The Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) share price is pushing higher on Friday.

In morning trade, the fund manager’s shares are up 1% to $39.82.

Why is the Perpetual share price rising on Friday?

Investors have been bidding the Perpetual share price higher today following the release of an update on its significant items.

Late last month, the company released its fourth quarter update and revealed that it expects to report significant items of $48 million.

This comprises $45.6 million of transaction and integration costs, and non-cash amortisation of acquired intangibles, and $2.1 million of fair value movements associated with the Barrow Hanley accrued incentive compensation liability.

In addition, it provided guidance of unrealised gains of $11.3 million (before tax), resulting in total significant items of $39.8 million.

What’s the latest?

According to today’s release, Perpetual’s transaction and integration costs and non-cash amortisation of acquired intangibles components remain in line with its original guidance. However, the methodology used in the calculation of the Barrow Hanley accrued incentive compensation liability has been amended to align with the treatment of similar schemes within Perpetual.

This change effectively brings forward fair value movements associated with the vesting of incentives that would otherwise have come through significant items in the FY 2022 and FY 2023 financial years.

As a result, the associated fair value movement is now $10.2 million after tax, an $8.1 million increase from the $2.1 million figure previously provided. Furthermore, the unrealised gains on financial assets are now lower at $6.7 million after tax. This compares to previous guidance of $7.9 million after tax ($11.3 million before tax).

This means that its total significant items for FY 2021 will be $49.2 million, up 23.6% on its previous guidance of $39.8 million. And while this looks bad initially on paper, it is worth noting that it has only pulled forward items that would have been recorded in future periods. As a result, valuation models are unlikely to have been impacted by the change.

The Perpetual share price is up 14% year to date.

The post Why the Perpetual (ASX:PPT) share price is pushing higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Perpetual (ASX:PPT) share price struggles despite ‘strong performance’

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

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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.

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood seems to have taken the investing world by storm. In 2020, Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEMKT: ARKK) outperformed the greater market by nearly 9x — 149% versus 16% — and earned her Bloomberg News designation as best stock picker that year.

With a focus on disruptive technology, it makes sense that ARK’s exchange-traded funds would embrace crypto, but the strong conviction ARK’s investments are showing to the sector is still a bit shocking. Last year, Wood assigned a $500,000 per coin price target for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), one of the most ambitious predictions on Wall Street! Unsurprisingly, ARK is well on its way to creating a Bitcoin-focused ETF.

With the crypto bear market starting to show a rebound, you don’t have to wait for ARK’s new ETF to get in on the positive returns. Here are three growth stocks Wood owns that are active in crypto’s adoption and stand to benefit.

1. Robinhood: Derided as a meme stock, but it has a bright crypto future

Despite being on the public markets for only a short time, upstart online brokerage Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) has made a splash. The first week saw whiplash-inducing volatility, with a disappointing debut, a massive rally that saw share prices more than double in a few trading days, and a correction-level price drop after the company announced a massive follow-on share offering. The app that contributed heavily to the meme-stock trend appears to be a meme stock itself.

Robinhood’s envious user growth has partly been due to its tremendous success among younger traders. At one point, the company disclosed that nearly 80% of its user base was under age 35, a highly coveted demographic for financial services firms as these investors have most of their earning and investing lives ahead of them.

In addition to zero-commission trading, Robinhood’s crypto capabilities helped the company win this demographic. Robinhood is in high-growth mode. The company disclosed that 2020 full-year revenue grew 245% over the prior year to $960 million. A significant portion of that growth was connected to cryptocurrency trading. The company followed that up with a massive first quarter that saw revenue increase 309% from the prior period to $522 million.

Although Robinhood’s opportunity is vast, there are increasing risks in its primary stock trading business. A series of high-profile operational failures — including trading outages during the GameStop frenzy and data breaches — have placed the brokerage in the crosshairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Additionally, its primary monetization model of payment for order flow is now being copied by incumbent brokers with larger asset bases, educational materials, and customer support. Robinhood’s embrace of cryptocurrency functionality is quickly becoming the true differentiator versus traditional stock brokerage firms, and the company is wise to focus on building out its crypto functionality.

