ASX buy now, pay later (BNPL) shares have exploded in popularity recently and the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price is the fastest growing one in 2021.

Shares in Zip are up nearly 35% since the beginning of the year. The only other BNPL company with a market capitalisation above $500 million to even grow this year is Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL). It’s up almost 32% over the same time.

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) is down 9% in 2021, Latitude Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: LFS) is 11% lower, and Humm Group Ltd (ASX: HUM) is 9.3% off its price at the end of 2020.

Let’s take a look at some of the bigger stories that have rocketed the Zip share price.

What’s sent the Zip share price higher?

In 2021, Zip’s ventured to different parts of the globe. It’s expansion into North America via QuadPay helped to drive a 103% increase in transaction volumes and an 88% increase in revenue in Q2.

40% of all Zip’s revenue for the quarter was derived from its North American business. Also this year, Zip made expansions into Asia as well as Europe and the Middle East. The Zip share price rose on the days these updates were announced.

Domestically, Zip’s been working to expand its reach into more retail settings. For example, Zip partnered with JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) earlier this year to make it easier for customers to pay with its product.

Investors and analysts have also taken a liking to the BNPL provider. Swedish rival Klarna bought a 4% stake in the company and Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) now owns a 7% interest.

For the broader BNPL industry, there have been several stories that have affected Zip’s share price. Certainly, Zip is not immune to anything that affects BNPLs generally.

The biggest story of the year was the entering of PayPal and the rumoured emergence of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) into the market.

This story sent BNPL shares tumbling, including Zip.

It should be noted while the Zip share price has performed admirably this year, it is 48% lower than its all-time peak of $14.53 in early 2021.

Foolish takeaway

While Zip is the best BNPL performer of 2021, Afterpay has done nearly 3x better over 12 months. Afterpay is up 43% in that time while Zip has only grown 15%. It just goes to show the market can be a volatile and unpredictable beast.

The post The Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is the best performing BNPL of 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• Is the JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) share price in the buy zone after its update?
• Macquarie picks the best ASX shares to buy for the August reporting season
• Oil Search, Zip, JB Hi-Fi share prices jump, Aussie predicted to hit US$0.70, Scott Phillips on Nine’s Late News
• Why Apple Stock floated higher on the NASDAQ on Tuesday

Bank of America is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO, Apple, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple and Humm Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Argosy Minerals Limited (ASX: AGY) share price is surging today following an update on its Rincon Lithium Project.

Argosy holds a 77.5% interest in the Rincon project, located in Salta Province, Argentina. The mine is situated within the “lithium triangle” – the world’s dominant source of lithium production.

At the time of writing, the lithium miner’s shares are up 9.52%, trading at 11.5 cents.

Let’s take a closer look at what Argosy reported to the ASX market this morning.

Developments works schedule

The Argosy share price is surging after investors were provided an update on the company’s resource expansion planning works.

According to its release, Argosy is preparing to conduct a resource expansion drilling program to increase the current JORC Indicated Mineral Resource estimate at Rincon. The company is currently in discussions with several strategic groups on product off-take agreements and investment options. It hopes to expand the 2,000tpa (tonnes per annum) of lithium carbonate to a 10,000tpa project development.

Argosy is targeting to achieve the first commercial production of 2,000tpa of lithium carbonate product from late Q2 FY22.

The miner said the drilling program would target the defined Exploration Target estimate with an exploration drill-hole and testing program. However, before works proceed, the company will need to secure regulatory approvals. This is due to the environmental impact caused from deeper drilling.

The combined JORC Indicated Mineral Resource and Exploration Target estimates up to 507,000 tonnes to 724,000 tonnes of contained lithium carbonate at a depth of 300 metres.

Argosy stated that the planned works proving the Exploration Target estimat, could extend project mine life and future production capacity. Currently, the Rincon project has a mine-of-life of 16.5 years at a 10,000tpa production rate.

Management commentary

Argosy managing director Jerko Zuvela commented on the company’s plans, saying:

Argosy is rapidly progressing toward commercial lithium carbonate production operations to provide the most significant critical raw material needed for the battery revolution, with development plans to quickly follow our 2,000tpa project with an additional 10,000tpa production expansion.

This places Argosy in an enviable position, becoming only the second ASX listed company and the next international battery quality lithium carbonate producer.

The Argosy share price has gained more than 110% in the last 12 months, with year-to-date up more than 40%.

