The Aussie Broadband Ltd (ASX: ABB) share price is slipping this morning after the company posted whopping first half earnings growth.

Right now, stock in the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) telecommunications provider is down 1.54% at $2.89 after dropping even lower near the open.

Aussie Broadband share price falls as profit rockets

Here are the key takeaways from the telco provider’s first half earnings:

• $8.6 million net profit after tax (NPAT) – a 516% jump on that of the prior comparable period (pcp)
• $379 million of revenue from ordinary activities – up 65% on that of the pcp
• $41.1 million of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) – up 86%
• $30.8 million of operating cash flow – a 35% improvement
• Gross margin lifted 2.5% to 34.9%

Aussie Broadband saw its revenue surge last half as it grew its broadband subscribers and other revenue streams. It also recognised earnings from its recently acquired Over the Wire business.

What else happened last half?

The company saw plenty of growth across its key product lines last half.

Its broadband connections soared by 50,449 to 635,242 connections. Meanwhile, its mobile services grew by 10,669 to reach 50,951 and its average voice minutes increased by 13 million to 125.7 million.

Aussie Broadband’s market share also rose to 7%, excluding satellite, in a declining nbn market.

Topping it off, the company implemented the combination of its business with Over the Wire. That brought $6 million of annualised synergies last half and is on track to bring about between $8 million and $12 million of annual synergies by 2025.

What did management say?

Aussie Broadband co-founder and managing director Phillip Britt commented on the release driving the company’s share price today, saying:

We are pleased to report that Aussie Broadband has continued to deliver outstanding financial and operational performance, with strong growth in both revenue and customer numbers as we successfully execute our Aussie 2.0 strategy to diversify earnings through a broader product offering that brings scale to the business.

EBITDA grew faster than revenue reflecting the operating leverage from our fibre network and the positive shift to higher margin segments, while proactively managing our residential nbn growth strategy.

What’s next?

Aussie Broadband upgraded its full year EBITDA guidance but cut that of its revenue following a strong start to 2023.

It now tips its full year revenue to come in at between $780 million and $800 million while its EBITDA is expected to be between $85 million and $90 million.

The company remains committed to becoming Australia’s fourth largest communications and technology services provider by 2025.

Aussie Broadband share price snapshot

The Aussie Broadband share price has taken off in 2023, gaining 10% year to date.

However, looking further back, the stock has slumped 42% over the last 12 months.

For comparison, the All Ords has gained 5% year to date and 2% over the last 12 months.

The post Aussie Broadband share price slumps despite 500% profit surge appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 positions in and has recommended Aussie Broadband. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Aussie Broadband. 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 Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price is having a nightmare start to the week.

At the time of writing, the embattled artificial intelligence (AI) data services company’s shares are down 13% to $2.40.

This follows the release of the company’s full-year results this morning.

Appen share price crashes on huge loss

• Group revenue down 13.8% to US$388.5 million
• Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) down 85.8% to US$11 million
• Underlying net loss after tax of US$22.8 million
• Non-cash impairment of US$204.3 million
• Statutory loss after tax of US$239.1 million
• No dividend
• Cash balance of US$23.4 million and no debt

What happened in FY 2022?

For the 12 months ended 31 December, Appen reported a 13.8% decline in revenue to US$388.5 million. This was driven by a 13% decline in Global Services revenue to US$299.8 million and a 13.8% reduction on New Markets revenue to US$88.4 million.

Management advised that this reflects challenging external operating and macro conditions that resulted in weaker digital advertising revenue. This led to a reduction in spending by some of Appen’s customers, primarily on core global programs.

Things were much worse for the company’s earnings, with its underlying EBITDA falling 85.8% to US$11 million. This was due to a combination of lower revenue, lower gross margins, increased costs, and foreign exchange losses. Excluding the latter, Appen’s underlying EBITDA was down 82.8% to US$13.6 million.

On the bottom line, Appen reported an underlying loss after tax of US$22.8 million. This was down by US$63.4 million from a profit after tax of US$40.6 million in FY 2021.

Appen also made a US$204.3 million non-cash impairment of goodwill and intangibles, which brought its statutory loss after tax to a whopping US$239.1 million.

Unsurprisingly, given its abject performance, the company has elected to scrap its final dividend.