2. Square: Using Bitcoin to improve its flywheel

The ARK Innovation ETF stock has sold off from recent highs, but you can’t blame its stake in Square (NYSE: SQ). Shares of the digital payments company have advanced nearly 90% in the last year.

Traditional banking continues to avoid cryptocurrency, which has created an opportunity for financial technology, aka fintech, companies. Square has been aggressive on this front, adding the ability to buy and sell Bitcoin in 2018 through its peer-to-peer financial network Cash App. Bitcoin has been instrumental is helping Cash App’s flywheel effect, in which added services increase user engagement.

In the short run, however, it could be Square’s other business that powers the company higher. Last year Square’s seller ecosystem was decimated by COVID-19. The company’s host of card readers and POS systems are popular with smaller business owners like restaurants, coffee shops, nail salons, and bars, which bore the brunt of pandemic lockdowns.

Despite that, Square was able to help its vendors quickly build out their online presence and grow card-not-present transactions. At year-end, seller gross payment volume (GPV) was flat despite significant headwinds. In the most recent quarter, GPV jumped 86% over the prior year, helping to power total revenue growth of 87% (minus Bitcoin).

However, CEO Jack Dorsey has high expectations for Bitcoin, proclaiming it would be the world’s “single currency” within 10 years in 2018. He continues to lead by helping to form the Crypto Council for Innovation with Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) and Fidelity. Square will be instrumental in increasing Bitcoin adoption.

3. Coinbase: Looking to further institutional Bitcoin adoption

Out of the three companies, Coinbase is more tethered to the underlying price of crypto. Coinbase operates multiple crypto-based currency exchanges, so it indirectly benefits from rising crypto prices, as it serves as a form of marketing for new users looking to trade. Directly, Coinbase uses percentage-based transaction fees, which benefit from higher revenue per transaction when crypto prices are higher.

While crypto has been in a bear market lately, that isn’t always a bad thing. As a broker, Coinbase also benefits from crypto crashes (at least short-term). Exchanges tend to do well whenever volatility is high, because fast-moving markets are the biggest driver of transactions. Although prices might be lower, transactions and engagement will increase from people looking to buy dips and “paper-hands” looking to lock in profits or prevent deeper losses.

However, Coinbase is leading efforts to expand the cryptocurrency ecosystem and create more revenue sources than retail trading by increasing institutional adoption. Coinbase recently acquired Bison Trails, now known as Coinbase Cloud. The IaaS platform allows institutions to quickly integrate blockchain infrastructure into their operations. As of the first quarter, Coinbase had more than 8,000 institutions on its platform that conducted 64% of its total trading volume.

With that deep (and still growing) institutional userbase, it’s likely Coinbase will be on the vanguard of Bitcoin adoption.

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

The post Cathie Wood loves these 3 crypto stocks appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Bitcoin to US$100,000 in 2021? Why these crypto bulls are digging in
• ASX investors were buying Robinhood, Square shares last week
• Could this company have a $1 trillion market cap one day?
• Why we just sold all our Afterpay (ASX:APT) shares
• Bitcoin is now up 40% in just 3 weeks. What’s going on?

Jamal Carnette, CFA owns shares of Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin and Square. 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 PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price is racing higher on Friday morning.

At the time of writing, the sports betting company’s shares are up 4% to $11.58.

Why is the PointsBet share price racing higher?

The catalyst for the rise in the PointsBet share price on Friday has been the release of a positive announcement relating to its US operations.

According to the release, PointsBet has received regulatory approval from the West Virginia Lottery Commission and has now launched online sports betting operations in West Virginia.

The release explains that the launch in West Virginia marks the seventh operational state for PointsBet’s premium sports betting product. This follows successful launches in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and New Jersey. PointsBet also currently operates iGaming in New Jersey and Michigan.

In addition, PointsBet advised that it plans to launch its proprietary online casino product in West Virginia by the end of calendar year 2021. This is subject to necessary licensure.

“Another tremendous opportunity”

PointsBet USA’s CEO, Johnny Aitken, commented: “Launching in West Virginia represents further progress for PointsBet and presents another tremendous opportunity we are excited to attack. As always, PointsBet will provide this passionate, sports-loving community with a fast and reliable online sports betting product across every customer touchpoint.”