The post Here’s why the Argosy (ASX:AGY) share price is surging 9% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Argosy (ASX:AGY) share price falls 9% despite positive update

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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Bitcoin (CRYTPO: BTC) has broken below the psychologically important support level of US$30,000.

In an article on Monday I explained that, despite the notorious unpredictability of crypto prices, some analysts had forecast Bitcoin would find support at US$30,000. That’s partly because people like nice round numbers. But mostly it’s because, “in options, $30,000 is the most-sold downside strike price for July”.

Round numbers and options signals notwithstanding, at time of writing one Bitcoin is worth US$29,875 (AU$40,925). The token traded as low as US$29,307 earlier today.

The world’s biggest crypto by market cap has now lost 54% of its value since hitting an all-time high of US$64,829 in mid-April this year.

The question investors are asking now is, what’s next?

What’s next for Bitcoin?

Will Bitcoin go to zero?

That was Magellan’s co-founder Hamish Douglass’s position earlier this week. Douglass said, “Cryptocurrencies, I have to say, are one of the greatest irrationalities I’ve seen in a very, very long period of time because of the cult-like following it has behind it and the scale that is behind it.”

Douglass may be right.

On other hand, Morpher’s CEO Martin Fröhler, may be onto something too.

In a survey of 42 crypto experts conducted by Finder, Fröhler forecast Bitcoin will hit US$160,000 by the end of the year:

Adoption by corporations and institutional investors paired with a loose monetary policy and high asset inflation will propel Bitcoin to 6 figures before the end of this year. The next halving cycle will see increased adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender by developing countries, and until 2030, Bitcoin will have replaced gold as a global reserve asset.

Following the token’s recent losses, Simon Peters, market analyst and crypto expert at online trading platform eToro, cited the Finder survey saying, “Long-term confidence remains high… [M]ore than half [of the surveyed experts] believe Bitcoin is capable of becoming the global reserve currency by 2050.”

The average end of year price forecast for Bitcoin by the panellists is US$66,284, more than double its current price. 61% of the participating fintech pros believe it is currently undervalued.

So who’s right?

I’ll let you know come 31 December!

The post Bitcoin crashes below US$30,000 support level…now what? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin. 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 Cochlear Ltd (ASX: COH) share price is making up for lost time after sliding 15.9% in 2020.

Shares in the hearing devices company have rallied strongly this year, up 29.6% to $244.66.

The Cochlear share price set a new all-time record high of $255.55 on 30 June, briefly topping pre-COVID levels.

Let’s take a look at what’s driving the resurgence in one of the ASX’s top healthcare companies.

Improving momentum for hearing devices market

Cochlear has been pretty quiet in terms of company announcements, with its last price-sensitive piece of news dating back to half-year results on 19 February.

Despite being a relatively old piece of company information, the half-year results cited:

Cochlear experienced improving momentum across the half as surgeries recovered following COVID shutdowns. The pace of recovery has varied across countries with strong growth recorded in the US, Japan, Korea and China, improving momentum in Western Europe and a slower recovery across most emerging markets.

The market reacted positively to the company’s half-year results, with the Cochlear share price surging 7.85% on the day to $221.33.

Broader healthcare sector making headway

The Cochlear share price logged most of its gains between 20 May and 30 June, where it rallied 19.8% from $212.82 to $255.04.

During this time, the S&P/ASX 200 Healthcare (INDEXASX: XHJ) also lifted 11.49%.

Healthcare heavyweights including CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SHL), ResMed Inc (ASX:RMD) and Cochlear led this bullish charge.

More recently, the healthcare sector has been resilient in wake of a sharp pullback in the broader S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

On Monday, the ASX 200 tumbled 0.85% while the healthcare index rallied 1.62%.

In this week alone, the healthcare index has added 3.76%.

What’s next for the Cochlear share price?

A recent update from leading fund manager Wilson Asset Management (WAM) said that “recent data points suggest Cochlear continues to benefit from market share gains as a result of competitor Advanced Bionics … announcing a recall of some of its cochlear implant devices in February 2020”.

“Additionally, Cochlear remains a clear winner of the reopening trade and recent feedback from US audiologists suggest cochlear implant patient numbers are strongly above pre-coronavirus levels”.

The commentary from WAM bodes well with the solid year-to-date performance of the Cochlear share price.

