The Objective Corporation Limited (ASX: OCL) share price is defying the broader ASX market fall today. This comes after the information technology software and services company provided a trading update.

At the time of writing, Objective shares are up 2.66% to a record high of $18.17. In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is 0.2% higher to 7,341 points.

Let’s take a look at how the company travelled during the 2021 financial year.

How did Objective perform in FY21?

Investors are pushing Objective shares higher as investors took the time to digest the company’s latest results.

According to its release, Objective reported growth across all metrics based on unaudited management accounts.

For the financial year ending 30 June, revenue climbed by 36% to $95.1 million ($70 million in FY20). Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) also lifted by 31% over the prior corresponding period to $74.2 million. This represents 73% of the total revenue achieved.

Both figures above increased due to the company’s continued investment in innovation, delivering important product releases for customers. Objective spent a record $23 million in research and development (R&D), accounting for 24% of FY21 revenue.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) surged by 49% to $25.6 million ($17.2 million in FY20). In addition, Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) moved 45% higher to $16 million. Objective stated that this was driven by strong organic growth and earnings accretive corporate development.

The company declared a healthy cash balance of $48.4 million at the end of the period. This includes the $18.4 million Itree acquisition earlier this month, and the $6.6 million in dividend payments during September 2020.

FY22 outlook

Looking towards the near future, Objective CEO, Tony Walls commented on the company’s FY22 outlook. He said:

In FY2022 we expect the momentum of our business to drive a continued material lift in revenue and profitability.

Our investment in innovation will deliver important product releases for customers including Objective Blind, Objective Nexus (cloud native ECM), Objective ECM 11 and Objective RegWorks iQ which, in addition to further investment in our existing product suite, will underpin new customer acquisition across all business lines and expansion opportunities for existing customers.

In addition to these significant organic growth opportunities, we will continue to actively seek acquisitions that offer additional product or market reach capabilities, where these can be acquired at reasonable valuations.

About the Objective share price

Investors would be wrapped with the Objective share price accelerating to an all-time high today. This reflects a gain of over 100% over the past 12 months and up 50% for the 2021 calendar year alone.

At today’s price, Objective has a market capitalisation of roughly $1.6 billion, with more than 94 million shares on issue.

The post Why the Objective (ASX:OCL) share price is racing to an all-time high today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Objective Corporation Limited. 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 NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT) share price is under pressure on Friday morning. At the time of writing, the data centre operator’s shares are down 2.5% to $12.10.

This decline means the NEXTDC share price is now in negative territory for the year.

Why is the NEXTDC share price trading lower?

Today’s pullback in the NEXTDC share price appears to have been driven by broad weakness in the tech sector on Friday.

It isn’t just NEXTDC that is under pressure. The likes of Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) are also recording notable declines this morning. This has led to the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) falling a disappointing 2.1% in early trade.

Today’s weakness seems to be in response to a poor night of trade on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Thursday. The famous index tumbled 0.7% overnight amid concerns over the global economic recovery.

Is this a buying opportunity?

Analysts at Goldman Sachs are likely to believe the weakness in the NEXTDC share price is a buying opportunity.

Late last month the broker put a conviction buy rating and $14.80 price target on the company’s shares. Based on the latest NEXTDC share price, this implies potential upside of 22% over the next 12 months.

Goldman believes NEXTDC is the most compelling growth story it has under coverage on the ASX.

Its analysts commented: “We remain high-conviction on the growth profile ahead, forecasting +37MW contract wins across FY22-23E (=65% conversion of options). Combined with recent share price underperformance, this gives an attractive growth adjusted valuation. We reiterate our Buy (on CL) on NXT, the most compelling growth story in our coverage. Catalysts: (1) FY21 results, incl. FY22 guidance (GS +2% vs. consensus EBITDA); (2) Any JV or M&A announcements in 1H22; and (3) Further contract wins.”

The post Why the NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) share price is falling on Friday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of NEXTDC Limited. 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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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.

After a choppy start to the week, Thursday was a difficult day for the stock market. Once again, though, after seeing extremely large declines to start the day, markets rebounded to cut their losses by the end of the session. Declines for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) were all less than 1% by the close.