“We are thrilled to now introduce West Virginian sports bettors to the competitive advantages PointsBet possesses in owning our technology end-to-end, such as our speed and ease of use as well as a deep slate of betting options for every NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, and PGA TOUR contest.”

New appointment

The company has also announced the appointment of Aonghus Mulvihill as Vice President of Global Sportsbook Trading. Mulvihill will oversee PointsBet’s global team of sports analysts, devising and implementing the company’s trading risk management strategy and trading product development.

Mr Mulvihill joins PointsBet from Betfair International Sports (part of Flutter Group, the parent of FanDuel) where he was Commercial Director.

The PointsBet share price is up more than 100% over the last 12 months.

The post Here’s why the PointsBet (ASX:PBH) share price is racing higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 2 exciting ASX growth shares analysts love
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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. 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 Baby Bunting Group Ltd (ASX: BBN) share price is crashing lower following the release of its full year results.

At the time of writing, the baby products retailer’s shares are down 10% to $5.40.

Baby Bunting share price sinks despite reporting strong profit growth in FY 2021

• Total sales up 15.6% to $468.4 million
• Comparable store sales growth of 11.3%
• Online sales up 54.2% and now represent 19.2% of total sales
• Pro forma earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 29.2% to $43.5 million
• Pro forma net profit after tax increased 34.8% to $26 million
• Fully franked final dividend of 8.3 cents per share (full year dividend up 34.1% to 14.1 cents)
• FY 2022 same stores sales down 6.4% as of 12 August

What happened in FY 2021 for Baby Bunting?

The Baby Bunting share price is under pressure today after a strong performance in FY 2021 was overshadowed by a soft start to the new financial year.

In respect to the former, for the 12 months ended 30 June, Baby Bunting reported a 15.6% increase in total sales to $468.4 million. This was driven by strong comparable store and online sales. The latter was underpinned by the increasing popularity of Click & Collect with consumers. Click & Collect sales more than doubled and now account for 57% of online sales.

Also supporting its sales growth were its Private Label and Exclusive Products sales. They increased 31.1% to become 41.4% of total sales. Management believes this trend will continue and expects to soon achieve its long term target of 50% of sales coming from this category.

On the bottom line, the company’s pro forma net profit after tax was up 34.8% to $26 million. This was underpinned by gross margin expansion and operating leverage. It is also worth noting that this was achieved without any JobKeeper payments or rent relief.

What did management say?

Baby Bunting’s CEO & Managing Director, Matt Spencer, was very pleased with the company’s performance in FY 2021.

He said: “We have had a tremendous year delivering great growth, both in earnings per share and returns for shareholders. This could not have been achieved without the outstanding efforts of the entire Baby Bunting team. Our team has remained focused on being there for new and expectant parents in uncertain times and supporting them with great service and products to meet their essential needs.”

“Baby Bunting is Australia’s leading maternity and baby goods retailer, and we operate in a less discretionary category with around 300,000 births a year in Australia. Our brand has gone from strength to strength and is now the most recognisable brand in this category and this is converting into stronger brand preference and engagement. As we expand our network of stores and our range and services, we expect our growth to continue.”

What’s next for Baby Bunting?

Weighing heavily on the Baby Bunting share price today was its subdued start to the new financial year.

Comparable store sales as of 12 August were down 6.4% financial year-to-date.

Though, this weakness may be offset a touch with store openings. The company anticipates opening three new stores in the first half. It also has a strong pipeline of leases committed for the second half, plus two in New Zealand.

Matt Spencer concluded: “While the new financial year has started with some disruptions from ongoing lockdowns, our experience has been that any short-term sales impact is recovered quickly once lockdowns have eased. While FY22 may have more surprises, our operating strength in our category and our transformation plans should see us well placed in the period ahead.”

The Baby Bunting share price is still up 11% in 2021 despite today’s decline.

The post Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN) share price crashes 10% lower on FY 2021 results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 2 top ASX growth shares that might be worth buying

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 recommended Baby Bunting. 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 Kathmandu Holdings Ltd (ASX: KMD) share price will be one to lookout for on Friday morning. This comes after the adventure retailer announced a new head for its Rip Curl brand.

After yesterday’s market close, Kathmandu shares sitting at $1.31.