The post Here’s why the Cochlear (ASX:COH) share price is up 30% so far in 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• WAM Leaders thinks these ASX shares might be buys
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• Leading broker names 3 blue chip ASX shares to buy
• The Cochlear (ASX:COH) share price drops 3% today
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week

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 Cochlear Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cochlear 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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Many of Australia’s top brokers have been busy adjusting their financial models again, leading to the release of a large number of broker notes this week.

Three broker buy ratings that have caught my eye are summarised below. Here’s why brokers think these ASX shares are in the buy zone:

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)

According to a note out of Morgan Stanley, its analysts have retained their overweight rating and $145.00 price target on this payments company’s shares. This follows the announcement of the rollout of its Money by Afterpay app. The broker believes the app has the potential to almost double its revenue in the Australian market. It also expects it to boost engagement and reduce payment processing costs. The Afterpay share price is trading at $107.32 today.

Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ)

A note out of Morgans reveals that its analysts have retained their add rating and $34.50 price target on this banking giant’s shares. This follows the announcement of a $1.5 billion on-market share buy-back. Morgans believes this demonstrates the strength of the bank’s balance sheet and expects it to boost investor confidence. Morgans also suspects that further capital management could be coming in the near future. The broker estimates that ANZ will have surplus CET1 capital of $6.6 billion at the end of FY 2022. The ANZ share price is fetching $27.81 this afternoon.

Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL)

Analysts at Credit Suisse have retained their outperform rating and lifted their price target on this healthcare company’s shares to $43.50. According to the note, the broker believes the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 globally will support strong testing volumes. Credit Suisse expects this to underpin strong earnings, allowing Sonic to pay down debt and consider acquisitions. The Sonic share price is trading at $39.88.

The post Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Macquarie picks the best ASX shares to buy for the August reporting season
• The 2 best shares to hang your hat on: fund managers
• ASX 200 drops, ANZ up and Afterpay rises
• $1.5bn buy-back: Is the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price a bargain buy?
• Top-10 ASX dividend share delivers market-thumping share price gains

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Sonic Healthcare 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 S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a great day today, and its first day in the green so far this week (touch wood). At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is up a very healthy 1.17% to 7,337 points. One ASX share that’s doing one better though is the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) share price.

Bendigo Bank shares are currently up 2.29% to $10.28 a share. Not only is Bendigo Bank outperforming the ASX 200 today, it’s also smashing its larger ASX bank stablemates.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) is currently ‘only’ up 0.96% to $98.55 a share at the time of writing.

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) is up a substantial 1.35% to $24.85 a share.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX: ANZ) is up 1.83% to $27.82.

And National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) is enjoying gains of 1.67% today to $25.90 a share.

All impressive gains. But not even close to Bendigo Bank’s 2.29% rise.

So why is this ASX bank performing so well today?

Bendigo Bank share price tops ASX banks on Wednesday

Well, it’s not because of any official major news or announcements from the bank. The last announcement out of Bendigo came on 12 July. And that was just some routine paperwork announcing that the bank’s FY2021 full-year results would be released to the markets on 16 August (so put that in your calendar).

Still, there might be a reason for Bendigo’s performance today that we can point to.

There have been many discussions in recent months about the banking sector’s immediate future. Namely, what investors can expect in the way of dividends and share buybacks. All of the major banks have large capital reserves after pulling in their belts last year due to the pandemic-induced recession.

It turns out that this move (which was essentially mandated by the government) was ultimately largely unnecessary, as the Australian economy quickly rebounded from the recession.

As such, most ASX banks have plenty of dry powder which they have the potential to distribute to shareholders. We saw this in action just this week, when ANZ announced a $1.5 billion share buyback program of its own.

My Fool colleague Mitchell highlighted this earlier this month. In fact, he even cited research from broker UBS that showed the broker singling out Bendigo Bank as a “top candidate” for a dividend upgrade. Bendigo shareholders have only enjoyed one dividend payment since March 2020, which was paid out on 31 March this year.

Perhaps investors are expecting big things when it comes to dividends and buybacks next month.

At the current share price, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has a market capitalisation of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 21.9 and a trailing dividend yield of 2.72%.