Index	Percentage Change	Point Change
Dow	(0.75%)	(260)
S&P 500	(0.86%)	(36)
Nasdaq Composite	(0.72%)	(105

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) were up a bit more than 1% on Thursday, as investors seemed generally pleased with the fact that the electric-auto manufacturer delivered roughly 33,000 vehicles from its production facilities in China during June and came out with a cheaper version of its Model Y SUV for Chinese consumers. Yet what’s getting more attention than you might expect is that the stock appears ready to go through what’s called a “death cross” — with plenty of ominous overtones.

Below, we’ll look more closely at what a death cross is and why even those investors who typically don’t pay any attention to technical analysis of the stock market should pay attention.

The basics of the death cross

Technical analysts pay close attention to the price behavior of stocks, and one common metric involves moving averages of past prices. By taking closing prices over a certain number of days, volatility gets smoothed out, giving a better sense of the general direction in which a stock is moving.

To determine relatively long-term trends of stocks, technical analysis often turns to the 200-day moving average of closing stock prices. For traders interested in short-term swings, the 50-day moving average is a popular gauge.

Some investors using technical analysis pay close attention when these two moving averages cross each other. When the 50-day moving average moves above the 200-day, then a so-called “golden cross” occurs, which many see as having bullish implications. When the 50-day moves below the 200-day, however, the result is a death cross, and that’s often seen as bearish.

Barring a quick jump of roughly $100 per share for the stock, Tesla is about to undergo a death cross for the first time in a couple years. That has some technical analysts nervous about the stock’s future prospects.

Should you really care?

If you’re wondering what all this has to do with Tesla’s actual EV business, the answer is absolutely nothing. For investors who focus solely on company fundamentals when deciding whether to make an investment, chart patterns have very little impact on long-term stock performance.

However, it can be useful for investors to be aware of technical-analysis issues, even if they don’t really believe in them. Enough investors do follow technical analysis, so in some cases, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in the short run.

If you’re looking to make a new investment in Tesla — or you’re thinking about trimming a position you already have — then knowing that investors are more likely than not to react negatively when the death cross occurs can be helpful. If you’re looking to sell, you might choose to do so sooner rather than later. If you’re looking to buy, waiting for a death-cross-related downturn could allow you to purchase more shares with the same amount of money.

Most importantly, just knowing what other investors are looking at can help you understand — and likely dismiss — any short-term volatility the future might bring. For those who see Tesla as a fundamentally strong business with huge growth opportunities, any downturn could be an opportunity to invest more in the EV giant.

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

The post As markets fall, here’s how a Tesla death cross might actually matter appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Dan Caplinger 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 Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF) share price has returned from its trading halt and is tumbling lower.

At the time of writing, the agricultural-focused property company’s shares are down 4% to $2.50.

Why was the Rural Funds share price halted?

The Rural Funds share price was halted on Thursday so that the company could undertake the institutional component of its fully underwritten 1 for 8.4 accelerated pro-rata non-renounceable entitlement offer.

This morning the company announced the successful completion of the institutional entitlement offer, raising $30 million at $2.47 per new share. This represents a 5% discount to the Rural Funds share price prior to the halt.

Rural Funds will now push ahead with the retail component of the entitlement offer, which is aiming to raise a further approximately $70 million. This takes the total size of the entitlement offer to approximately $100 million. These funds will be raised at the same price as the institutional component of the offer.

Why is Rural Funds raising funds?

Rural Funds advised that it is raising these funds to provide capital for a number of activities. This includes the development of 1,000 hectares of macadamia orchards, the acquisition of cattle properties to be leased to corporate lessees, and the acquisition of up to 8,338 ML of water entitlements for $38.4 million. The latter will be leased to a private farming company for five years.

Management certainly appears confident that these activities will create value for shareholders. So much so, it is putting its money where its mouth is.

Managing Director David Bryant collectively holds approximately 4.5% of the existing units in Rural Funds and has committed to take up a minimum of $1.5 million from the equity raising.

In addition, Chairman Guy Paynter and Director’s Michael Carroll and Julian Widdup hold 0.6% of existing units and have committed to take up their entitlement in full, amounting to approximately $0.6 million.

