The PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price is down another 9% on Friday to $7.85 at the time of writing.

It was even worse in earlier trading with the PointsBet share price falling to a 12-month low of $7.73.

Shares in the sports betting darling have tumbled 24.4% in the past two trading sessions. This follows the company releasing its first-quarter trading update on Thursday morning.

Was the first quarter update really that bad?

The first-quarter update reads well at face value, with strong growth across all key operating metrics.

Group turnover increased 42% on the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $979.9 million.

The gross win margin (dollar amount received from clients’ losing bets less the dollar amount paid to clients’ winning bets, excluding promotional costs) improved to 11.9% from 10.2%.

Overall net win lifted 76% to $67.3 million (net win includes promotional costs).

The number of cash active clients continued its upwards momentum, bolstered by a 367% increase in US clients to 185,880.

From a financial perspective, however, PointsBet continued to burn through cash worth $38.1 million in the September quarter.

PointsBet has followed a “spend money to make money” narrative. Its FY21 results highlighted a 159% increase in revenue to $194.7 million, fuelled by a 314% increase in losses to $164.3 million.

Since its initial public offering in June 2019, PointsBet’s valuation has ballooned to $2.7 billion, even after this week’s sell-off.

During this time, the company has initiated three capital raisings to help fund its US growth plans.

As the company continues to burn through cash to capture market share in the lucrative US sports betting market, investors might finally be asking, “What’s the end game?”.

Another factor potentially weighing on the PointsBet share price is its failure to grab an Arizona licence.

According to the company’s earnings call, PointsBet CEO Sam Swanell said:

We thought we had a license and it was subsequently not – our partner was subsequently not included in the list of licenses that have been handed out.

PointsBet will be in Arizona. Any state that has 20 available licenses, PointsBet will get into that state. The question – the big question is when.”

An ugly year for the PointsBet share price

The PointsBet share price rallied almost 50% between January and mid-February, briefly hitting an all-time high of $17.60.

But things have only gone downhill from there.

Whether it’s the company’s immense cash burn, capital raising overhang or investors losing interest in its US growth story, PointsBet is now down 31% year-to-date.

The post PointsBet (ASX:PBH) share price extends losses on Friday, down 25% this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Macquarie doubles profit, ResMed jumps
• Why Goldman says PointsBet (ASX:PBH) share price sell off is a buying opportunity
• Why Codan, IOOF, Orocobre, and PointsBet shares are tumbling
• PointsBet (ASX:PBH) share price sinks 17% as expansion comes at a cost
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: ANZ result impresses, Fortescue higher

Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun 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 Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointsbet Holdings 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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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is slipping in early afternoon trade, down 0.52%.

Still, the ASX 200 has been delivering historic gains as Australia and the rest of the world continue to recover from the early pandemic blows. Gains driven by strong economic growth across most developed nations.

Over the past 12 months the index is up 24%, setting a new all-time high on 13 August.

Year-to-date the ASX 200 is up 11%.

And that’s just the share price moves, mind you. These figures don’t include any dividend payouts.

While this indicates that many investors should have done well over the past year, the question now is, what to expect from the ASX 200 in 2022?

The almighty consumer

For the answer to that question, we turn to Ned Bell, Bell Asset Management’s chief investment officer.

Presenting at yesterday’s ‘Bell Asset Management – Global equities market update and outlook for 2022’ webinar, Bell offered some reasons for optimism, before turning to the biggest risk.

First, on the plus side for developed nations like Australia, is the strong consumer spending outlook.

According to Bell:

Pleasingly, consumer spending has been really robust this year. Particularly in the US, where the consumer effectively represents 70% of the economy. And that rebound that we’d expected has absolutely played out… To some degree the supply disruptions we’ve seen essentially have the effect of pushing some of that growth into next year.

Pushing some of the economic growth into 2022, Bell said, can be seen as a good thing.

However, he still expects global GDP growth to slow from 5.9% this year to 4.5% in 2022, noting there’s a real risk that this could be lower. And with lower economic growth, share markets like the ASX 200 are likely to offer lower returns.

The United States, the world’s biggest economy, is forecast to grow at 4%, down from 5.7% this year.

China, meanwhile, is forecast to see growth fall from 8.1% in 2021 to 5.5%, or less, next year.

And that, according to Bell, is the biggest risk to the global growth outlook for 2022.

The biggest risk to global growth and ASX 200 returns

Bell noted that GDP growth in the world’s second largest economy dropped from 7.9% in the second quarter of 2021 to only 4.9% in the third quarter just past.

