Category: Stock Market

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has risen 1.9% to 6,038 points.

Here are some of the main headlines from today:

RBA holds interest rates

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced today that it is keeping the official interest rate at 0.25%. However, it is planning to start buying government bonds again.

RBA boss Dr Lowe said that extending stimulus like jobkeeper was good for the economy and it seems like stimulus will be needed for some time.

Plenty of ASX 200 finance related businesses saw their share prices rise today.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) share price climbed 2.4%, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price went up 2.5%, the Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price rose 2.6%, the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price grew 1.5% and the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price increased 2.2%.

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) finishes its capital raising

The buy now, pay later business today announced that its capital raising finished on 30 July 2020. Afterpay had given retail shareholders the option to apply for up to $20,000 without needing to pay brokerage and other transaction costs.

The ASX 200 company said that the raising was set at a share price of $66 per share, being the same share price for institutional and professional investors.

Afterpay said that it raised approximately $136 million from retail shareholders. Around 19% of shareholders applied for an average of $13,300 worth of new shares.

The Afterpay share price rose by almost 7% today.

BWP Trust (ASX: BWP)

BWP Trust released its FY20 result today. If you don’t know what the business does, it’s a property landlord. It predominately leases its large warehouses to Bunnings.

Revenue dropped 0.3% to $1.56 million and profit before valuation gains on its investment properties was up 1% to $117 million. The property trust achieved like for like rental growth of 2.4% for the 12 months to 30 June 2020.

Net profit rose 24.4% to $210.6 million and its net tangible assets per unit increased by 4.8% to $3.06. The gearing ratio for the ASX 200 share was just 19.7%.

BWP Trust increased its final distribution by 1% to 9.27 cents per unit, adding to the 1% increase of the interim distribution.

Management expect the FY21 distribution to be similar to the FY20 distribution.

COVID-19 closure impacts on retail businesses

Various major retail businesses announced the impact of the Victorian stage four restrictions today.

JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) said its Melbourne stores are being closed but it can fulfill orders with home delivery or contactless click and collect. The ASX 200 company’s warehouses and Melbourne metro store network will be operational to fulfil online and commercial orders.

Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) said that 22 Big W stores will be closed, though regional stores can continue to operate. Home delivery will continue and contactless in-store pick-up, plus ‘drive-up’ is offered at 15 of the 22 impacted stores. All Victorian ALH hotels are closed. Woolworths is working hard to ensure its meat supply (and other products) can continue.

Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) announced that all of its retail businesses – Bunnings, Kmart, Target and Officeworks – will need to shut to retail customers.

However, all of its online operations can continue with home delivery and contactless click and collect options.

Bunnings will remain open for trade customers but will be closed for in-store retail customers.

Kmart and Target stores in metropolitan Melbourne won’t be able to service customers in-store.

Officeworks can continue to service business customers, but will be closed for in-store retail customers.

Wesfarmers said that in FY20 it derived approximately 17% of its retail sales from stores in metropolitan Melbourne.

The ASX 200 business said that its industrial businesses are expected to continue to operate. Those include Blackwoods, Workwear Group Coregas, Australian Vinyls and Modwood.

More reading

• This is the only ASX sector tipped to report earnings growth this reporting season
• Integrated Research share price hits record high – should you invest?
• Looking for good ASX dividend shares? I would buy these right now
• Woolworths provides update on the impact of COVID-19 restrictions
• 3 high quality blue chip ASX 200 shares to buy

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths 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 ASX 200 jumps 2% higher, Afterpay soars appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3k63m2K

The share price of software solutions provider Integrated Research Limited (ASX: IRI) reached an all-time high in early afternoon trade, surging over 5% to a new high of $4.40.

The Integrated Research share price got off to a hot start today after the company informed the market it would be releasing full-year earnings for FY19 on 20 August. The share price has, however, also been assisted by the collective gains of the ASX technology sector more broadly.

Today’s result means the company has more than doubled in value since bottoming out at $2.19 in March. But I think the Integrated Research share price still has some growth ahead of it, particularly over the medium to long term.

What’s driving the Integrated Research share price to an all-time high during this period of extreme volatility?

Impressive FY19 earnings

The Integrated Research share price has improved since the company, which is a leading global provider of management solutions for critical unified communications, payments, contact centres and IT infrastructure, provided a sneak-peak for expected FY19 profit guidance on 17 July.

This announcement indicated that revenue was expected to grow by around 9%-10% up to as much as $111 million. Likewise, profit after tax was touted to see an improvement of around 8%-11%.