Kathmandu appoints new CEO

In a statement to the ASX, Kathmandu advised Brooke Farris will take on the position of CEO for Rip Curl.

Following a thorough search process involving internal and external candidates, Ms Farris was selected due to her strong track record.

Ms Farris began working for Rip Curl in 2010, where she held a number of various roles. This included running Rip Curl surf events across the globe, executing marketing strategies as the ANZ marketing manager, and more.

Most notably, Ms Farris took on the role of general manager of digital, which led to strong sales growth online.

Ms Farris will assume the Rip Curl CEO position effective from next Monday 16 August 2021.

Kathmandu group CEO and managing director, Michael Daly said:

Brooke has contributed greatly to Rip Curl’s success and growth over the past 11 years with her indisputable commitment to the brand, our product, and our crew. I am confident she will bring this same commitment and leadership in her new role.

Incoming Rip Curl CEO, Brooke Farris commented:

Rip Curl has been threaded throughout my life since I was a teen. I’m honoured to be announced as the new CEO. It’s an absolute privilege to lead our talented and passionate crew across the world and I’m motivated to build on our esteemed 52-year history and capitalise on our continued market success.

About the Kathmandu share price

Since the start of June, Kathmandu shares have been on a continuing decline, down around 15%. However, when looking further back, the company’s share price is up 11% year to date.

Kathmandu presides a market capitalisation of roughly $928.8 million, with approximately 709 million shares on its books.

The post Why the Kathmandu (ASX:KMD) share price will be on watch today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Tesla stock edged higher on Thursday
• Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) share price on watch after ‘unfair’ loans finding
• Its been a great week for the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price so far
• Why the Xero (ASX:XRO) share price has climbed 5% in a month
• One Delta lockdown winner and 2 other rocketing ASX shares

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 Bank of Queensland (AS:BOQ) share price will be on watch this morning after the bank’s small business loans were found to be unjust.

The Federal Court made the finding against the bank’s small business contracts yesterday. The issue was first flagged by the Australia Securities Investment Commission (ASIC).

The Bank of Queensland share price finished yesterday’s session trading at $9.57.

Let’s take a closer look at the Federal Court’s ruling.

Federal Court ruling

The Bank of Queensland share price is in the spotlight after the bank was ordered to replace loan contracts.

Bank of Queensland must now work with its small business customers to renegotiate contracts both parties believe to be fair.

The court found in favour of ASIC’s claims Bank of Queensland’s small business loans contravened Australian Consumer Law and the ASIC Act.

The Bank of Queensland didn’t respond to The Motley Fool Australia’s request for comment in time for publication.

The loans’ contracts allowed the bank to change a loan’s terms without notice and default loans without proper evidence.

Small business customers could also face penalties for leaving contracts because of newly implemented terms.

Additionally, customers couldn’t address issues that led the bank to find they had defaulted on their loan.

The Bank of Queensland had also placed a clause in the contract stating whatever they believed the borrower owed was the true amount. If the bank erred, the borrower was responsible for proving their true debt.

Both ASIC and the court didn’t claim the bank had used the unfair terms against any of its small business customers. However, the bank agreed the terms were likely to financially harm its customers.

The court found similar clauses within the bank’s other loan contracts. It ordered the Bank of Queensland to replace all instances of unfair terms with new, fair terms.  

It isn’t the first time an ASX-listed bank had been pulled up on its loan contracts. In 2010, the Federal Court found the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) had used unfair clauses in its contracts for small business loans.

Bank of Queensland share price snapshot

The Bank of Queensland share price is performing well on the ASX.

It has gained 27% since this time last year. It is also 59% higher than it was this time last year.

The bank has a market capitalisation of around $6.1 billion, with approximately 639 million shares outstanding.

The post Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) share price on watch after ‘unfair’ loans finding 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 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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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) rose 2.1% at one point on Thursday. As of 12:45 p.m. EDT, however, the stock was up 1.3%.

The stock’s gain is likely driven by a generally bullish day for many growth stocks, as well as news circulating about strong deliveries coming from Tesla’s China factory in July.