Management commentary

Appen’s new CEO, Armughan Ahmad, acknowledged that the company’s performance in FY 2022 was “far from satisfactory.” He commented:

During my first two of months at Appen I’ve had the opportunity to meet our people and experience their deep sense of pride for their work. I believe that Al is the enabler, and our people are the transformers.

I’m excited about the potential for Appen and our ability to create a positive impact, however our FY22 financial performance is far from satisfactory. We have a lot of work ahead of us. My top priority is to establish greater operational rigour to accelerate innovation, drive sales and deliver profitable growth.

Outlook

Unfortunately, Appen revealed that it has experienced a “soft” start to FY 2023 despite all the current hype around AI.

One positive, though, is that management has identified $10 million of annualised cost savings. The benefits of these saving are expected to be seen from the second half of FY 2023 and in FY 2024.

It has also revealed three new product launches to build trustworthy generative AI applications, seemingly in response to the emergence of ChatGPT. These are:

• Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback tackles the risks of bias and hallucinations in large language models.
• Document Intelligence enables clients to extract key insights from their unstructured documents.
• Automated LP Labelling leverages generative Al capabilities and zero/few shots learning techniques to speed up data annotation.

In respect to Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback, Appen highlights that the rise of ChatGPT has brought attention to the potential of generative Al to revolutionise how humans and machines interact. However, it feels that one of the challenges of generative Al is producing accurate and ethically aligned results.

Appen’s Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback product enables clients to generate prompt-response pairs that are engineered by Al Training Specialists and reviewed for accuracy and bias by a diverse group of Al Training Specialists.

Time will tell if Appen is too late to the party for this one, but Mr Ahmad appears optimistic. He commented:

We are excited by this next phase for Appen. We will continue to create products and services that serve the data needs of our clients. Our generative Al products we announced today are a great example, and we are just getting started. We are also developing industry vertical Al solutions and expanding our partnerships with system integrators, software vendors, and hyperscalers to deliver high-impact solutions for our clients.

The post Appen share price crashes on US$239m FY22 loss appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• This ASX tech share’s rallied 16% in 2 months. Here’s why
• Dash for trash fades as earnings cliff looms for ASX shares, with the market shooting first and asking questions later
• Appen shares dive again. Are they cheap enough to buy?
• Why Appen, Lendlease, Nuix, and Star shares are sinking today
• Could 2023 be the year these ASX AI stocks come roaring back?

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 positions in and has recommended Appen. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price is pushing higher on Monday.

In morning trade, the energy producer’s shares are up over 2% to $35.40.

This follows the release of a record full-year results this morning.

Woodside share price higher on record result

• Operating revenue up 142% to US$16,817 million
• Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 172% to US$11,234 million
• Underlying net profit after tax up 223% to a record of US$5,230 million
• Full-year dividend up 87% to US$2.53 per share

What happened during FY 2022?

For the 12 months ended 31 December, Woodside reported a 142% increase in revenue to a record of US$16,817 million. This reflects high operational reliability, higher realised prices, additional volume from the BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) petroleum merger, and the contribution of the Pluto-KGP Interconnector.

As for earnings, Woodside reported a 172% jump in EBITDA to US$11,234 million and a 223% increase in net profit after tax to US$5,230 million. In respect to the former, Morgans was expecting underlying EBITDA of US$10,990 million for the year, so this result has come in ahead of its estimate. That may explain why the Woodside share price is rising today.

In light of this strong profit growth, the Woodside board increased its final dividend by 37% to US$1.44 per share, which brought its full-year dividend to US$2.53 per share. This was an increase of 87% year over year and represents a total distribution of US$4,804 million.

Management commentary

Woodside’s CEO, Meg O’Neill, was pleased with the company’s exceptional performance in FY 2022. She said:

Woodside is now a larger, geographically diverse energy company with the financial and operational strength to grow our portfolio of high-quality assets while continuing to deliver returns to shareholders. In what was a momentous year for Woodside we achieved the goals we set ourselves ahead of the merger, implementing initiatives to deliver the targeted $400 million in synergies ahead of our original schedule.

Woodside’s record output was underpinned by outstanding performance at our LNG assets, which achieved 98.5% reliability across the year. A total of 9.4 million barrels of oil equivalent was processed via the Pluto-KGP Interconnector, resulting in the supply of 13 additional Pluto LNG cargoes and delivering $1.2 billion of incremental revenue.