Despite last month’s announcement being subject to the necessary financial auditing requirements, the Integrated Research share price has been bolstered by over 13% since these figures were revealed.

Why I think the Integrated Research share price is still a buy

Although we’ll know for sure just how well the company has performed in a couple of weeks, I like Integrated Research for its unique product offering, ‘Prognosis for Unified Communications (UC)’.

In last month’s profit guidance update, the company cited that its 13%-15% increase in licence sales was predominantly driven by its UC products.

Prognosis for UC is a performance management solution for voice, video and collaboration ecosystems, allowing its clients to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimise complex UC environments on-premises, in the cloud, or both.

Integrated Research offers the Prognosis suite in over 60 countries worldwide, and the company has benefitted from contracts with Avaya, Microsoft, Cisco, AT&T and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX: ANZ) among others.

I believe the growth of the company’s ‘Prognosis’ platform is a key factor currently driving the positive movements of its share price.

Foolish takeaway

With working from home protocols resulting in unprecedented demand for software as a service (SaaS) and enhanced capabilities in the cloud itself, I see companies such as Integrated Research continuing to perform well over the medium to long term.

This company remains a watchlist item for me at this point, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on its Prognosis UC platform over the coming months.

More reading

• ASX 200 jumps 2% higher, Afterpay soars
• Why I would invest $50,000 into these excellent ASX shares
• Why ASX bank stocks are the worst performing group today
• ASX 200 up 0.1%: Big four banks tumble, Flight Centre sinks, SEEK cancels final dividend
• Why ANZ, Flight Centre, SEEK, & Tabcorp shares are dropping lower

Toby Thomas has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Integrated Research Limited. 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 Integrated Research share price hits record high – should you invest? appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3fxSTd6

Although the Reserve Bank didn’t cut rates to zero today, it doesn’t make it any easier for income investors to generate a liveable income from term deposits.

Unfortunately, I suspect that it will be some time until rates are back to “normal” levels again. Which I believe makes it even more important to find good dividend shares to invest your hard-earned money into.

But what makes a good dividend share? When looking for dividend shares, I think investors should look for robust business models, positive growth outlooks, and strong balance sheets.

Two that tick a lot of boxes for me are listed below. Here’s why I think they are dividend shares to buy:

BWP Trust (ASX: BWP)

The first dividend share that I’m a big fan of is BWP Trust. It is the largest owner of Bunnings properties in Australia. This morning the company released its full year results and revealed a 1% increase in profit before gains on investment properties to $117.1 million. Incredibly, at a time when retail properties are being impaired, BWP Trust recognised a $93.6 million increase in the gains in fair value of its investment properties. Management advised that this reflects the continuing strong market support for Bunnings Warehouse properties from an investment and risk perspective. Looking ahead, BWP Trust expects to pay a distribution in the region of 18.29 cents per unit in FY 2021. This works out to be an attractive 4.6% yield.

Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)

Another dividend share that ticks a lot of boxes for me is Wesfarmers. It has been a positive performer during the pandemic thanks largely to the aforementioned Bunnings brand. The good news is that with the government supporting the home improvements market with additional stimulus, I believe it is well-placed to continue its strong form in FY 2021 and underpin solid earnings and dividend growth for Wesfarmers. Another positive which I think is worth pointing out, is Wesfarmers’ strong balance sheet. This provides it with the flexibility to undertake earnings accretive acquisitions that could give its growth a boost in the coming years. Based on the current Wesfarmers share price, I estimate that it offers investors a fully franked forward 3.3% dividend yield.

More reading

• ASX 200 jumps 2% higher, Afterpay soars
• How will Victoria’s stage 4 lockdowns impact ASX shares?
• ASX 200 jumps 2%: Big four banks rebound, Wesfarmers update, Afterpay rockets
• Why the JB Hi-Fi share price is dropping lower today
• Wesfarmers share price higher on Victorian COVID-19 update

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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.

The post Looking for good ASX dividend shares? I would buy these right now appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3k9CU8A

The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price was a strong performer on Tuesday.

The conglomerate’s shares charged over 2% higher to finish the day at $39.99.

Why did the Woolworths share price push higher?

Investors appear to have been buying Woolworths shares on Tuesday after the Victorian Government announced which businesses will be forced to close and which may stay open following the stage four lockdowns in metropolitan Melbourne.

As with rival Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Woolworths will not be disrupted as much as some retailers.

What will happen to Woolworths’ Victorian stores?

This afternoon the company revealed how the lockdown will impact its businesses. According to the release, all its 22 BIG W stores in metropolitan Melbourne will be closed for six weeks from tomorrow under stage four restrictions.