So what

A few days ago, concerns mounted about a drop in China-made vehicles being delivered to customers in the market. Though its 32,968 total vehicles made for delivery during the month were strong, 24,347 of these vehicles were exported. This means that local deliveries decreased 69% from levels in June. 

But we’re learning on Thursday that there’s no reason to fret about deliveries in China. “Tesla makes cars for export in first half of quarter & for local market in second half,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Twitter in response to a tweet about the company’s production trends in the important market.

With this context, investors should spend more time focusing on total vehicles made in China in a given month rather than where they are delivered. Local deliveries in a given month aren’t exactly indicative of orders if Tesla bases exporting decisions on quarterly timing rather than order trends.

Meanwhile, with many growth stocks seeing gains on Thursday greater than the S&P 500‘s 0.12% increase as of this writing, this market trend could be helping Tesla shares as well.

Now what

For the full year, Tesla is aiming to grow its vehicle deliveries more than 50% year over year. The company’s China factory, which accounted for more than 40% of Tesla’s installed manufacturing capacity in Q2, is key to achieving this target.

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

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

More reading

• ASX investors were buying Robinhood, Square shares last week
• Tesla stock: Headed to $1,200?
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• Tesla keeps winning even as Chinese EV foes watch sales soar
• Why Tesla stock popped Monday

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 and Twitter. 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 Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX: ANZ) share price has had a great week thus far.

The ANZ share price opened the week at $28.60 a share. At the close of yesterday’s trading session, shares in the banking giant finished off at $29.35.

This translates to a 2.55% increase in the ANZ share price within a week.

In comparison, the  S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has only managed to crawl 0.6% higher for the week.

It’s not very common to see the share price of a big bank like ANZ outperforming the broader index.

So, let’s take a look at what’s pushing the ANZ share price higher this week.

What’s been fueling the ANZ share price?

There have been several catalysts that have helped propel the ANZ share price this week.

Firstly, a strong full year result by rival Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) helped boost the ANZ share price.

A strong result from ANZ’s rival helped fuel investor sentiment towards the banking sector.

A second catalyst that boosted the ANZ share price this week was the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

ANZ’s management highlighted Mr Faruqui’s accomplishments and experience, painting a positive outlook for the bank’s future.

Snapshot of the ANZ share price

In addition to a strong week, the ANZ share price has also had a stellar year thus far.

Since the start of the year, shares in the banking giant have soared more than 28.5% in 2021.

Despite their impressive gains this year, the ANZ share price still offers investors a decent dividend yield.

According to a recent note from broker Bell Potter, the potential return of the ANZ share price remains attractive.

Analysts from the broker initiated a buy rating on the bank and placed a $30 price target on its shares.

The broker also forecasts ANZ to pay out a fully franked dividend per share of 140 cents in FY 2021. In addition, analysts forecast a payout of 146 cents in FY 2022 and 154 cents in FY 2023.

These figures reflect a dividend yield of 5%, 5.2%, and 5.5%, respectively.

As a result, the ANZ share price will receive extra attention this reporting season.

ANZ is expected to release its results for the financial year on Wednesday the 18^th of August.

The post Its been a great week for the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price so far appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• When was the best ever day on the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price chart?
• 2 ASX 200 dividend shares named as buys

Motley Fool contributor Nikhil Gangaram 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 Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price has moved 5% higher in the past month. This comes despite no new price-sensitive news from the cloud accounting platform provider since its FY21 results in mid-May.

At Thursday’s market close, Xero shares finished the day down 2.71% to $141.59.

What’s been driving Xero shares higher?

A possible catalyst for the recent rise in the Xero share price could be a note released by a leading broker last Wednesday.

According to Goldman Sachs, its analysts are viewing Xero with a favourable outlook.

The multinational investment house acknowledged Xero’s recent launch of its app store across the Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom markets. It said the company is focused on achieving international expansion through monetising the strong position of its app store.

Goldman Sachs believes the total addressable market for the Xero app store to be NZ$1.4 billion (A$1.34 billion).

Furthermore, the broker expects Xero to double its revenue across FY21 to FY24 with a 26% compound annual growth rate. In its FY21 financial results ending 31 March, Xero highlighted operating revenue coming in at $848.8 million, up 18% year on year.

In addition, the company’s subscriber base grew to 2.74 million subscribers, up 456,000 year on year.