The post Why the Rural Funds (ASX:RFF) share price is down 4% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended RURALFUNDS STAPLED. 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 Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price has gone up around 30% over the last year. Profit has been growing. But what might happen next?

A year ago Wesfarmers was being impacted by the effects of COVID-19. That included large amounts of demand for DIY projects from Bunnings as well as items from Officeworks for learning, working and being entertained at home.

Growth continued into the first half of FY21.

FY21 half-year result refresher

In the report, Wesfarmers told investors about its underlying performance, being the continuing operations excluding significant items.

Continuing revenue rose 16.6% to $17.8 billion. The continuing earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) grew 25.2% to $2.2 billion.

Continuing net profit after tax (NPAT) rose 25.5% to $1.4 billion and continuing earnings per share (EPS) went up 25.5% to 125 cents.

The two biggest drivers of Wesfarmers earnings are Bunnings and Kmart Group. Though it does have plenty of other businesses. 

In the first six months of FY21, Bunnings grew underlying earnings before tax (EBT) (excluding significant items) by 35.8% to $1.275 billion, whilst Kmart Group’s went up 42% to $487 million. Total divisional underlying EBT rose 33.4% to $2.06 billion.

Wesfarmers also showed that Bunnings’ return on capital was 76.6%.

Since the release of the HY21 result, the Wesfarmers share price has gone up 9%.

Lithium plans

Just before the HY21 report release, the company announced the joint approval for the Mt Holland lithium project and committed initial funding.

An updated definitive feasibility study showed greater certainty regarding the project’s engineering design and capital and operating costs as well as an increase in concentrator and refinery production from 45,000 tonnes per annum to approximately 50,000 tonnes per annum of battery grade lithium hydroxide.

The updated study also included increased flexibility to provide for a second phase of the project to expand production capacity at Mt Holland and the Kwinana refinery.

What’s happening recently to the Wesfarmers share price and the profit?

Since the start of June, the stock has gone up by 6.7%.

On 3 June 2021, Wesfarmers provided a strategy briefing day.

In that update it provided a run down of the focus of each business, but it also outlined recent trading performance.

It said that the group’s retail businesses began to cycle the impacts of COVID-19 in the prior year from mid-March, leading to significant volatility in monthly sales growth results.

On a two-year basis, all of the retail businesses have continued to deliver strong sales growth.

Wesfarmers said customer demand has remained resilient, but year on year growth has generally moderated and been negative in some months for some businesses, due to elevated activity in the prior year. Online growth has also moderated as store traffic grew.

However, the industrials businesses have been seeing good operating performances and pleasing trading, according to management.

Broker Wesfarmers share price target

The price target from Morgans is $56.08 and the broker rates it as a hold.

According to Morgans, the business is valued at 28x FY21’s estimated earnings.

But Citi rates the Wesfarmers share price as a sell with a price target of $45.

The post Where to next for the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended 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 Audinate Group Ltd (ASX: AD8) share price is on course for a strong finish to the week.

In morning trade, the audio over IP networking solution provider’s shares are up 6% to $9.15.

This leaves the Audinate share price trading within touching distance of its record high.

Why is the Audinate share price charging higher?

The catalyst for the rise in the Audinate share price has been the release of an update on its performance in FY 2021.

According to the release, the company achieved revenue of US$25 million in FY 2021. This was an increase of 23% from the US$20.4 million it achieved a year earlier.

This follows an extremely strong fourth quarter performance, which saw the company’s revenue increase 74% over the prior corresponding period.

Supply chain concerns

Possibly holding the Audinate share price back a touch today was management’s commentary on the supply chain.

It warned that uncertainties in the global supply of chips and electronic components continue to be a near-term risk for both Audinate and its Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers.

Nevertheless, Audinate was able to meet customer demand for chips and modules over the past few months despite minor impacts from a COVID-related shut-down of its contract manufacturer’s plant in Malaysia and some under-delivery of raw materials from suppliers.

It also notes that that increasing component lead times and requests by chip manufacturers for demand visibility up to 12 months out have resulted in a record backlog of committed sales orders for FY 2022.