The post Why the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) share price is gaining on Wednesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the Bendigo Bank (ASX:BEN) share price outperforming the big 4 today?
• A dividend bonanza could be inbound for ASX shares, here’s why
• Forget CBA! Here are the 5 best performing ASX bank shares of FY21
• Bank of Queensland shares outperforming all ASX 200 banks this month

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns shares of National Australia Bank Limited. 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 Prescient Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: PTX) share price is soaring today, despite the company not releasing any news.

The last time we heard price-sensitive news from the biotechnology company was on 5 July.

Right now, the Prescient Therapeutics share price is 23 cents – 12.2% higher than it was at close of market yesterday. 

Prescient Therapeutics focuses on therapies for cancer treatment. Let’s take a closer look at what the company has been up to lately.

The month that’s been for Prescient

Over the last 30 days, 2 major announcements saw the Prescient Therapeutics share price moving dramatically.

The first was on 24 June, when the company released news of its next-generation immunotherapy platform.

Prescient Therapeutics told the market it had incorporated SpyTag into binders for its 3 next-generation CAR-T programs.

The company also received lentiviral vectors that will help produce CAR-T cells expressing SpyCatcher.

Despite the seemingly positive news, the Prescient Therapeutics share price fell 13% that day and another 5% the day after.

Then, on 5 July, the company announced immunogenicity testing had been completed on the company’s OmniCAR therapy.

The components of OmniCAR, which include SpyTag and SpyCatcher, received positive results from in silico immunogenicity testing. The testing substantially de-risked OmniCAR.

In silico tests are those done using computer modelling. In this case, they simulated the body’s response to OmniCAR.

Following the news, the Prescient Therapeutics share price gained 13%.

However, between market close on July 5 and market close yesterday, the company’s share price fell 19%.

Fortunately, today has helped to turn the plunge around.

 Prescient Therapeutics share price snapshot

Prescient Therapeutics is going well on the ASX lately.

Its share price is currently 243% higher than it was at the beginning of 2021.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $147 million, with approximately 641 million shares outstanding.  

The post The Prescient (ASX: PTX) share price is surging 12%. Here’s why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the Prescient (ASX:PTX) share price down 16% this week?
• The Prescient (ASX:PTX) share price rocketed 10% higher today. Here’s why
• Prescient (ASX:PTX) share price sinks despite positive update

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 

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The Openn Negotiation Limited (ASX: OPN) share price is rocketing on its first day on the ASX.  

Shares in Openn Negotiation began trading at midday today. They are currently trading at 32 cents apiece, 60% higher than the offer price in the company’s prospectus of 20 cents.

Openn Negotiation is a property technology company. Its cloud-based Openn platform allows for real estate auctions to take place in real time and for private treaty offers to be submitted in a transparent manner.

So far, the platform has overseen more than $2 billion in property sales and is used by more than 3,300 real estate agents throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Let’s take a closer look at Openn Negotiation’s first foray onto the ASX.

More about the Openn share price & IPO

As part of its prospectus, Openn Negotiation offered 45 million shares for 20 cents apiece.

On listing, the company has approximately 191.7 million shares outstanding. At 20 cents apiece, that gave Openn an expected market capitalisation of around $38 million.

At its current share price, Openn Negotiation has a market capitalisation of around $57.5 million.

The company expected its initial public offering (IPO) to raise $9 million before costs.

Openn Negotiation plans to use the funds to expand its market in Australia and New Zealand and to assess the market in the United States. It plans to enter the US market in the future.

The company did not include financial guidance in its prospectus as it didn’t believe it could prepare reliable forecasts.

The company’s full-year results for the 2020 financial year saw it bring in $851,402 and operate at a loss of around $1.2 million before tax. Openn also had $668,979 worth of assets and $448,975 in borrowings.

Currently, 90% of Openn Negotiation’s revenue comes from the fees it charges to upload properties onto the platform. It costs an agent $500 to upload a property onto the Openn platform.

It also derives revenue by training real estate agents to use the platform – a service that comes with a price tag of $135.45 per agent.

The post Openn Negotiation (ASX: OPN) share price jumps 60% on IPO appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The Prescient (ASX: PTX) share price is surging 12%. Here’s why
• Is the JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) share price in the buy zone after its update?
• Why Credit Corp, Oil Search, Pilbara Minerals, & PointsBet are charging higher
• Here’s why the Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX:NDQ) is outperforming this year
• Here’s why the Xero (ASX:XRO) share price is up 5% in a week

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 edging lower on Wednesday afternoon.