Net profit stood at $19.8 million, an increase of $16.4 million year on year.

In light of this, Goldman Sachs put a “buy” rating on Xero shares, raising its 12-month price target by 9.3% to $165.00. Based on the current Xero share price, this implies an upside of approximately 16.5%.

Xero is scheduled to report its FY22 half-year results on 11 November 2021.

Foolish takeaway

Since last August, Xero shares climbed higher from the $90 mark to almost touch $160 in December 2020. Investors would have enjoyed returns of around 75% in just a few months. However, following its meteoric rise, the Xero share price has largely moved in circles. Year to date, Xero shares are down 3%.

As the twentieth largest company on the ASX, Xero has a market capitalisation of roughly $21 billion.

The post Why the Xero (ASX:XRO) share price has climbed 5% in a month appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• 2 excellent ASX growth shares rated as buys
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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. owns shares of and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Xero. 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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If you’re looking for inspiration for your next ASX share investment, it is often useful to see what the professionals are making money out of.

Australian fund Cyan C3G gained 1.8% in July and remains a firm believer in growth shares.

“Most recently the growth and tech sectors have received support on the back of the announcement that Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) will be acquired by Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) for $39 billion,” portfolio manager Dean Fergie said in a memo to clients.

“This illustrates that fast-growing fintech businesses such as Square Inc are willing to buy aggressively to improve [their] strategic position as they continue to disrupt traditional industry incumbents.”

Three particular ASX shares within the Cyan portfolio leapt ahead last month. Despite the ballooning valuations, Fergie’s team will continue to keep the faith to call them “long-term holdings”:

A true Delta lockdown winner

Fergie previously told The Motley Fool how fond he was of Maggie Beer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MBH), and his belief was rewarded handsomely.

The gourmet food ASX share returned 6% over July.

It was no coincidence that demand for its goods and services accelerated during the ongoing COVID-19 resurgence.

In great timing, Maggie Beer had just completed its acquisition of online business The Hamper Emporium.

“Particularly considering the extended periods of domestic lockdown, the online element of their hamper business is looking increasingly attractive,” said Fergie.

“The market now appears to be realising the benefits, synergies and strengthened business model of the combined group.”

Maggie Beer shares are arguably not super expensive though, with the price still more than 16% lower than when the year started.

Aussie studio about to release blockbusters

Fergie has also been on the record as a fan of Playside Studios Ltd (ASX: PLY).

And that loyalty brought his fund a stunning 40% during July.

“This Melbourne based game developer, which listed in December last year, delivered solid cashflow performance and proved that its business model, which combines work for hire and original IP games development, is performing outstandingly.”

And what’s better is that Fergie anticipates more positive news coming over the next year or so.

“The company has an exciting 12 months ahead with the upcoming release of several new games including titles based on blockbuster movies Legally Blonde and The Godfather which should contribute to a material uplift in revenues in FY22.”

Similar to Maggie Beer, despite the sensational climb in July, Playside shares are still down more than 11% for the year.

Raiz the roof, says fund manager

The micro-investing app RAIZ Invest Ltd (ASX: RZI) had a sensational 28 July, when the share price rocketed 8%.

The boost was thanks to a record quarterly result.

“Raiz achieved record results for global active customers, funds under management (FUM) and revenue,” reported The Motley Fool’s Kerry Sun.

“Global active customers totalled 456,927 at quarter-end, an increase of 86.7% on the prior corresponding period.”

All up Raiz shares stepped up 10% for the month of July.

“It is comfortably on track to exceed FUM of $1 billion by the close of 2021, representing a doubling in size over 12 months,” said Fergie.

“It remains one of our most high-conviction positions as we find the company’s consumer product offering very compelling.”

The fintech had another upward spike in its stock price last week after it revealed positive July performance metrics.

Raiz shares are up a stunning 90% for the year.

The post One Delta lockdown winner and 2 other rocketing ASX shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 5 ASX shares to hold for 5 years
• Here’s why the Raiz (ASX:RZI) share price is storming 8% higher today
• Raiz (ASX:RZI) share price rallies 8% on record quarterly results
• 2 hot ASX shares playing in niche sectors

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO and Square. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO and Square. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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