China’s real estate woes are a particular worry for the global GDP growth outlook. Bell pointed out that property investment makes up roughly 30% of China’s GDP.

“It’s a big part of the Chinese economy,” he said. “As a reference point, the property market in the US, pre the GFC was about 18% at its high.”

Bell continued:

It’s no secret that China’s GDP growth has been a huge contributing factor to the global economy, particularly in the last 5 years. But one of the outcomes of what’s happening in the property market in China, as we speak, is that as that growth rate starts to moderate, it will eventually filter through to global GDP growth.

I’m not so much talking about China Evergrande Group (HKG: 3333) or the particular companies that have financial issues themselves. It’s more about to what extent that depresses growth [in major economies].

Most ASX 200 companies – think the big miners and banks – will perform better when global GDP is growing quickly, as it has been over the past 18 months.

So, it’s worth keeping an eye on how things play out in China over the coming weeks.

The post The biggest risk to global growth and ASX 200 returns in 2022 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) share price jumps on broker upgrade
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• The Nearmap (ASX:NEA) share price is up 20% in 3 weeks. What’s happening?
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today

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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At lunch on Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to end the week with a disappointing decline. The benchmark index is currently down 0.55% to 7,389.1 points.

Here’s what is happening on the ASX 200 today:

Macquarie delivers strong half year result

The Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price is in a trading halt on Friday. This follows the announcement of a $1.5 billion capital raising along with its half year results. In respect to the latter, the investment bank reported a first half net profit up 107% to $2,043 million. A key driver of its strong performance was the Macquarie Capital business. It delivered a net profit contribution of $468 million, up significantly from a loss of $189 million in the first half of FY 2021.

ResMed’s Q1 results beats expectations

The ResMed (ASX: RMD) share price is charging higher today after delivering a first quarter result ahead of the market’s expectations. The sleep treatment focused medical device company reported a 20% increase in revenue to US$904 million and GAAP earnings per share of US$1.39. This compares to consensus estimates of US$860 million and US$1.24 per share, respectively.

NAB director appointment U-turn

The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price is trading lower than the rest of the big four banks today. This may relate to news that James Spenceley will no longer be joining the bank as a Non-Executive Director. NAB Chair Philip Chronican revealed that Mr Spenceley decided against the move after reconsidering his overall commitments following feedback from proxy advisors as well as a number of NAB investors.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Friday has been the Reece Ltd (ASX: REH) share price with a 7% gain. This morning the plumbing parts company released its first quarter update and revealed sales growth of 13.2%. The worst performer has been the Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price with a 9% decline. Investors have been selling the sports betting company’s shares since the release of its quarterly update. Goldman Sachs believes this is a buying opportunity.

The post ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Macquarie doubles profit, ResMed jumps appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) share price jumps on broker upgrade
• Why Goldman says PointsBet (ASX:PBH) share price sell off is a buying opportunity
• NAB (ASX:NAB) share price lower following director announcement
• ResMed (ASX:RMD) share price jumps 7% on Q1 earnings beat
• Macquarie (ASX:MQG) doubles half year profit and launches $1.5bn capital raising

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 Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended ResMed. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointsbet Holdings Ltd and ResMed Inc. 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 Marley Spoon AG (ASX: MMM) share price is tanking. The massive price drop comes after the meal kit subscription service gave an update for the September quarter.

At the time of writing, shares in the company are trading for $1.04 – down 31.1%. Earlier, shares hit an intraday and 52-week low of 99 cents per share, which is a 34.4% pummelling.

Let’s take a closer look at the news.

Why the Marley Spoon share price is in freefall

The Marley Spoon share price is heading south and it comes after the company’s Q3 FY21 update, released after the market closed yesterday.

What is seemingly spooking investors is the downward revision of its full-year net revenue. The company blames “volatile consumer behaviour” for the downward growth rate of only 26-28% as opposed to the previously advised 30-35%.

Specifically, the company says “staffing challenges, higher labour rates, and food cost inflation are continuing to impact contribution margin”. This is in addition to “extensive” summer holidays from Europeans enjoying leisure activities after months of lockdown. Apparently, this resulted in “higher skip rates and lower acquisition volume”.

As well, Marley Spoon advised revenue grew 14% on the prior corresponding period (pcp) to 79.2 million Euros ($112.8 million) and a total cash position of 33 million Euros ($51.1 million) – up 17% on the pcp.

Compared with net revenue from its H1 21 update – which grew 38% — this is a massive downgrade in growth projections.