Our net profit after tax rose on the back of the increased production and sales delivered by the expanded portfolio and higher global prices for our products. In 2022 our realised price rose 63% year-on-year to $98.4 per barrel of oil equivalent.

Outlook

Commenting on 2023, O’Neill said:

In 2023 we are also aiming to progress Woodside’s pipeline of growth opportunities, including at Trion, offshore Mexico. We are evaluating bids for major work scopes, finalising execution plans and narrowing cost estimates in support of final investment decision (FID) readiness targeted this year.

We are also preparing for FID readiness at our H2OK project in Oklahoma in 2023. H2OK would be the first major project to be sanctioned under Woodside’s target to invest $5 billion in new energy products and lower-carbon services by 2030

This is expected to lead to:

• FY 2023 production of 180MMboe to 190MMboe
• FY 2023 capital expenditure of US$6 billion to US$6.5 billion.

The post Woodside share price higher on record US$5.23b profit appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Earnings preview: Here are the ASX shares reporting on Monday
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• 3 steps to bring in $1,000 per month in passive income
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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday

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 Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) share Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1) has had a very strong start to 2023, with the Accent share price up by over 30%.

This ASX retail share is a growing shoe retailer with a number of brands – some it owns and others it distributes, including The Athlete’s Foot, CAT, Hoka, Kappa, Skechers, Vans, Henleys, Dr Martens and Glue Store.

The company recently reported its FY22 half-year result, which included several impressive numbers.

Earnings recap

It said that in the first six months of the year, total sales went up 39% to $825 million, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 70.9% to $170.2 million, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) soared 201% to $91.2 million and earnings per share (EPS) improved by 292% to 10.7 cents per share.

As investors can see, profit margins improved. The gross profit margin improved 190 basis points while the cost of doing business (CODB) ratio improved 470 basis points.

Interestingly, Accent decided to pay an interim dividend of 12 cents per share.

During the half, it opened 53 new stores and closed 10 stores where required rent outcomes “could not be achieved.”

Nude Lucy is a lifestyle apparel brand that was acquired as part of the Glue Store acquisition. The ASX 300 share said that 15 Nude Lucy concept stores have seen “strong early results.”

Growth outlook

The ASX 300 share can’t control the Accent share price, but it can implement growth initiatives. It’s planning to open at least 20 new stores in the second half, with potential growth for both its core banners and new businesses.

The business is expecting profit growth from Glue Store and Stylerunner with “continued operational improvement and as the vertical programs in these businesses grow.”

It’s expanding expecting profit growth from The Athlete’s Foot thanks to margin expansion, with franchise stores “continuing to be acquired”. It now has 91 corporate stores and 65 franchise stores.

In terms of a trading update, like-for-like sales for the first seven weeks of the second half of FY23 were up 16%. The company said that it hasn’t seen any significant change in consumer spending in its categories. The Accent boss suggested that many of its brands target younger customers, who tend to be “less impacted by interest rates and cost of living pressures.”

Can the Accent share price keep going?

There’s nothing to say that it can’t. I was suggesting last year that Accent had been oversold. It’s up almost 50% since then.

I don’t think it’s as clear of a buy now as it was then – but it’s still down 17% from the November 2021 price.

There are plenty of signs to say that the ASX 300 share could be resilient in the short term and perform in the long term, with its quality portfolio of brands and growing store network.

I’d still call it a buy, but I do think a lot of the investor sentiment recovery has now occurred, so there might be a better time to buy it later this year.

The post Up 30% in 2023, can this ASX 300 share keep rocketing higher? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 3 ASX 300 shares soaring to new 52-week highs on Friday
• Why Accent, Brambles, Infomedia, and Pilbara Minerals shares are pushing higher
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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 recommended Accent Group. 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 Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price has outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over the last five years, gaining 28% in that time.

Back in February 2018, $5,000 could have bought an investor 1,529 of the telecommunications giant’s shares for $3.27 apiece.

Today, that parcel would be worth $6,391.22. The Telstra share price last traded at $4.18.

For comparison, the ASX 200 has lifted 23% over the last five years.

But what about the dividends paid by the Aussie icon in that time? Let’s add them to the equation.

