Category: Stock Market

The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price will be one to watch on Thursday.

This follows news that its takeover by Square has taken a major step forward this morning.

Why is the Afterpay share price on watch?

The Afterpay share price could be on the move today after the payments company released an update on Square’s takeover proposal.

According to the release, Square shareholders have now approved the issuance of Square Class A common stock (including the shares underlying CHESS Depositary Interests) to Afterpay shareholders as contemplated by the scheme implementation deed the two parties entered into in August.

Approval for this issuance from Square shareholders was one of the major conditions of the transaction.

As a result, Afterpay can now push ahead with things. This includes holding its first court hearing later today. After which, the company expects to release its scheme booklet tomorrow, subject to court approval and following registration with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

If all goes to plan, Afterpay expects the transaction to close during the first quarter of calendar year 2022.

What is the current value of the takeover?

In August, the two parties agreed an all-scrip deal, which will see Afterpay shareholders receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.375 shares of Square Class A common stock for each Afterpay share they hold on the record date.

Based on the current exchange rates and the latest Square share price of $252.48 (A$338.92), this equates to $127.10 per Afterpay share.

Due to the Square share price trading sideways since announcing the deal, this is broadly in line with the takeover price at the time the offer was made. It also represents a premium of 4.5% to the current Afterpay share price of $121.53.

The post Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price on watch after Square takeover update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• What happened for the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price in October?
• Why is the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price up 10% in just 2 weeks?
• Why ASX 200 tech shares are leading the charge higher today
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• What do analysts think of the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price following the rebrand?

Motley Fool contributor 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 has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO and Square. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price was out of form again in October.

During the month, the mining giant’s shares lost a further 7% of their value.

This means that the Fortescue share price is now down 42% year to date.

Why did the Fortescue share price have such a lousy month?

Investors were selling down the Fortescue share price again last month following further weakness in iron ore prices and the release of its first quarter update.

In respect to the latter, during the first quarter, Fortescue shipped 45.6 million tonnes of iron ore. This was up 3% on the prior corresponding period and a record high for the first quarter.

However, taking the shine off its strong operational performance was the price the company was commanding for its iron ore.

Fortescue revealed that its average revenue per dry metric tonne fell 30% quarter on quarter to US$118. This represents revenue realisation of 73% of the average Platts 62% CFR Index during the period, compared to 84% during the fourth quarter.

The latter essentially means the discount for the company’s low grade iron ore is widening as end users opt for higher (and less polluting) grades.

And while a widening of this discount was expected by the market, it wasn’t expecting a realisation as low as 73%.

For example, according to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts (and the consensus estimate) were forecasting a price realisation of 77%.

Goldman commented: “FMG shipped 45.6Mt of iron ore in the Sep Q (-2% vs GSe) at an average price realisation of 73% vs. the 62% Fe benchmark, below GSe/consensus (77%) on provisional pricing impacts. Production of the higher grade 60% Fe West Pilbara Fines (WPF) declined to 3.7Mt or 8% of the product mix, well short of the targeted 15-20%, despite the new Eliwana mine now fully ramped-up to 30Mtpa.”

In response, Goldman retained its sell rating and cut its target on the Fortescue share price down to $11.00.

If Goldman is on the money with its recommendation, the Fortescue share price could still have 23.5% to fall before it bottoms. This could potentially make November another tough month for the mining giant’s shares.

The post Why did the Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price have such a lousy month in October? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• What’s the latest on Fortescue Future Industries and green hydrogen?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares so far on Tuesday
• This broker thinks the Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price is dirt cheap

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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There are number of ASX shares that could be compelling ideas to consider for the long-term, starting from November 2021.

Share markets around the world have had a strong run over the last year. But some businesses may still be able to produce growth from here over time.

These two potential investments are benefiting from rising underlying demand:

Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK)

This exchange-traded fund (ETF), as the name suggests, is about global cybersecurity businesses.

There are a number of different sectors within this portfolio related to fighting against cybercrime, including systems software, communications equipment, internet services and infrastructure, research and consulting services, IT consulting and other services, application software and so on.

This ETF is invested in a total of 36 positions. There are plenty of different names in the portfolio like Palo Alto Networks, Okta, Crowdstrike, Cloudflare, Tenable, Zscaler, Cyberark, Juniper Networks, Mimecast, Splunk, Fortinet, Verisign and Rapid7.

There is not a lot of geographic concentration within this ASX share’s with more than 90% of the holdings being from the US. There are only three other countries that have a weighting of at least 2%: France (2%), Japan (2.5%) and Israel (3.7%).

Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF has produced an average return per annum of 21.6% over the last five years. The cybersecurity industry is seeing ongoing growth of demand as more systems and information goes digital.

It has an annual management fee of 0.67%.

REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)

This business is building a diversified array of digital assets relating to real estate.

It operates the leading residentials and commercial property websites in Australia – realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au. REA Group also owns the market leader of share property, flatmates.com.au.

In recent years, the ASX share has been expanding into the mortgage broking sector with the Smartline Home Loans and Mortgage Choice businesses. It also owns PropTrack, a leading provider of property data services.

The business also has various global investments as well. It has a controlling stake of REA India, which was previously called Elara Technologies, which operates websites like Housing.com. Makaan.com and PropTiger.com.

REA Group also owns leading portals in Hong Kong with Squarefoot.com.hk and China (myfun.com). It also owns a sizeable parts of Move Inc (operator of realtor.com in the US) and the PropertyGuru Group which has leading sites in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The global operations provides REA Group with plenty of growth avenues.

FY21 was another year where the business demonstrated growth, combined with operating leverage. Revenue rose 13%, whilst net profit grew 18% to $318 million and earnings per share (EPS) also increased by 21% to $2.47. This funded a 19% increase of the full year dividend to $1.31.

Whilst listing were affected by lockdowns in the first few months, REA Group continues to have monthly visits to realestate.com.au site that’s more than 3x more than its nearest rival and it’s benefiting from price increases.

REA Group will release its first quarter trading update later this week. The REA CEO Owen Wilson said a couple of months ago:

REA is entering the new financial year with strong momentum, despite ongoing lockdowns. This momentum, coupled with our strategic investments and exciting product roadmap, provides an excellent platform for our continued growth.

The post 2 compelling ASX shares that could be buys in November 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 3 high quality ETFs getting ASX investors excited
• Why has the BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX:HACK) share price leapt 7% in a month?
• 3 quality ASX 200 shares that could be buys
• 2 excellent ETFs for ASX investors right now
• Which ASX 300 shares are the major movers today?

Motley Fool contributor 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 and has recommended BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended REA Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Bank of Queensland Limited (AS:X BOQ) share price finished yesterday’s trading at $8.60, up 0.82%.

That might seem inocuous. But zooming out, and the picture doesn’t quite look as rosy. At this share price, Bank of Queensland is now at a 7-month low. We hadn’t seen this ASX bank at the current share price levels since back in March. That’s quite an abrupt fall in value. Especially, considering we have seen Bank of Queensland shares shed a nasty 4% or so since last Friday alone. So what’s going on here?

Well, we might apart some blame to the decision of this company to be among the first banks to tighten up its loan assessment criteria. Last Thursday, BoQ announced that it will implement the higher interest rate buffer prescribed by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Banks used to assess a client’s ability to repay their loan with an interest rate 2.5% greater than the loan’s actual rate. This will now be lifted to 3%. When this news came to light, it initiated a share price drop for the bank last week.

Bank of Queensland shares hit hard by ex-dividend

But another big reason why Bank of Queensland shares have fallen so much over the past week has been a good one for shareholders. That might seem paradoxical, but BoQ traded ex-dividend last Thursday as well.

As we covered at the time, shareholders will be receiving this ASX bank’s final dividend payment for FY2021 of 22 cents per share, fully franked, on 18 November. This dividend is the largest Bank of Queensland has paid out since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. As such, it also resulted in a large share price drop when the value of this dividend left the BoQ share price last Thursday. 

So it seems that Bank of Queensland’s present 7-month low can mostly be blamed both on lukewarm investor sentiment in light of its decision to tighten its lending standards. As well as its ex-dividend share price loss.

It might not be all bad news though. As my Fool colleague Tristan covered over the weekend, broker Citi has rated the Bank of Queensland share rice as a ‘buy’. That came along with a 12-month share price target of $10.50. That implies a future potential upside of 22.1% over the next 12 months, not including any dividend returns.

At the last Bank of Queensland share price, this ASX bank had a market capitalisation of $5.51 billion. It also had a dividend yield of 4.53%

The post Why is the Bank of Queensland share price trading at 7-month lows? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here’s why the Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) share price tumbled 5% in October
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• Why is the Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) share price plunging today?
• The Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) share price will trade ex-dividend on Thursday. Here’s what you need to know
• Here are 5 ASX shares trading ex-dividend this week

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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After a rollercoaster of a month, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price ended October nearly exactly where it had started.

