The Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB) share price might be a good business to think about for a few different reasons. It’s up 5% today.

Bubs sells a number of different products including goat milk formula, cow milk formula, vitamins, cereal and other food for young children. It also sells goat milk products through the Caprilac brand.

Here are three reasons why the Bubs share price could be one to think about:

Growth in Australian retailers

Bubs is seeing increasing brand share in Australia. It remains the fastest growing infant formula manufacturer across Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) and Chemist Warehouse. In the third quarter of FY21, it saw brand retail scan sales growth of 37%.

It was the number one goat formula brand in Chemist Warehouse during the quarter. Bubs total scan sales in Woolworths were up 436%.

Bubs’ distribution in supermarkets and pharmacies in Australia continues to increase. For example, it recently increased its distribution to Coles stores to more than 700.

China child policy changes and growth

China – one of the world’s biggest markets for infant formula – recently changed its child policy to allow people to have three children rather than two. This may (or may not) lead to an overall increase in demand for infant formula.

Bubs said that it’s seeing accelerated growth in China. Bubs’ third quarter cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) offtake sales increased 60% year on year across the top-tier platforms in China. CapriLac CBEC third quarter offtake sales increased 175%.

Caprilac remains the number one top selling brand with nearly 80% market share on Tmall Global.

Total China export sales were up 28% quarter on quarter. Bubs infant formula CBEC sales were up 47% quarter on quarter.

International growth

Bubs is pursuing international growth in a number of countries.

The company said that it continues to build its presence in Malaysia and Vietnam. Bubs also said that it is progressed with registration in South Korea and Redmart in Singapore, with first shipments for both markets expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of FY21.

Bubs also just announced that it’s launching into the USA formula market, it’s going to sell on Walmart.com. It will include a bi-lingual English and Hispanic label product. It will also launch on Amazon.com in the USA.

In the US, its supply chain infrastructure is in place. It’s aiming to commence its expansion of retail distribution with a US broker appoint, including a national network of sales agent companies selected as exclusive sales representatives across the US.

Bubs believes that the US market for infant milk formula is worth over US$5 billion annually. Selling through the websites of Walmart and Amazon gives it immediate scale access to the market, according to management.

The post 3 reasons why the Bubs (ASX:BUB) share price could be a buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Weebit Nano Ltd (ASX: WBT) share price is rocketing in morning trade, up 15% at the time of writing.

The ASX tech share is involved in developing next-generation semiconductor memory technology. Below we take a look at its latest progress update.

What progress did Weebit announce?

Weebit Nano’s share price is gaining after the company announced it has created the “commercial integration of an oxide-based ReRAM (OxRAM) cell with an ovonic threshold switching (OTS) selector”.

In an industry first, the company said this represents an important step towards commercialisation for the stand-alone memory market.

A selector enables optimised cell access within a memory chip’s array. Weebit said that OTS technology is ideal for selectors in standalone (discrete) ReRAM chips for its tiny size, low energy use, high switching speed and endurance.

Weebit reported it had achieved this success, alongside development partner CEA-Leti, 3 months ahead of schedule. It reported this will enable the “implementation of 3D memory stacking and crossbar architectures” in future developments.

Commenting on the progress, Weebit’s CEO Coby Hanoch said:

This achievement demonstrates our commitment to addressing the discrete memory market as part of our mid-term strategy. We see a broad range of opportunities for discrete ReRAM, from NOR flash to storage class memory, in a range of segments.

Given our 2024 target for a discrete solution, we anticipate that other opportunities will arise as well. We will continue to share our progress in meeting this mid-term goal, while we continue our near-term focus on the embedded memory module where we are making good progress.

Gabriel Molas, senior scientist at CEA-Leti, noted that creating the required OTS selector was highly complex and based on several years of research by the partnership’s team.

Weebit Nano share price snapshot

Weebit Nano shares have had a stellar 12 month run, up 570% since this time last year. By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has gained 28% over that same time.

Year-to-date the Weebit Nano share price remains down 31%, despite today’s big lift.