All dividends paid to those holding Telstra shares since 2018

Here are all the dividends those invested in Telstra shares have received since February 2018:

Telstra dividends’ pay date	Type	Dividend amount
September 2022	Final and special	7.5 cents and 1 cent
April 2022	Interim and special	6 cents and 2 cents
September 2021	Final and special	5 cents and 3 cents
March 2021	Interim and special	5 cents and 3 cents
September 2020	Final and special	5 cents and 3 cents
March 2020	Interim and special	5 cents and 3 cents
September 2019	Final and special	5 cents and 3 cents
March 2019	Interim and special	5 cents and 3 cents
September 2018	Final and special	7.5 cents and 3.5 cents
March 2018	Interim and special	7.5 cents and 3.5 cents
Total:		86.5 cents

As the above chart shows, Telstra has paid out around 86.5 cents of dividends per share over the last five years. That leaves our figurative parcel having provided $1,322.585 of passive income.

Of those, much were special dividends. Those special dividends represented a portion of the company’s net one-off NBN receipts.

That leaves the stock having posted a return on investment (ROI) of around 54% – not too shabby for just five years. Though, past performance isn’t an indicator of future performance.

And that’s before considering any potential benefits from franking credits or compounding.

Right now, Telstra shares trade with a 3.23% dividend yield.

Market watchers wanting to get on board before the company’s next dividend better do so soon. Telstra recently posted an 8.5 cent per share payout and will trade ex-dividend on Wednesday.

The post Sunk $5,000 into Telstra shares 5 years ago? Here’s how much passive income you’ve received appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. 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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It might be the last week of the official earnings season, but there are still some big ASX shares still to report.

Here’s a Monday briefing to get up to speed with what will be happening in the Australian share market today.

These ASX shares are reporting today

Ranked in order of market capitalisation (largest to smallest)

Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS), $65.7 billion

TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG), $8.8 billion

Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL), $8.1 billion

Nickel Industries Ltd (ASX: NIC), $3.1 billion

Downer EDI Ltd (ASX: DOW), $2.7 billion

Cromwell Property Group (ASX: CMW), $1.9 billion

Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS), $1.7 billion

Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR), $1.5 billion

InvoCare Ltd (ASX: IVC), $1.6 billion

Liberty Financial Group Ltd (ASX: LFG), $1.1 billion

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX), $339.5 million

Praemium Ltd (ASX: PPS), $320.6 million

City Chic Collective Ltd (ASX: CCX), $135.7 million

What can we expect today?

The largest oil and gas company on the ASX is scheduled to report its full-year results today — starting the week off with a bang. Although, investors should have a fairly good idea of what to expect considering the company posted its fourth-quarter and full-year update towards the end of January.

In the update, Woodside revealed record revenue in FY2022 of US$16,851 million. That’s certainly a good place to start. But, shareholders are still in the dark on how profitable the financial year was — no doubt a focus amid today’s results.

According to Bloomberg, the consensus estimate for Woodside’s net profit after tax (NPAT) is US$5.5 billion. If true, it would mean the company’s profit margin would be close to 33% for FY2022 — improving upon the 28.5% margin at the end of 2021.

Sticking with fossil fuels, Yancoal shareholders will be hoping the coal producer can break a habit with its full-year results.

Fellow ASX coal shares Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) and New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) have come under pressure amid their results, despite both posting significant increases in earnings.

Interestingly, the Yancoal share price has increased 76% over the past year, while the coal price — according to Trading Economics — has weakened slightly.

Don’t forget to check back in throughout the day for our earnings coverage.

The post Earnings preview: Here are the ASX shares reporting on Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• 3 steps to bring in $1,000 per month in passive income
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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• Should I buy Woodside shares before the ASX 200 energy giant reports next week?

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has positions in Appen. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Appen, Dicker Data, and Praemium. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Dicker Data. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Praemium and Tpg Telecom. 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 ASX could be a confusing place to start for beginner investors because of its myriad options. That said, I think that ASX exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be a great place to start investing.

If we started investing by buying shares of a single business, that could be a good move, depending on the business. However, it doesn’t come with much diversification. An investor may need at least 10 businesses in their portfolio to be properly diversified.

But ETFs can enable investors to get substantial diversification through a single investment. One ETF can own dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of businesses.

With that in mind, these two ASX ETFs could fit the bill.

Betashares Global Quality Leaders ETF (ASX: QLTY)

This ETF is based on looking at the global share market to create a portfolio of some of the highest-quality businesses there are.