That’s despite the bank releasing its results for financial year 2021 in the last week of October.

At the end of September, the ANZ share price was $28.15. On the final close of the month just been, it was trading for $28.14. That represents a 0.04% dip.

Though, that’s relatively on par with the performance of the broader market. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell 0.12% in that same time frame. Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XJO) gained 0.12%.

At market close on Friday, the ANZ share price is $28.47, 1.1% higher than it was at last month’s end.

Let’s take a look at what the market heard from ANZ over the course of October.

The month that was for ANZ

The ANZ share price’s performance over the month just been was underwhelming despite the bank outperforming expectations over financial year 2021.

ANZ released its results for financial year 2021 on Thursday last week.

As The Motley Fool Australia reported at the time, the bank’s performance was better than leading broker, Goldman Sachs had expected.

ANZ saw its profits after tax increase by 72% over financial year 2021, reaching approximately $6.16 billion.

The increase in profits likely contributed to the bank’s decision to hand its shareholders a 72 cent fully franked dividend.

That’s the largest dividend announced by ANZ since its 80 cent, 70% franked, final dividend of 2019.

Unfortunately, the market didn’t seem to be enthused by ANZ’s strong results. The ANZ share price finished last Thursday’s session just 0.7% higher than its previous close.

While its financial year 2021 results were the only price-sensitive news released by ANZ last month, the bank also announced its plan to break into the buy now, pay later (BNPL) market.

ANZ plans to partner with Visa Inc (NYSE: V) to launch a new credit card feature in 2022. The feature will allow ANZ credit card users to pay for purchases in instalments.

ANZ share price snapshot

Despite its sluggish performance in October, the ANZ share price is currently 23% higher than it was at the start of 2021.

It has also gained 47% since this time last year.

The post What happened to the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price in October? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why is the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price having such a stellar day?
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• Brokers name 2 ASX 200 dividend shares to buy
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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) is the most prominent technology company on the ASX involved in artificial intelligence (AI).

Its shareholders have suffered immensely in recent times, with the stock dropping more than 65% over the past 12 months. But even with that calamity, Appen shares have quadrupled in the last 5 years.

And it has gained more than 1,668% since listing in January 2015.

So if you’re interested in getting in from the ground level on a new AI player, there is one such company listing this month on the ASX.

Heart disease will only increase with an ageing population

Perth’s Artrya Limited (ASX: AYA) has just closed its initial public offer, with its shares due to commence general trading on the ASX on 26 November.

The company’s technology aims to automate the diagnosis of coronary artery heart disease, which can cause heart attacks.

Co-founder and managing director John Barrington said there is growing demand for improved detection of coronary artery disease.

“With 9 million people dying from the disease each year globally, the pressure on health systems is already substantial, and it’s only going to increase over the next few decades with ageing populations,” he said.

“This float will assist the company in its next stage in expansion.”

During the IPO, shares were offered for $1.35 each to raise $40 million and give Artrya a market valuation of $105.45 million.

According to the company, it has received $19 million of funding over the past 2 years from both investors and government research funds.

The Motley Fool has enquired with Artrya to confirm the progress of the IPO.

‘No warning signs of a heart attack’

Artrya’s flagship cloud software suite is called Salix, which non-invasively detects the presence of “vulnerable plaque” in a patient’s arteries in about 15 minutes.

Such plaque is liable to rupture and cause heart attacks.

The technology was developed in conjunction with expertise from the University of Western Australia, the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, and the Ottawa Heart Institute.

An “unrestricted launch” across Australia is scheduled for early in the new year while the IPO money will be used to take the technology overseas after that.

“Coronary artery disease affects an estimated 126 million people worldwide,” said Artrya chair Bernie Ridgeway.

“Of those, the majority have no warning signs of a heart attack. As the prevalence of CAD rises due to an ageing population, global health systems will have to deal with more CAD cases.”

He added that Salix is expected to disrupt the international market for Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA) scans and Invasive Coronary Angiogram (ICA) procedures.

“An estimated 20 million cardiac CT scans are expected to be performed in both North America and Europe alone by 2025,” said Ridgeway.

“By addressing current limitations in diagnostic reporting for CAD, Salix has a valuable first-mover advantage.”

Salix was placed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) as a Class 1 medical device in November last year.

Artrya is pursuing a subscription model for commercialisation of the software.

“This model will help Artrya penetrate the global CCTA and ICA markets because healthcare providers pay no upfront costs to use Salix,” Ridegeway said.