The post Why the Weebit Nano (ASX:WBT) share price is rocketing 15% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Better buy: MercadoLibre vs. Facebook
• Why the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is down 5% today
• Why the Charter Hall (ASX:CHC) share price is moving higher
• Broker tips Openpay (ASX:OPY) share price to rocket 150% higher
• The Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA) share price gained 19% in a month

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the way some consumers make purchases. And with access to high-speed internet greater than ever, online shopping activity has experienced a sea-change in the last year, even in countries that have been slow to adopt e-commerce and digital payment systems in the past.

These changes have played right into the hands of Latin America’s leading online commerce platform MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) and social media titan Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), which is slowly rolling out its own digital payments and shopping tools to cash in on the global trend as well.

While each has significant growth opportunities ahead, both stocks present investors with unique risks. Which one is the better buy right now?

MercadoLibre: All-out expansion, but local economy headwinds

MercadoLibre was a growth stock before COVID-19, but the pandemic has accelerated Latin America’s migration to online shopping. Revenue has skyrocketed into triple-digit percentage territory over the last 12-month stretch, notching a 111% year-over-year gain in Q1 2021 (or up 158% when excluding the effects of currency conversion) to $1.4 billion.  

E-commerce remains a small fragment of shopping activity in most Latin American countries, still just a single-digit percentage of the grand total spent on retail in the most populous countries like Brazil and Mexico. But MercadoLibre is reporting a sharp uptick in activity on this front. In Q1 alone, it said it had 69.8 million active users, 62% more than a year ago. That’s only about 10% of the total population of Latin America, though, so there’s no shortage of room for the company to continue expanding.

One way it’s extending its reach is with its digital payments business. Many people in Latin America don’t have a basic banking relationship but do have a smartphone. Mercado Pago and Mobile Wallet — MercadoLibre’s digital payments and mobile money management applications — are opening up access to basic checking and payments services to millions of people. The result? More online shopping on MercadoLibre. Total payment volume increased 82% year over year in Q1 (129% excluding currency conversion) to $14.7 billion, $2.9 billion of which was transacted with Mobile Wallet. The company reported that some three-quarters of respondents plan to continue using digital payment options even after the pandemic ends.

MercadoLibre is the primary beneficiary from a massive move to online activity south of the border, but there are risks. Many countries the company operates in have been experiencing persistently high inflation, which erodes the value of the company’s profitability and assets on its balance sheet over time. MercadoLibre may have begun to address this issue with its recent (and still rather small) purchase of Bitcoin to facilitate transactions in the currency, which could help it stave off inflationary effects. But for now, investors should keep an eye on how inflation is throttling growth (which is apparent in the difference between currency conversion-neutral revenue and the much lower realized revenue figures in Q1). 

Facebook: A tech platform with massive optionality, but regulatory concerns

Facebook needs little introduction. Its family of apps (including Instagram and WhatsApp) had 3.45 billion monthly users during the first three months of 2021, a 15% increase over a year ago. In spite of its massive size and reliance on advertising, it’s still growing at a rapid pace. Revenue was up 48% year over year to $26.2 billion in Q1 2021, and management expects a similar rate of growth in Q2 before moderating in the second half of the year.  

Like other massive tech platforms, Facebook is highly profitable. It generated $24.2 billion in free cash flow over the 12 months that ended March 31, 2021 (a 26% free cash flow profit margin). This gives Facebook massive wiggle room to invest in new ventures. One area is digital payments and small business e-commerce. Facebook tapped software firm Shopify to power Facebook Shops, online Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp storefronts for merchants. It has also launched WhatsApp Payments in India and Brazil, allowing users to transfer money to each other and to small businesses that use the platform. This payments service could eventually make it a bigger rival of MercadoLibre.

Facebook’s aspirations on this front extend far beyond that, though. It’s still hard at work getting Diem — a blockchain-based stablecoin (a type of cryptocurrency with a value pegged to a fiat currency, in this case the U.S. dollar) — up and running. Diem is being designed to power Facebook’s ambitious global digital payments system. If it can overcome regulatory hurdles, Diem could be a big deal considering the social media company has billions of users already.  