Management commentary

Commenting on the update likely driving down the Marley Spoon share price, CEO Fabian Siegal said:

Q3 net revenue growth is broadly in line with our expectations and an acceleration vs. the last quarter. Nevertheless, volatile customer behaviour during the Northern Hemisphere summer resulted in higher-than-normal skip rates and a higher cost acquisition environment. In order to maintain attractive unit economics, we reduced customer acquisitions, which will impact Q4 and therefore require us to revise our 2021 net revenue growth to 26-28%.

We have since seen a recovery in base behaviour and improved customer acquisition costs. Given these factors, Q4 net revenue growth is trending higher than Q3 2021 and the PCP. The overall structural growth trend for online groceries remains intact and gives us confidence that we will continue to sustain high growth rates at attractive unit economics.

In Q4 we expect continued revenue growth and expanded margins to lead to a significantly lower level of operating EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] losses vs. Q3.

Marley Spoon share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Marley Spoon share price has crashed by around 60%. Year-to-date it is down by a similar percentage.

Marley Spoon has a market capitalisation of approximately $302 million.

The post Marley Spoon (ASX:MMM) share price crashes 34% to new 52-week low appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous 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 Marley Spoon AG. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Marley Spoon AG. 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 Pointerra Ltd (ASX: 3DP) share price is rallying on Friday after the company released a sales update for the September quarter.

Third quarter highlights

Pointerra recapped a strong September quarter following the addition of new customers and increased spending from existing customers across key target sectors.

The company reported a September quarter annual contract value (ACV) of US$1.9 million, or a 19% increase against the June quarter. Total ACV as at 29 October now sits at US$11.7 million.

Pointerra was pleased to highlight a step change in its sales mix from being dominated by the US utilities and mapping sectors to a broader adoption across most target sectors. The target sectors being Survey & Mapping, Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries, utilities, oil & gas, transport as well as mining across the United States and Australia.

The company believes this also reflects its investment in new business development and sales resources, focused outside of utilities and mapping sectors.

Pointerra noted that its quarter-on-quarter cash receipts might vary as customers are onboarded with different payment cycles including multi-year in advance agreements.

Pointerra share price snapshot

The Pointerra share price posted some extraordinary gains between June 2020 and February this year, surging more than 2,000% from a mere 4 cents to all-time highs of 92.5 cents.

After hitting an all-time high of 92.5 cents on 15 February, the Pointerra share price has trended lower, hitting lows of 35 cents by late August.

Encouraging announcements such as its 14 September corporate presentation helped drive some life back into its share price, hitting a 3-month high of 58 cents shortly after.

However, the move to the upside was shortly met with selling pressure, sliding to the mid-low 40 cent level by October.

The Pointerra share price is down 18% year-to-date.

The post Pointerra (ASX:3DP) share price stalls after September quarter update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• What’s happening with the Pointerra (ASX:3DP) share price today?

Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun 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 Pointerra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointerra 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 Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT) share price is soaring today following strong assay results at the Mt Ida Project in Western Australia.

At the time of writing, the mining exploration company’s shares are up 10.45% to 74 cents.

However, the Red Dirt share price reached an intraday high of 84 cents shortly after the market open and this was a dramatic 25% jump on yesterday’s closing price of 67 cents.

What are the results?

Red Dirt reported assay results for a drill hole that had been previously drilled by La Mancha Resources in 2006.

Surprisingly, the pegmatite interval was never cut or analysed until being submitted for analysis by Red Dirt. Lithium bearing minerals were identified in the drill core, which led to samples being taken.

As such, the assay results confirmed the high-grade potential for lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) bearing pegmatites.

Red Dirt highlighted the following:

• 21.7 metres at 2.11% of lithium oxide
• 302 parts per million (ppm) of Tantalum pentoxide
• 0.49% of iron oxide from 250.7 metres.

One ppm is equivalent to 1 milligram of a chemical or contaminate per litre of water (mg/l) or 1 milligram.

A drilling campaign is now underway at Mt Ida. targeting 25,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) and 7,000 metres of diamond drilling.

Diamond drilling is a more efficient way of achieving precise sampling and analysis. RC drilling is used for extracting bulk samples. RC drilling is faster but diamond drilling delivers more accuracy in the results.

Red Dirt CEO Matthew Boyes commented:

These assay results confirm the potential the Mt Ida system has of hosting very high-grade lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) bearing pegmatites in a system that’s relatively unexplored to date for this style of mineralisation.

Walk up drill targets under existing known pegmatite outcrops will be initially focused on in the run into Christmas and will help our team build up a better understanding of the structural controls and orientation of these pegmatitic bodies.

About the Red Dirt share price

Over the past 12 months, Red Dirt shares have accelerated by 198%. A sharp rise began in September 2021.