“Artrya believes the software-as-a-service model could deliver annuity revenue and profitable margins for the company.”

The post Move over Appen: A new artificial intelligence stock to list on the ASX appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Analysts name 2 excellent ASX growth shares to buy
• These were the best performing ASX tech shares in October
• The Appen (ASX:APX) share price has jumped 23% in the last month
• 3 fantastic ASX shares that could be buys in November
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo owns shares of Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Looking for a growth share or two to buy this month? Two that could be worth considering are listed below.

Both have been tipped to grow strongly over the 2020s. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

The first growth share to look at is Appen. It is a leading developer of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). These datasets are integral for ML and AI models. Without high quality data, a model will never reach its potential.

Prior to the pandemic, Appen had been growing at an explosive rate thanks to strong demand for its services from many of the biggest tech companies in the world. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, these tech giants put a lot of their projects on hold, leading to a sharp reduction in demand for Appen’s services. The good news is that there are signs that demand is rebounding strongly. For example, Facebook has just announced plans to increase its AI and ML spending materially.

The team at Citi remain very positive on Appen. The broker currently has a buy rating and $17.10 price target on the company’s shares.

IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)

Another ASX growth share to look at is IDP Education. It is a provider of international student placement services and English language testing services.

It also experienced a reduction in demand for its services during the pandemic. However, this demand has come back with a bang. IDP Education recently released a first quarter update which revealed that IELTS volumes were up 84% on the same period last year.

Another positive is that the company has recently bolstered its offering with a major acquisition in India. This makes it the clear leader in the hugely important and lucrative market. All in all, combined with its strong market position in other key markets and its growing software business, the future looks very bright for IDP Education after a couple of difficult years.

Morgan Stanley is very positive on the company’s prospects. It currently has an overweight rating and $40.20 price target on its shares.

The post Analysts name 2 excellent ASX growth shares to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These were the best performing ASX tech shares in October
• The Appen (ASX:APX) share price has jumped 23% in the last month
• 3 fantastic ASX shares that could be buys in November
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Is the Appen (ASX:APX) share price dirt cheap?

Motley Fool contributor 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 has recommended Appen Ltd and Idp Education Pty Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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There are a few different ASX shares that are currently rated highly by brokers.

If a business is rated as a buy, it means the business could be good value and may be able to do well over the next 12 months.

Brokers are certainly not right all the time. But if multiple analysts think that a business is a buy, then it may be worth considering if they are an opportunity. However, it’s possible that all of the brokers are wrong at once.

With that in mind, here are two to consider:

Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX: CCP)

Credit Corp is a market leader of debt collecting in Australia and it is rapidly growing in the US.

FY21 saw an 11% increase in net profit after tax to $88.1 million. The US division really drove the result, doubling profit to $17.7 million.

Credit Corp is currently rated as a buy by at least three brokers, including Ord Minnett, which has a price target of $32 on the business.

Based on the broker’s numbers, the Credit Corp share price is valued at 23x FY22’s estimated earnings. It’s also expected to pay a grossed-up dividend yield of 3.4%.

Whilst Credit Corp is scheduled to hold its AGM this week, it did provide an outlook and guidance update with its FY21 result.

Credit Corp said it entered FY22 with considerable momentum, having invested heavily during FY21 and secured a record committed starting purchased debt ledger pipeline for FY22.

The ASX share said that it is expecting to produce earnings growth of 8% at the top end of its range for net profit to be between $85 million to $95 million. Ord Minnett thinks Credit Corp could end up beating this guidance.

IOOF Holdings Ltd (ASX: IFL)

IOOF is a diversified financial business, with a significant portion of the business being related to financial advice.

It’s currently rated as a buy by at least four brokers, including Morgan Stanley which has a price target of $5.50 on the business.

The broker highlights the recent FY22 first quarter update, which showed that fund outflows were not as bad as expected.

In that quarterly update, the ASX share said that it saw continued growth in funds under management and administration (FUMA), with restated FUMA up $2.4 billion to $321.1 billion.

The funds under administration business saw an increase of $1.8 billion over the quarter to $222.8 billion. Positive market movements of $3.4 billion were offset by pension payments of $0.8 billion and net outflows of $0.9 billion.

Meanwhile, the funds under management (FUM) increased by $0.6 billion over the quarter to $98.3 billion. Market gains of $2 billion were offset by net outflows of $1.4 billion.

After IOOF’s recent acquisitions, including MLC, it said that its previously stated combined acquisition pre-tax synergy run rate target of $218 million per annum by the end of FY24 and the FY22 synergy run-rate range of $80 million to $100 million, remain on track. It’s also evaluating whether there are additional synergies that can be found.