To get into the Quality Leaders portfolio, the 150 businesses must rank the highest based on the following factors combined: return on equity (ROE), debt-to-capital, cash flow generation ability, and earnings stability.

What those factors mean is that the businesses have to make considerable profits for how much shareholder money is invested in the business, have a low amount of debt for the size of the business, generate good cash flow, and typically have stable earnings.

A majority of the portfolio is invested in IT and healthcare businesses, which shows that these two sectors can often house strong, consistent businesses.

Of course, past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance but despite the high interest rates, this ASX ETF has returned an average of 10.7% per annum since it was started in November 2018. Certainly, I think this ASX ETF could be a great start for a beginner investor.

Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK)

This ETF is focused on one particular industry – the global cybersecurity sector.

Sadly, cybercriminals are regularly attacking individuals and organisations. Just look at what recently happened to Optus and Medibank Private Limited (ASX: MPL). This is leading to more demand for cyber defences.

According to BetaShares sources, the global cybersecurity market is expected to rise from US$223.7 billion to US$478.7 billion by 2030. This could be a very useful boost for earnings and, therefore, the underlying share prices as well.

I think cybersecurity is both a defensive sector and a growth area. Organisations still need to maintain good protections, even in a downturn.

Over the last five years, the Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF has returned an average of 14.5% per annum, though, again, past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

The post 2 ASX ETFs I’d buy as a beginner investor appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 positions in and has recommended BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF. 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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At the start of each week, I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) has become the most shorted share on the Australian share market despite its short interest easing slightly to 11.8%. This high level of short interest appears to have been driven by competition and cash burn concerns.
• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) saw its short interest fall meaningfully to 11.4%. With its shares up strongly this year, some short sellers appear to have been closing positions in a hurry.
• Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has 10.7% of its shares held short, which is up week on week. This seems to have been driven by fears that lithium prices have now peaked.
• Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has short interest of 9.9%, which is flat week on week. Continued weakness in spot lithium prices appears to have spooked investors.
• Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) has seen its short interest fall to 9.4%. This network as a service provider appears to have been targeted after reporting softening operating trends with its results.
• Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) has short interest of 7.7%, which is up week on week again. This buy now pay later provider’s shares took a tumble last week following the release of its half-year results. Short sellers appear to believe it will struggle to achieve its profitability goals.
• Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) has short interest of 7.7%, which is down week on week. Major cost blow outs at the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project have been weighing on sentiment.
• Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) has 7.1% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. This appears to be due to competition and cash burn concerns.
• Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) has 6.9 % of its shares held short, which is down sharply week on week. Lake Resources has come under-fire due to doubts over its technology and project funding.
• Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL) is the fifth lithium share in the top ten with short interest of 6.9%. With lithium prices tipped to fall materially over the next 18 months, there may be concerns that this Germany-based developer could miss out on the sky high prices.

The post Here are the 10 most shorted ASX shares this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 positions in and has recommended Betmakers Technology Group, Megaport, PointsBet, and Zip Co. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Betmakers Technology Group, Flight Centre Travel Group, Megaport, and PointsBet. 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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S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) travel share Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) has seen plenty of ups and downs in February. But despite its share price movements – and its 20% rise in 2022 – I think it’s a buy.

I believe Corporate Travel Management is one of the leaders in the world at what it does, and it has achieved a sizeable global market share.

After seeing the company’s FY23 half-year result, I think it looks compelling with normalised travel conditions.

Earnings recap

In the first six months of the 2023 financial year, the total transaction value (TTV) grew by 102% to $4.2 billion, revenue increased 79% to $291.9 million, and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 182% to $51.3 million.

It achieved underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $22.1 million, up from a loss of $0.4 million in the prior corresponding period. Statutory NPAT was $15.7 million, up from a loss of $10 million.

The ASX 200 travel share’s half-year result was a record for both TTV and revenue.

Corporate Travel Management has been through such a recovery that it decided it was strong enough to declare an interim dividend of 6 cents per share, following on from the 5 cents per share dividend at the end of FY22.

Why I think the Corporate Travel Management share price is a buy

The business spoke of “strong momentum” going into the second half of FY23 through “significant new clients transacting and activity recovery”.