Red Dirt commands a market capitalisation of about 97 million, with approximately 145 million shares outstanding.

The post Red Dirt (ASX:RDT) share price leaps 25% on assay results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the Red Dirt (ASX:RDT) share price down 14% this week?
• The Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) share price just hit an all-time high. Here’s why
• Why is the Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) share price soaring 19% today?

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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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The JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) share price is outpacing its peers today after a leading broker upgraded its shares.

Shares in the ASX retailer jumped 3.3% to $50.04 in morning trade. This makes it the fifth best performer on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO).

The JB Hi-Fi share price is also beating its rivals. The Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) share price added 0.4%, Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) share price inched up 0.2%, and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price fell 0.5%.

JB Hi-Fi share price upgraded despite sales drop

The outperformance of JB Hi-Fi coincided with Macquarie Group Ltd’s (ASX: MQG) decision to upgrade the shares to “outperform” from “neutral”.

The broker’s renewed enthusiasm for its ASX shares comes even after JB Hi-Fi reported a drop in first quarter sales.

The sales decline was due to the lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales – it’s two largest markets. This meant that more than half of JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys stores had to shutter.

Emerging signs of a sales rebound

But the news isn’t quite as bad as the headline figure might suggest.

“JBH Aus comp sales for 1Q are tracking -7.9% below pcp, but substantially above pre-COVID levels, +17.3% on a 2yr basis,” said Macquarie.

“Importantly, comp sales have improved since the last update to 15-Aug.”

JB Hi-Fi Australian stores saw a 1.1% decline in sales in the second half of the quarter. This compares with a close to 15% drop between 1 July to 15 August.

Big uplift in electronics purchases

What’s more, Macquarie’s proprietary credit card spending data provides an additional reason to get excited about the JB Hi-Fi share price.

“Purchases through consumer electronics retailers across the Macquarie Credit Card dataset have rebounded sharply over September and October,” noted the broker.

“Kitchen Appliances also look to have rebounded, which bodes well for The Good Guys.”

Good news for Christmas shopping season

Further, the easing of lockdown restrictions in NSW and Victoria will likely give Christmas shopping season a boost.

Given that international travel still looks like a risky affair, stuck-at-home consumers will have extra cash to spend on material items too.

How much is the JB Hi-Fi share price worth?

However, Macquarie warns of a few risk factors that could derail its bullish thesis. Supply chain disruptions that have caused a shortage of stock could negatively impact on the retailer.

There is also uncertainty on whether consumers will keep snapping up electronic products in the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Macquarie’s 12-month price target on the JB Hi-Fi share price is $52.50 a share.

The post JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) share price jumps on broker upgrade appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts this Thursday
• Why Aussie Broadband, BlueBet, Hipages, and JB Hi-Fi shares are rising

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau owns shares of Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Super Retail Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd., Macquarie Group Limited, Super Retail Group Limited, and Wesfarmers 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 Adairs Ltd (ASX: ADH) share price has dropped by around 24% since the middle of June 2021. Why is this happening?

Adairs is one of the country’s largest retailers of homewares and furnishings. It sells its products through both stores and online.

Why has the Adairs share price fallen?

Only the buyers and sellers of Adairs truly know why they traded at a lower price compared to a few months ago.

It may or may not be a coincidence that the Adairs share price started falling close to the date when Sydney started experiencing an outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19 which led to months of lockdowns and store closures in Sydney and subsequently Melbourne.

The first time the market got a trading update was when the company revealed its FY21 result.

At the time, it said that in the first seven weeks of FY22, like for like sales (excluding the closed stores) were up 5.2% on FY21 and up 50.5% on FY20. However, total group sales for the first seven weeks were 11.7% lower than FY21 due to the COVID-related store closures. In dollar terms, after seven weeks its total group sales were approximately $7 million behind the prior year because of the store closures. Store sales were down 27%. However, Adairs online sales were up 12.9% and Mocka sales were up 16.1%.

What’s the situation now?

The Adairs share price is close to the lowest it has been over the past six months.

It was only last week that the company gave a trading update at its annual general meeting (AGM).  

Sales somewhat improved in the following weeks. Adairs said that for the first 16 weeks of FY22, total sales were down 8.5%, though like for like sales were up 8.2%. The company attributed the decline to the widespread store closures in NSW, Victoria, the ACT and Auckland, which reduced the number of store trading days by around 47%. But those store closures are now coming to an end.

Adairs store sales were down 27.3%. Even the open stores saw a decline of 3.8%. However, Adairs online sales rose by 15% and Mocka sales grew by 25.8%.