Nine BIG W stores in regional Victoria will remain open for customers under Stage Three restrictions, with the remaining 148 BIG W stores outside Victoria continuing to trade as normal.

While BIG W’s doors may be closing in Melbourne, that won’t mean shoppers can’t still purchase goods. BIG W will provide contactless in-store pick up services from all stores and drive up services in 15 of the 22 impacted stores. It will also continue to offer contactless home delivery to all Victorians.

The company’s ALH Hotels business had already closed 77 of its 80 venues in Victoria during the stage three restrictions. The remaining venues will close their doors tomorrow, with those outside Victoria continuing under applicable state regulations.

Woolworths supermarkets will remain open largely as normal during stage four. So there’s certainly no need to go out and panic buy items such as toilet roll.

Woolworths Group CEO, Brad Banducci, commented: “These are challenging times in Victoria and I can only imagine the stress and anxiety being felt by the entire community. We are focused on doing everything we can to minimise the impact on our team members, including temporary opportunities to support other businesses in the Woolworths Group where possible.”

“We remain committed to doing whatever it takes to help keep our team and customers safe in Victoria and right across Australia,” he concluded.

Woolworths intends to provide a further update with its FY 2020 results on 27 August.

More reading

• 3 high quality blue chip ASX 200 shares to buy
• The ASX stocks hit by Victoria’s stage 4 forced shutdowns
• Analysis: Is the Woolworths share price good value in August?
• Here’s how to start investing with $5k
• Is the Woolworths share price in the buy zone?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Wesfarmers Limited and Woolworths 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 Woolworths provides update on the impact of COVID-19 restrictions appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/2BWuBLT

One group of shares that are particularly popular with investors are blue chip shares.

A blue chip is a large and well-established company that has been around for many years and is often a leader in its field.

The good news is that the ASX is home to a large number of blue chips for investors to choose from. While not all of these shares are necessarily buys, I believe the ones listed below are standouts picks.

Here’s why I would buy these blue chip ASX 200 shares:

Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)

I think Coles is a great blue chip option for investors. I’m a big fan of the supermarket operator as I believe it offers an attractive combination of growth and income. This is due to its positive long term outlook thanks to its defensive qualities, focus on automation, cost cutting, and expansion opportunities. In respect to automation, this focus is expected support margin improvements over the long term. I feel this bodes well for Coles’ dividend growth over the next decade.

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)

Another blue chip share to consider buying in August is Telstra. After several disappointing years of earnings declines and dividend cuts, I believe the future is looking increasingly positive for the telco giant. This is thanks to its sizeable cost cutting, the simplification of its business, and the easing of the NBN headwind. In fact, Telstra’s operating earnings would have increased slightly during the first half if it were not for this headwind. Overall, I believe now could be the time to make a long term investment in its shares.

Woolworths Limited (ASX: WOW)

A final blue chip share to consider buying is this conglomerate. I like Woolworths due to its quality brands, defensive qualities, and strong management team. Combined, I believe they have put the company in a position to deliver solid earnings and dividend growth over the long term. Another positive is the planned spin off of its hotels business. Although this has been pushed back because of the pandemic, I expect it to unlock value for shareholders if it goes ahead in the future.

More reading

• Woolworths provides update on the impact of COVID-19 restrictions
• Earnings season: What to expect from the CSL FY 2020 result
• 4 things you need to know about the RBA’s rate decision today
• Indiana Resources share price jumps to 3-year high on acquisition news
• ASX 200 jumps 2%: Big four banks rebound, Wesfarmers update, Afterpay rockets

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET and Woolworths 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 3 high quality blue chip ASX 200 shares to buy appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3fpfDvB

The Tesoro Resources Ltd (ASX:TSO) share price is trading at record highs after surging more than 15% today. The positive move in Tesoro’s share price comes after the company reported exciting drilling results.

Highlights from Tesoro’s drilling results

Earlier today, Tesoro announced the company’s drilling results from its El Zorro Gold Project in Chile. The assay results were collected from channel and rock chip sampling at the Ternera and Drone hill sites.

The company reported that surface mineralisation was identified at the Ternera site, with the surface gold footprint being extended to 800 metres in length and up to 300 metres in width.  Tesoro also noted strike extensive vein hosted mineralisation at the Drone Hill site.

Highlights of the drilling report included 8 metres at 5.56g/t gold, including 2 metres at 19.98g/t gold at Ternera and 1.2 metres at 12.70g/t gold at Drone Hill.

Tesoro’s management noted the results would increase the scale of surface mineralisation at the El Zorro site, while also prompting further expansion.