Speaking of regulatory hurdles, though, Facebook has many on the horizon. It has frequently come under scrutiny for its practices related to personal user data, and Apple and Alphabet‘s Google have started eliminating app activity tracking on smartphones this year (which makes digital ads that Facebook relies on less valuable to marketers). Also, a looming worry is the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) lawsuit to unwind the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp (purchased in 2012 and 2014, respectively), citing anti-competitive practices at Facebook to squash its competition. If the FTC gets its way, Facebook’s empire would be broken up. The individual parts would likely still remain formidable players in the tech space, but not as dominant as the sum of their individual parts right now under the Facebook umbrella. 

Which is the better buy?

MercadoLibre is earlier on in its growth journey as it expands e-commerce across Latin America, but it trades for a premium 111 times trailing-12-month free cash flow. That metric will moderate over time as the company reaches a more profitable scale, but along the way, there will be some wild swings in stock price — especially considering the uncertain economic situation surrounding some of the countries it operates in.

For now, Facebook is a far more stable company and is still growing at a fast pace. It trades for 40 times trailing-12-month free cash flow, a reasonable value given its expected expansion this year and even faster-growing bottom line. A possible break-up of its business could be a problem in a couple of years as the antitrust lawsuit progresses, but it won’t be the end of the line for Facebook if the FTC wins the case. At this juncture, I prefer the regulatory risk over the inflation pressure MercadoLibre faces, and I think Facebook is the better buy (though MercadoLibre is certainly worth a look too).

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

The post Better buy: MercadoLibre vs. Facebook appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Nicholas Rossolillo owns shares of Alphabet (C shares), Apple, Facebook, and Shopify. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, Facebook, MercadoLibre, and Shopify. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2023 $1,140 calls on Shopify, long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, short January 2023 $1,160 calls on Shopify, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, and Facebook. 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 Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price is on course to end the week on a disappointing note.

In late morning trade, the buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares are down 5% to $8.07.

Why is the Zip share price tumbling lower today?

Today’s weakness in the Zip share price appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Citi this morning.

According to the note, the broker has been looking at the new pay anywhere offering from Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) in the United States.

This new service will allow US consumers to generate a single-use card to enter at checkout for some of the largest retailers in the lucrative market. The transaction is then facilitated by Afterpay, with all the usual benefits of instalment payments.

The new retailers that have been on-boarded include the likes Amazon, Dell, Kroger, Nike, Target, and Walgreens. Combined, the 12 new retailers represent almost half of the ecommerce volume processed in the US market.

Unsurprisingly, this news went down well with the market, sending the Afterpay share price hurtling higher this week.

Why is this bad for Zip?

Citi believes that Afterpay’s new offering will increase customer engagement in the US market and put pressure on Zip’s US-based QuadPay business.

This is because the broker’s research suggests that there is a high customer overlap between the Afterpay and QuadPay in the US. Therefore, if consumers are attracted to Afterpay’s app because they can shop at those retailers, it could come at the expense of QuadPay.

In other news

A note out of Morgan Stanley this morning reveals that its analysts are positive on Afterpay’s new offering as well.

The broker sees the product as supportive for sales growth and merchant-fees. It also suspects that it could present an opportunity for Afterpay to build relationships with these major retailers, potentially leading to their integration into its network in the future.

Morgan Stanley has retained its buy rating and $145.00 price target on Afterpay’s shares.

The post Why the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is down 5% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Up another 6%, Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price hits 4-month high
• The Zip share price (ASX:Z1P) has risen 23% in June, is it a buy?
• ASX 200 down 0.25%: Woolworths sinks, Afterpay jumps, Westpac NZ update

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 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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The Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC) share price is moving higher in morning trade, up 2%.

Below we take a look at the latest funds under management (FUM) update from the integrated property group.

What funds update did the Group provide?

Charter Hall’s share price is rising after the company reported a strong increase in FUM.