At the time of writing, the retail giant’s shares are down 0.2% to $49.41.

Why is the JB Hi-Fi share price edging lower?

The softness in the JB Hi-Fi share price on Wednesday appears to have been driven by the release of a number of mixed broker notes. This follows the release of the company’s full year update yesterday.

In case you missed it, JB Hi-Fi outperformed the market’s expectations. It reported a 12.6% increase in sales to $8.9 billion and a 67.4% jump in net profit after tax to $506.1 million. The latter was driven by operating leverage thanks to improvements in gross margins and strong cost control.

What was the response?

The general response was the company had a fantastic 12 months but that it is unlikely to repeat these heroics in FY 2022. As such, the JB Hi-Fi share price is fully valued now.

One broker that feels this way is Goldman Sachs. According to a note, the broker was impressed with the company’s performance but has held firm with its neutral rating and lifted its price target slightly to $49.40.

It said: “JBH pre-announced FY21 results, reporting sales at A$8,916.1mn, +0.3% vs. GSe and +0.1% vs. Visible Alpha Consensus Data and EBIT at A$743.2mn, +2% vs. GSe and +4.7% vs. consensus. The key upside surprise in this announcement was the continued strength in momentum for The Good Guys division, reporting EBIT +8.6% vs. GSe and Visible Alpha Consensus Data.”

However, Goldman believes the current sales and margin strength is unsustainable and expects earnings declines in FY 2022 and then again FY 2023.

What else did brokers say?

The same sentiment was echoed over at Bell Potter. Its analysts have held firm with their neutral rating and lifted their price target to $46.50. This compares to the current JB Hi-Fi share price of $49.41.

Bell Potter commented: “We have updated our FY21 with pre-audit actuals and rolled forward our model. Net effect is our FY21/FY22e EPS increase by 15%/3.7%. Our PT increases to $46.50 (previously $45.50). Based on valuation on a normalised base and increased near-term uncertainties (as a result of COVID), we retain our Hold rating.”

The post Is the JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) share price in the buy zone after its update? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Oil Search, Zip, JB Hi-Fi share prices jump, Aussie predicted to hit US$0.70, Scott Phillips on Nine’s Late News
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• ASX 200 drops, ANZ up and Afterpay rises
• Why Afterpay, ANZ, JB Hi-Fi, & Zip shares are pushing higher
• JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) share price higher after beating expectations in FY 2021

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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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed the lead of US markets and is racing higher. The benchmark index is currently up 1.2% to 7,342.3 points.

Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are charging higher:

Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP)

The Credit Corp share price is up 2.5% to $28.30. This gain appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Morgans this morning. According to the note, the broker has upgraded the debt collector’s shares to an add rating with a $33.45 price target. Morgans is expecting Credit Corp to deliver a profit result at the high end of its guidance range in FY 2021. Though, it has warned that its FY 2022 guidance could underwhelm given current lockdowns.

Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH)

The Oil Search share price is up a further 4% to $4.06. Investors continue to buy the energy producer’s shares after Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) revealed that Oil Search rejected its merger proposal. Ord Minnett believes the proposed merger makes sense. Its analysts have put a buy rating and $5.60 price target on Oil Search’s shares.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

The Pilbara Minerals share price has stormed 5% higher to $1.53. This is despite there being no news out of the lithium producer. However, a number of lithium shares are on the rise today after risk sentiment improved following a strong night of trade on Wall Street.

PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH)

The PointsBet share price is up 5% to $12.25. This appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Goldman Sachs this morning. According to the note, Goldman Sachs has reiterated its buy rating and $17.20 price target on the company’s shares. This follows news that the sports betting company has signed an agreement to enter the Arizona market. Goldman notes that Arizona is the 14th most populous state in the US. The broker considers it to be a tier 2 state and estimates that it offers a total addressable market of ~US$0.8 billion at maturity.

The post Why Credit Corp, Oil Search, Pilbara Minerals, & PointsBet are charging higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Oil Search, Zip, JB Hi-Fi share prices jump, Aussie predicted to hit US$0.70, Scott Phillips on Nine’s Late News
• ASX 200 midday update: Kogan FY 2021 update, Altium sinks
• PointsBet (ASX:PBH) share price rises on bullish broker note
• Why the Elders (ASX:ELD) share price is outperforming today
• Here are 3 of the ASX 200’s most heavily traded shares on Tuesday

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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