Morgan Stanley thinks it’s valued at 11x FY22’s estimated earnings, with a grossed-up dividend yield of 9.25%.

The post Brokers highly rate these 2 ASX shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• Why Codan, IOOF, Orocobre, and PointsBet shares are tumbling
• I’m buying these 2 cheap ASX shares right now: expert

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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On Wednesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was back on form and stormed higher. The benchmark index rose 0.9% to 7,392.7 points.

Will the market be able to build on this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 expected to rise again

The Australian share market looks set to rise on Thursday. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 29 points or 0.4% higher this morning. This follows a solid night on Wall Street, which in late trade sees the Dow Jones up 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.5%, and the Nasdaq up 0.85%.

Oil prices sink

Energy shares including Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could have a difficult day after oil prices sank overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 4.4% to US$80.21 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has fallen 3.9% to US$81.43 a barrel. Traders were selling oil amid another big rise in US stockpiles.

Domino’s rated as a buy

The team at Goldman Sachs has held firm with its buy rating on the Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP) share price following its annual general meeting. The broker has, however, trimmed its price target to $147.00. This follows a weaker than expected performance during the first 18 weeks of FY 2022 in the Japanese market. Group same store sales remain up 4.3% over the period.

Gold price drops

Gold miners Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) could come under pressure today after the gold price dropped. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is down 1% to US$1,771.2 an ounce. Traders were selling gold following the US Federal Reserve’s meeting. The central bank intends to start tapering its bond purchases.

AGMs being held

A number of ASX 200 companies are holding their annual general meetings today and could provide updates on their performances. Among the companies holding their meetings are Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP), Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING), NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF), and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P).

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why did the Orocobre (ASX:ORE) share price leap 6% today?
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts this Wednesday
• Why has the BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX:HACK) share price leapt 7% in a month?
• Why did the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price have such a lousy month in October?

Motley Fool contributor 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 has recommended ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Dominos Pizza Enterprises Limited and NIB Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Dubber Corp Ltd (ASX: DUB) share price continued its unrelenting climb on Wednesday. Miraculously, the appetite for shares in the cloud-based call recording software company was large today, despite its quarterly report being handed out on Friday last week.

By the end of the session, more than 1.7 million shares had been traded in the company. The sustained positive sentiment saw the Dubber share price finish at $3.32, up 5.1%.

So, what was in the company’s latest quarterly that has resulted in such an insatiable demand?

What made it a killer quarter for Dubber?

• Revenue increased 149% year on year to $8.1 million
• Subscribers nearly doubled to more than 450,000
• Annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose 140% year on year to $43.5 million
• Operating cash receipts skyrocketed 231% year on year to $9.1 million
• Completed the acquisition of AI meeting recorder and notetaker, Notiv
• Finished the quarter with $126 million cash on its balance sheet.

What it means for the Dubber share price?

Whichever way you slice it, this was a standout quarter for the unified call recording and voice intelligence solution provider. All of the typical software-as-a-service (SaaS) metrics indicated substantial growth, demonstrating growth at scale.

During the September quarter, Dubber witnessed organic SaaS subscription growth of more than 30,000. The total subscriber base grew by a far greater number but the company maintains a policy of not including foundation partner program subscribers in this metric.

Moreover, the total subscriber base surpassed 450,000 by the end of the quarter. Impressively, this represented an increase of 98% on the prior corresponding period. Likewise, important financial figures such as annualised recurring revenue and cash receipts also expanded by triple-digit values. This incredible growth bodes well for the Dubber share price.

Additionally, the company highlighted an increase in activity in the global unified communications markets. This was particularly noticed in financial services sectors where compliance requires call recording. As a result, these enterprises continue to utilise Cisco Webex and Microsoft, where Dubber’s tools are embedded.

Comments from management

Chalking up another quarter of strong growth for the Australian tech company, management shared some key points with shareholders. In this case, Dubber CEO Steve McGovern stated:

We see an accelerating trend towards the importance of enhanced voice data capability beyond just that required for compliance purposes.

This trend is being observed by our service provider partners, allowing us to expand engagements with existing partners and attract new service providers through initiatives such as the Foundation Partner program.

On the back of this positive performance, the Dubber share price has gained 6.4%. This takes the company’s year-to-date share price return to 89.7%.

The post Dubber (ASX:DUB) share price rally continues days after a quarter to remember appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Dubber Corporation. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Dubber Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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