According to the release, Charter Hall’s FUM Platform will generate gross valuation increases of $3.3 billion. That figure includes $600 million of development capital expenditures.

Charter Hall now forecasts its Group FUM will increase to roughly $52 billion by 30 June. That represents 28% growth in FUM in the 2021 financial year, an increase of $12 billion.

Commenting on the FUM update, Charter Hall’s CEO David Harrison said:

Today’s valuation outcomes demonstrate the success of our investment selection process. We’ve seen impressive valuation gains across most sectors, delivering strong returns for our investors. Our focus on securing long-leased assets to high-quality tenants, often secured through off-market sale-and-leaseback transactions, or through our develop-to-core development pipeline, continues to deliver attractive enhanced returns.

Harrison said the company had secured $6.0 billion in net acquisitions in the 2021 financial year, with $7.8 billion of new acquisitions and $1.8 billion worth of assets sold.

Charter Hall’s net valuation in FY21 increased by $3.7 billion, in addition to $1.8 billion of capital expenditures during the period.

Breaking the valuation growth over the past 12 months down by sector, its industrial assets increased by 15.5%, office assets increased by 3.7%, long weighted average lease expiry (WALE) retail increased by 14.5%, social infrastructure increased by 9.9%, and shopping centre retail increased by 1.3%.

Charter Hall share price snapshot

Charter Hall shares gained 59% over the past 12 months. That’s more than double the 26% gains posted by the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over that same time.

Year-to-date the Charter Hall share price is up 3%.

Charter Hall pays a 2.3% dividend yield, 40% franked.

The post Why the Charter Hall (ASX:CHC) share price is moving higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is down 5% today
• Broker tips Openpay (ASX:OPY) share price to rocket 150% higher
• The Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA) share price gained 19% in a month
• Why PayPal raised its processing fees — and why it could backfire
• Here’s why the New Hope (ASX:NHC) share price will be on watch today

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

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It certainly has been a great month for the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price. Since the start of June, the buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares have rallied an impressive 42% higher.

However, the same cannot be said for the Openpay Group Ltd (ASX: OPY) share price. During the same period, this BNPL provider’s shares have lost 2.5% of their value.

This means the Openpay share price is now down 35% since the start of the year.

Is the Openpay share price good value?

According to a note out of Shaw and Partners, its analysts believe the recent weakness in the Openpay share price is a buying opportunity for investors. Particularly given its recent announcement of a key acquisition in the UK market.

Shaw and Partners has a buy rating and $4.00 price target on the company’s shares.

Based on the latest Openpay share price of $1.57, this implies potential upside of 155% over the next 12 months.

What did the broker say?

Commenting on the acquisition, the broker said: “A very positive and significant announcement for OPY, indeed a transformational one in one of the world’s largest markets (UK), given it accelerates its position and opportunity in this market (effectively triples its UK TTV, increases customer numbers by >64%, accelerates the path to profitability and generates high returns and yields), and indeed secures its position as a major BNPL player in the UK, with the leading Auto BNPL provider.”

“It also potentially unlocks some synergies, in addition to pursuing adjacent opportunities in other verticals (e.g. professional services). It also further reinforces the differentiated offering that OPY provides to its homogenous “pay-in’4” peers (longer plans, higher plan values, greater plan flexibility, non-Retail focus, etc.).”

In addition to this, Shaw and Partners once again highlights that the Openpay share price is trading at a significant discount to its BNPL peers.

“OPY trades at a significant – and attractive – 41% discount to BNPL peers on an FY22 EV/Sales multiple of 5.0x vs. combined 8.6x (consensus),” it concluded.

The post Broker tips Openpay (ASX:OPY) share price to rocket 150% higher 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 AFTERPAY T 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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June has been a busy month for Wide Open Agriculture Ltd (ASX: WOA) and its share price is reacting favourably. At the time of writing, the Wide Open Agriculture share price has gained 19% over the past 30 days to trade for 85 cents.

Since this time last month, the market has heard a plethora of price-sensitive news from the food and agriculture company. Let’s take a look.