Management commentary

Audinate’s Co-founder and CEO, Aidan Williams, commented: “We are pleased with the FY21 revenue performance and the resilience of the business in the face of COVID related challenges over the last 15 months. The recent launch of the first Dante video products manufactured by our customers was another substantial milestone and market feedback has been encouraging. While Audinate and our manufacturing customers have successfully navigated supply chain challenges to date, we expect continued uncertainty throughout the remainder of CY21.”

Commenting on its outlook, Williams said: “The strong finish to the year, together with the record backlog of sales orders, means that Audinate is well placed to return to US$ revenue growth in the historical range and consistent with current market expectations in FY22.”

The post Audinate (ASX:AD8) share price jumps 6% on FY 2021 update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AUDINATEGL FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AUDINATEGL 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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The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price finished the day yesterday up 1.74%, closing at $38.55 per share.

Following a 1.94% gain on Wednesday, Woolies is trading at all-time highs.

In fact, the Woolworth share price is now 4.7% above where it was trading before COVID-19 torpedoed global markets. On 21 February 2020, Woolies closed at $36.81, at the time also a new record.

What now?

Some leading analysts believe the Woolworths share price may have be getting a little dear.

Credit Suisse, for example, downgraded Woolies to “underperform”. In a note, the broker pointed out Woolies is at a price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 30 times of its estimated 2022 financial year earnings.

Goldman Sachs, noting Woolies decision to divest its liquor and gaming business – now Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV) – also downgraded it to “neutral” with a price target of $36.80 per share. That’s about 4.6% below the current Woolworths share price.

Brad Banducci, Woolies’ CEO, likely has some different ideas about his company’s future value. As my Foolish colleague Mitchell Lawler wrote, Banducci plans “to generate additional revenue streams by building out the company’s retail, supply chain and rewards segments”.

Woolies already has a lengthy track record of doing so, including major expansions of its e-commerce platforms.

How has Woolworth’s share price moved this year?

The Woolworth’s share price is up 13.8% year-to-date. That handily outpaces the 9.8% gains posted by the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

At the current share price, Woolies has a market cap of $48 billion. The company pays a dividend yield of 2.7%, fully franked.

The post Where to next for the Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) share price has spent all but 5 of the last 30 days steadily gaining. Right now, it’s 17.24% higher than it was this time last month.

On June 9, the Mineral Resources share price was $48.42. Currently, shares in Mineral Resources are going for $56.77.

Let’s take a look at the latest news from Mineral Resources. 

Quick refresher

Mineral Resources is a lithium and iron ore miner with ambitious plans to boost its production by as much as 350% over the next 5 years.

Its share price has been increasing in correlation with the price of iron ore and the growing demand for lithium.

Additionally, Macquarie has tipped the company to pay fully franked dividends of $3.32 per share in financial year 2021 and then $3.05 per share in financial year 2022.

That would see Mineral Resources with fully franked dividend yields of 6.4% and 5.9% respectively.

The latest news to drive the Mineral Resources share price

The last time the market heard from Mineral Resources was on Tuesday this week.

The company announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, Energy Resources Limited, has secured a drilling rig for the Lockyer Deep 1 well.

The news saw the Mineral Resources share price gain 0.43%. While that doesn’t sound much, for context, that same day the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell 0.59%.

The Lockyer Deep 1 well is a conventional gas exploration well located in the onshore Perth Basin.

The newly secured rig is expected to start drilling later this month.

Energy Resources is part of a joint venture that operates the exploration permit on which the Lockyer Deep 1 well sits.

Energy Resources holds 80% of the permit’s interest, while Norwest Energy NL (ASX: NWE) holds the other 20%.

Mineral Resources share price snapshot

It’s been a good year so far for the Mineral Resources share price, which has gained 47% in 2021. It has also grown a whopping 146% since this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $10.8 billion, with approximately 188 million shares outstanding.

The post It’s been a big month for the Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) share price 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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Fortunately, in this low interest rate environment, there are countless dividend shares for investors to choose from on the Australian share market.

But with so many to choose from, it can be hard to decide which ones to buy. To narrow things down, I have picked out three ASX dividend shares brokers think investors should buy:

Aventus Group (ASX: AVN)

According to a note out of Morgans, its analysts have retained their add rating and lifted their price target on this retail park-focused property company’s shares to $3.26. The broker notes that Aventus’ properties have increased in value and that its funds from operations will be stronger than expected in FY 2021. As for dividends, Morgans is expecting 17.5 cents per share in FY 2021 and then 17.8 cents per share in FY 2022. Based on the latest Aventus share price of $3.14, this will mean yields of 5.6% and 5.7%, respectively.