What does Tesoro do?

Tesoro is a mining exploration and development company with projects in the Coastal Cordillera region in Chile. The region hosts multiple copper and gold mines, with much of the area remaining unexplored due to the nature of mining concession ownership in Chile.

Via its in-country network, Tesoro has secured the rights to scale gold projects in the region, with the company holding the rights to 80% of the El Zorro Gold Project. Last week, the company announced that it had expanded its land position at the El Zorro project by 360% following 156 new concessions.

Tesoro also noted that the company’s operations had not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with activities at El Zorro continuing as normal.

Foolish Takeaway

The Tesoro share price is trading near record highs after hitting an intra-day high of 20.5 cents earlier today.

More reading

• Woolworths provides update on the impact of COVID-19 restrictions
• 3 high quality blue chip ASX 200 shares to buy
• I don’t normally buy ETFs, but I would invest in these 2
• Why the Redbubble share price is trading higher today
• Earnings season: What to expect from the CSL FY 2020 result

Motley Fool contributor Nikhil Gangaram 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.

The post Here’s why gold miner Tesoro’s share price hit a record high today appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/2Dfqw64

I don’t normally buy exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but I would invest in the two I’m going to tell you about in this article.

ETFs are a great way to invest if you’re not sure about individual businesses during this difficult COVID-19 period. Over the long-term shares have a habit of rising in value as their earnings grow. So if you’re invested in many good businesses then as a group they’ll hopefully do quite well.

These are two ETFs I’d buy for my portfolio:

BetaShares Global Quality Leaders ETF (ASX: QLTY)

As the name suggests, this ETF is focused on quality. Quality can mean different things to different people. It could mean how reliable its earnings are. It could mean how fast the business is growing. Maybe quality refers to its profit margins.

The shares that make as holdings of this ETF rank highly on four attributes: return on equity (ROE), debt to capital, cashflow generation ability and earnings stability. I think if a business ranks well on all of those factors then it would count as high quality.

I think it’s fair to say that the businesses which have reliable earnings, good cashflow and manageable (or no) debt would be able to perform better than average during COVID-19. During better economic times these businesses may be able to generate better growth as well – leading to potential outperformance of the global share indices.

The ETF owns 150 shares from different regions and different sectors. Its top holdings are: Apple, Nvidia, Accenture, Adobe, Intuitive Surgical, Facebook, Intuit, L’Oreal, Cisco Systems and Unitedhealth.

It is invested in various industries but around 60% of it is invested in IT and healthcare businesses. These two sectors are capable of producing growth even if the economy isn’t firing on all cylinders.

The ETF was only launched by BetaShares in November 2018. Since then it has returned an average of 19.76% per annum. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, but it shows the types of returns that the underlying businesses can generate.  

BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)

Many of the best businesses in the world aren’t listed on the ASX. Many of them are actually listed on the NASDAQ, a stock exchange in the US.

The biggest technology businesses have changed the way we (and others around the world) live and are now heavily integrated into society. Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft and so on – they all feature as major holdings within the ETF.

Look a bit further down the ETF’s holdings list and you’ll find more exciting technology growth shares like Tesla, Nvidia, Paypal, Netflix, Adobe, Intel and Broadcom.

COVID-19 is impacting many industries but technology seems to be one of the least affected sectors. Many businesses deliver their service digitally, so they’re not really susceptible to social distancing rules.

The reason why they’re not vulnerable to COVID-19 impacts is also one of the main reasons why they’re so profitable. Software can be replicated for virtually no extra costs after the initial development. The FAANG shares have very attractive gross profit margins.

The BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF has been a very strong performer over the short-term and long-term. Over the past year the ETF’s net return, after fees, was 35.5% to 30 June 2020. Over the past five years it has returned an average of 20.75% per annum.

Again, past performance doesn’t guarantee future returns. But the FAANG shares keep performing and as long as regulation doesn’t undo them then I think they can keep growing earnings impressively during the 2020s.

Foolish takeaway

I think both of these ETFs can produce long-term returns. At the current prices I’d probably go for the BetaShares quality ETF. The NASDAQ ETF is running hot recently and I think the US election could cause volatility for US shares.

More reading

• 3 ways to play the skyrocketing tech shares
• 1 ASX share to take advantage of the strong FAANG shares
• These could be outstanding buy and hold options for ASX investors
• These ASX ETFs could generate strong long term returns
• Here are easy ways to diversify your ASX portfolio

The post I don’t normally buy ETFs, but I would invest in these 2 appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/30qywtZ