The month that’s been for Wide Open Agriculture

This month, the company has released news about 2 of its key products. The company has made headwinds with its modified lupin protein and its OatUP oat milk product.

Modified lupin protein

On 27 May, Wide Open Agriculture announced its up-and-coming modified lupin protein had been made into several early-stage food and drink prototypes.

The company found its lupin protein can be used in food items such as noodles and mock meats. It also forms a gel-like constancy which the company believes would serve to make plant-based cheeses, yogurts, tofu, and mayonnaise. Additionally, it can be a soluble power, which the company plans to add to its OatUp product to create a new line of high-protein oat milk.

The company has already made protein balls from the technology. They are for sale on the company’s Dirty Clean Food website.

The news saw the Wide Open Agriculture share price finish the day 15% higher than its previous session.

The company announced on 17 June it will build a manufacturing facility in Western Australia to produce lupin protein-based food products.

Despite the good news, the company’s share price fell 6%.

OatUP

The company announced on 9 July OatUP’s distribution was expanding after strong market uptake.

According to the company, OatUP is highly sought after by cafes, consumers, and retailers in Western Australia. It launched into South Australia as a result.

The company is also selling OatUP direct to consumers online, as well as planning to launch the product in South East Asia.

OatUp is the world’s first regenerative and carbon neutral oat milk.  

The company’s shares gained 2% on the back of the announcement.

Finally, Wide Open Agriculture told the market OatUP will be distributed in Victoria and New South Wales. According to the company, the oat milk product will be stocked in The Market Grocer stores.

The Wide Open Agriculture share price gained 8% on the news.

Wide Open Agriculture share price snapshot

It hasn’t been a great year for the Wide Open Agriculture share price on the ASX – it’s fallen 4.5% year to date.

However, it has gained 107% since this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $78 million with approximately 107 million shares outstanding.

The post The Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA) share price gained 19% in a month appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA) share price is racing 12% higher

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.

PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) just announced that it will raise its processing fees for U.S. merchants. Starting on Aug. 2, the rate for each online PayPal or Venmo transaction will rise to 3.49% plus $0.49 — compared to its current rate of 2.9% plus $0.30 for most online transactions.

However, PayPal’s fees for in-person PayPal and Venmo QR code transactions will remain unchanged at 1.9% + $0.10 for transactions over $10, and 2.4% plus $0.05 for transactions under $10.

PayPal’s stock rallied after the announcement, and several analysts lauded the decision as a sign of its pricing power. But could the decision backfire and leave it more exposed to competition?

Why did PayPal raise its processing fees?

PayPal owns one of the world’s largest online payment networks. It has a presence in 202 countries and processes payments in 25 currencies. Last quarter, its number of active accounts rose 21% year over year to 392 million as its total payment volume surged 50%.

PayPal likely believes that massive market presence, along with the stickiness of its services for merchants, gives it pricing power against competitors like Square (NYSE: SQ), Stripe, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Pay, and Alphabet‘s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Pay.

Moreover, PayPal claims consumers “who choose PayPal as a payment method are 60% more likely to convert than consumers who do not choose PayPal as a payment method.” It also claims consumers are “nearly three times more likely to complete their purchase when PayPal is available at checkout.”

PayPal’s growth rates support those claims. Its revenue and adjusted earnings rose 21% and 31%, respectively, in 2020 as merchants and consumers used more digital payments throughout the pandemic.

PayPal doesn’t anticipate a significant slowdown after the pandemic ends. It expects its revenue and adjusted earnings to grow 20% and 21%, respectively, this year, and for its active accounts to climb to 430 million. In other words, PayPal wants to raise its rates while it’s still firing on all cylinders.

But could its price hike backfire?

However, PayPal’s new rate of 3.49% plus $0.49 for online transactions makes it the priciest option for most merchants. Square’s e-commerce API, which enables businesses to integrate its payment services into their websites, still charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. Stripe charges the same rate.

Apple Pay and Google Pay don’t charge any merchant fees, since they’re considered “card present” transactions, but merchants still need to pay the underlying credit card’s swipe fee of about 1.3%-3.5%.

