31 March 2020, putting it in a strong position to continue to weather the COVID-19 storm.

More reading

• 5 dark horse ASX shares that have tripled in the last 2 months
• Is the Pointsbet share price poised for future growth?
• ASX gambling shares on watch as sporting codes make plans to resume
• 3 ASX shares I should have bought last month
• Are ASX shares about to surge higher in 2020?

Cathryn Goh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointsbet Holdings 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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How much money should you have in your emergency fund going forwards?

The typical advice for an emergency fund is to have three to six months of living expenses in a high interest savings account. If you’ve followed that advice then your emergency fund may be coming to your assistance right now if you’ve lost your main source of income due to coronavirus impacts.

An emergency fund equating to six months of expenses would still have plenty of room left.

But is that going to be enough in the future? It’s very hard to say how safe your finances need to be. Someone still employed in a government role has a different level of income security compared to someone in a cyclical industry or say a hospitality job.

Maybe the new normal will be six to nine months of expenses?

A life-changing event like this can completely change people’s outlook on money and risk.

Where should your emergency fund be placed?

My emergency fund is in a high interest savings account in a separate financial institution. For example your transaction account may be with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and then your savings account could be with one of the subsidiaries of Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) or National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB). Most other sizeable banks are good options too. 

I think it’s good to keep your money in separate institutions in-case there’s a technical (or worse) problem with one of the institutions.

By the way, your share portfolio isn’t an emergency fund. You may need to sell shares in a market crash just when you need the cash.

At the moment my household has six months of ‘ramen noodle’ life expenses. In other words, half a year of ultra-low-cost living. In light of the current crisis, I think we’ll aim to increase that to nine months once we’ve bought a house.

The stronger you make your financial foundations with a good emergency fund, the more you can put to investing in difficult times when it comes.

More reading

• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• 3 top ASX dividend shares I would buy for income right now
• ASX 200 rallies hard, no longer in bear territory
• Latest spending data could drive the ASX retail sector higher
• Why ANZ, CBA, NAB, and Westpac shares are storming higher today

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison 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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