Management estimated that the total value of sales lost because of the store closures were between $28 million to $32 million, which is net of the estimated sales benefit capture in the Adairs online channel.

The earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) impact of these lost sales is estimated to be between $12 million to $15 million.

Will things turn around?

The Adairs share price (and any share price) is unpredictable.

However, the company noted that the majority of NSW stores re-opened on 11 October 2021 and in their first week delivered “strong” strong like for like sales growth over the corresponding week in FY21.

Management said the NSW experience bodes well for the re-opening of its Victorian metro stores in early November which is an important trading period leading up to Christmas.

Adairs anticipates that pent-up demand, combined with the current online delivery delays, will encourage customers to shop in stores.

However, the gross profit margins have moderated from the record levels achieved in FY21, but are expected to remain above FY20. Global supply chain conditions have resulted in increases in fright and other sourcing costs that are placing extra pressure on the gross profit margin.

Adairs share price valuation

According to Commsec, the current Adairs share price is valued at 11x FY22’s estimated earnings.

The post The Adairs (ASX:ADH) share price has dropped 24% since June. What’s happening? 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. owns shares of and has recommended ADAIRS FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended ADAIRS 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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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

What happened

Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) jumped on Thursday, rising more than 3% as of 11 a.m. EDT. The stock’s bump higher follows an analyst’s move this week to increase its 12-month price target for the electric-vehicle (EV) maker’s shares to $1,300. 

The growth stock‘s gain on Thursday builds on staggering momentum over the last month. Month to date, the stock is up a whopping 38% as investors digest the company’s strong third-quarter earnings report.

So what

Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter reiterated an overweight rating for Tesla stock and set a price target of $1,300 on Thursday, citing the fact that the competition’s attempts to gain momentum in the budding EV market are largely falling flat. In addition, he praised Tesla’s warranty performance, implying that the quality of the automaker’s vehicles is increasing.

An upbeat day for the overall market likely is also helping Tesla stock today. As of this writing, the S&P 500 was up 0.8%.

Now what

Tesla’s sky-high valuation, which gives the stock a price-to-earnings ratio of about 350, means the EV maker will have to follow through with strong performance in the final quarter of the year and going into 2022.

Management has guided for deliveries to rise more than 50% this year, but this view is likely considered conservative by many investors. Growth around 60% (or even higher) is more likely based on the company’s recent vehicle production rates and quarterly deliveries. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why Tesla stock jumped on Thursday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Daniel Sparks 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 Tesla. 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.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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The Splitit Ltd (ASX: SPT) share price is edging higher on Friday morning. This comes after the company released its third-quarter results for FY21.

At the time of writing, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) company’s shares are up 2.5% to 41 cents apiece.

Third-quarter highlights

In an update that could be pushing the Splitit share price higher, the company recapped a quarter of moderate growth against a backdrop of COVID and “choppy macro conditions”.

Splitit achieved a record quarter in terms of merchant sales volume (MSV). This was up 31% year-on-year to US$93 million.

Gross revenue increased 20% year-on-year to US$2.6 million. The company said MSV growth was higher than revenue growth due to a more diversified merchant base and a higher proportion of MSV through its basic model.

Total merchants increased by 144% to approximately 3,300. This was driven by the company’s new merchant expansion, the appointment of executive advisors, and the launch of Splitit Plus.

Total shoppers increased by 78% to around 644,000 supported by a growing acceptance of Splitit and ongoing consumer engagement activities. Splitit pointed out its average order value (AOV) of more than US$1,000 remains a “critical differentiator” for the business.

Product innovations

In a further positive for the Splitit share price, the company went live with a number of product innovations. These helped to drive its total addressable market, acquire merchants, and streamline the onboarding process.

Splitit extended its reach by white-labeling its platform, turning it into a Platform as a Service offering. The new offering drove new partnerships with BNPL providers, tabby and QisstPay.

During the quarter, Splitit began offering its installment services to Discover Global Network cardholders worldwide. This partnership agreement will help Splitit tap into more than 50 million merchant acceptance locations and more than 20 alliance partner networks across the world.

More recently, Splitit completed integration with Salesforce Commerce Cloud, making it easier for e-commerce and retailers to offer Splitit services at the checkout.

Splitit share price in the deep red

The Splitit share price is down around 68% year-to-date as the rout continues to deepen between established and emerging ASX-listed BNPL players.

While the likes of Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) have managed to stay in positive year-to-date territory, smaller players including Splitit have seen valuations more than halve.

The post Splitit (ASX:SPT) share price climbing after third-quarter update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun 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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. 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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