Baby Bunting Group Ltd (ASX: BBN)

A note out of Citi reveals that its analysts have a buy rating and $6.22 price target on this baby products retailer’s shares. While it suspects that some retailers will have been negatively impacted by recent lockdowns, it feels Baby Bunting will be less affected. This is due to its strong market position and its much lower exposure to discretionary spending. In addition to this, the broker remains positive on its growth outlook thanks to store expansion plans both here and in New Zealand. Citi is forecasting fully franked dividends of 15.3 cents per share this year and 18 cents per share next year. So, with the Baby Bunting share price currently fetching $5.80, this implies yields of 2.6% and 3.1%, respectively.

Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG)

Another note out of Morgans reveals that its analysts have retained their add rating but trimmed their price target on this fund manager’s shares to $58.05. While the broker was a touch disappointed with its fourth quarter fund outflows, it remains positive on Magellan. This is partly due to its reasonable valuation and long term growth potential from new product launches. Morgans expects fully franked dividends of $2.10 per share in FY 2021 and then $2.31 per share in FY 2022. Based on the current Magellan share price of $51.73, this represents yields of 4% and 4.4%, respectively.

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

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended AVENTUS RE UNIT and 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 Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is tracking well this year, having gained 24.5% so far. After starting 2021 trading for $3.01, the Telstra share price is now $3.75.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained 9.8% in 2021 to date.

There’s been a number of big news stories out of Telstra this year that appear to have helped the telecommunications giant’s share price climb.

Let’s take a look at what’s been driving the market’s excitement for Telstra this year.

The Telstra share price in 2021

Half year results

Telstra released its half year results on 11 February.

Within them, the company reported a 10.4% drop in revenue. It also declared its underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) had fallen 14.2% to $3.3 billion.

However, Telstra shares gained 2.52% on the back of its results, likely due to its refusal to cut its final dividend from the fully franked 8 cents it had handed out in the previous period.

Legal restructure

On March 22, Telstra announced its proposed legal restructure will be completed by December.

As part of its restructure, Telstra will be establishing a new holding company and creating separate subsidiaries.

One subsidiary, InfraCO Fixed will own and operate Telstra’s ducts, fibre, data centres, and exchanges. Another, InfraCo Towers, will own and operate Telstra’s mobile tower assets. While ServeCo will hold Telstra’s radio access network and spectrum assets.

A fourth subsidiary will be named Telstra International and will take ownership and responsibility of – you guessed it – Telstra’s international business.

Following the release of the company’s plan to restructure its assets, the Telstra share price gained 1.25%.  

Sale of InfraCo Towers

Finally, on 30 June, Telstra reported it had sold a 49% stake in InfraCo Towers for $2.8 billion after costs.

The share in InfraCo Towers was purchased by a consortium comprising Future Fund, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, and Sunsuper. The sale is expected to be completed in the current financial year.

Telstra plans to return around half of the sale’s proceeds to its shareholders. It also flagged the possibility of a share buy-back.

The news saw Telstra’s shares gain a whopping 4.44% over the course of the day.

Brokers forcasting a bright outlook

Several top brokers have this month weighed in on a bright outlook for Telstra shares.

On the back of the InfraCo sale news, Credit Suisse retained its outperform rating on the telco. The broker has a price target of $4.15 citing its belief that the higher than expected sale price will be accretive to earnings.

Goldman Sachs rates Telstra as a buy with a 12-month price target of $4.20 a share. According to the broker, a move by competitor Vodafone to remove all promotional discounts on its SIM-only plan bodes well for Telstra’s margin.

Telstra share price snapshot

This week, the Telstra share price finally recovered to trade at its pre-COVID-19 level.

It reached its highest closing price since February 2020 on 2 July, when Telstra’s shares finished the day at $3.79.  

Right now, the Telstra share price is 6% higher than it was this time last year.

The post The Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price is now up 24% so far in 2021 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 owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Corporation 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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