Corporate Travel Management gave exciting guidance. It said that FY23’s underlying EBITDA is expected to be between $160 million to $180 million with an underlying profit before tax range of between $120 million to $140 million. Both of these would be record results, beating the pre-COVID FY19.

This assumes a second-half EBITDA of $109 million to $129 million which would ensure “great momentum for the expected FY24 full recovery.”

Management expects a stronger EBITDA margin in the second half because of further supply chain stability, positively impacting productivity and revenue.

In terms of a trading update, the ASX 200 travel share said that travel demand “remains strong with no signs of macroeconomic factors impacting the recovery”.

Europe is expected to be its largest contributor in the second half of FY23. In fact, January saw a record profit, even though it’s a seasonally weak month.

In terms of the Corporate Travel Management share price valuation, Commsec numbers put the ASX 200 travel share at 18 times FY24’s estimated earnings and under 16 times FY15’s estimated earnings. I think that’s a good price as earnings and the dividend grows.

The post This ASX 200 travel share is experiencing turbulence. I think it’s a buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 recommended Corporate Travel Management. 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 S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) growth shares I’m going to cover in this article have seen plenty of volatility since interest rates began ramping up last year.

I think it’s understandable that some asset prices have been hit. Higher interest rates lead to stronger returns from ‘safe’ assets like term deposits, making riskier assets like shares worth a bit less than they used to be.

But, those businesses are still the same companies they were a year ago. I think it just means we can buy them at better value now. With that in mind, these are the three ASX 200 growth shares I’d pounce on right now.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

Xero is one of the world leaders when it comes to cloud accounting software, in my opinion. It has a very strong position in Australia and New Zealand, it’s growing strongly in the UK, and it has ambitions in a number of other countries including the US, Canada, South Africa, and Singapore.

I think that some investors are underestimating how profitable Xero is because it’s spending most of its revenue growth on further growth activities like marketing and product development.

When I look at some of the numbers, I really like what I see. In the FY23 first half, the gross profit margin was 87%, operating revenue increased by 30% to $658.5 million, and the average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 13% to $35.30.

With the Xero share price down 45% since the end of 2021, I think it’s now at a great price to invest in for the long term.

Johns Lyng Group Ltd (ASX: JLG)

Johns Lyng describes itself as an integrated building services business. Its core business is rebuilding and restoring properties and contents after damage through insured events such as impact, weather, and fire.

Customers include major insurance companies, businesses, local and state governments, owners’ corporations, and retail customers.

I think this business is exposed to strong tailwinds, particularly climate change. The more unfortunate weather events there are, the more activity there is for Johns Lyng to help with.

In the company’s FY23 half-year result, it upgraded its guidance for the rest of the financial year.

It noted that its earnings were being upgraded because of “strong earnings growth” for both its business-as-usual (BaU) work as well as catastrophe work. HY23 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 63%. The dividend was increased by 66.7%.

The ASX 200 growth share said that the trend of workflows from catastrophe events is “larger and longer lived”. Work from previous events is carrying over into the current financial year. As such, it’s seeing a “more sustainable earnings profile” for that division, though this is tied to unpredictable events.

The Johns Lyng share price is down more than 30% since April 2022.

Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV)

I think Lovisa is one of the ASX-listed businesses that has a strong chance of being a global growth contender.

The ASX 200 growth share sells affordable jewellery to younger shoppers. But what I like about the business is that it’s expanding its retail store portfolio across the world.

In the second half of FY22, it had 586 stores. A year later this figure had grown to 715. It’s growing its presence in places such as Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the UK, South Africa, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the US, and Mexico. The business is also looking to grow its digital sales and capabilities as well.

It’s looking to continue its global rollout in both existing and new markets.

The business reported HY23 net profit after tax (NPAT) growth of 31.9%, with a slight increase in the dividend. Not bad for a business spending a lot of cash on growth.

Commsec numbers suggest the Lovisa share price is valued at just 20 times FY25’s estimated earnings. I think it could grow strongly over the rest of the decade, combined with a decent dividend as well.

The post These are my top ASX 200 growth shares to buy today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• For $200 in weekly passive income, buy 10,300 shares of this ASX 200 stock
• Why I think NAB could be the best ASX 200 bank share to buy right now
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why are ASX 200 mining shares ending the week in the red?

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 positions in and has recommended Johns Lyng Group, Lovisa, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Johns Lyng Group and Lovisa. 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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