PayPal, Square, and Stripe cover those swipe fees with their fees. That solution can be simpler and more economical than dealing with varying swipe fees. These three competitors also have unique strengths. Square serves fewer countries and merchants than PayPal, but its Cash App has been growing faster than PayPal’s Venmo in the peer-to-peer payments market. That’s probably why PayPal didn’t raise its Venmo fees for in-person payments — which remain comparable or lower than Square’s Cash App’s fees. Stripe’s code is easily customized for individual apps, making it an attractive option for companies like Lyft and Pinterest.

Apple and Google, meanwhile, can both leverage their dominance of the smartphone OS market to promote their own payment solutions. Apple Pay’s number of activated users rose from 441 million to 507 million between September 2019 and September 2020, according to Loup Ventures. Google Pay serves 150 million users across 30 countries, and it recently rolled out new peer-to-peer payment tools.

Therefore, PayPal is a market leader, but it doesn’t have unlimited pricing power. Some of its merchants might switch over to Square or Stripe, or roll the dice with swipe fees on Apple Pay or Google Pay.

The key takeaway

PayPal is still a good long-term investment on the fintech market, but investors shouldn’t automatically praise its price hike and assume it will instantly boost its revenue and margins.

Instead, they should keep an eye on its churn rate to see if it was the right move. If it wasn’t, PayPal’s stock could pull back as it struggles to justify its high forward P/E ratio of nearly 50.

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

The post Why PayPal raised its processing fees — and why it could backfire appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• PayPal taking fight to Afterpay (ASX:APT) and ASX banks
• An ASX guide to Cathie Wood and ARK Invest ETFs
• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) job ad sparks Bitcoin rumours among enthusiasts

Leo Sun owns shares of Apple, Pinterest, and Square. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, PayPal Holdings, Pinterest, and Square. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2022 $75 calls on PayPal Holdings, long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, PayPal Holdings, and Pinterest. 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 New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) share price will be one to watch on Friday morning. This comes after the coal mining company announced an update to its convertible notes offering.

At the end of yesterday’s market trade, New Hope shares were swapping hands for $1.84.

What did New Hope announce?

It could be an active day for the New Hope share price as investors weigh up the company’s latest release.

According to a statement to the ASX, the energy company has priced its senior unsecured convertible notes at $200 million.

The company said the notes will have a fixed coupon rate of 2.75%, paid twice a year for a 5-year period. Settlement of the bonds is expected on or around July 2021, with a maturity date of 2 July 2026.

This is unless the notes are redeemed, repurchased or converted beforehand.

The notes can be transferred into fully paid ordinary shares, with an initial conversion price of $2.10 apiece. This reflects a 25% premium over the reference price of $1.68 per share.

The net proceeds from the offer are expected to generate $196 million in cash for the company. The funds will be used for general corporate purposes, and may include growth opportunities plus mergers and acquisition activity.

New Hope CEO Reinhold Schmidt said:

We are very pleased with the demand experienced for the convertible notes offering. This transaction has enabled a new group of global institutional investors to invest in New Hope and provides diversified capital for us to expand as we continue to deliver on our core business of providing low cost, reliable and efficient energy to growing nations.

The convertible notes offering enhances New Hope’s ability to pursue growth and acquisition opportunities that may be available in the market, providing value to our investors.

About the New Hope share price

Over the last 12 months, New Hope shares moved in circles until the start of May this year. The company’s share price accelerated last month from a low of $1.13 to a 52-week high of $1.96 on 16 July.

New Hope has a market capitalisation of roughly $1.53 billion, with approximately 832 million shares on its registry.

The post Here’s why the New Hope (ASX:NHC) share price will be on watch 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. 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) have surged this week, rising more than 10% as of this writing. At one point during the week, the electric-car maker’s shares were up a total of 11.9%.

The stock’s sharp move higher has been fueled by a combination of factors, including volatile Bitcoin trading, news that the automaker may open its charging network to other automakers next year, and an upbeat week for growth stocks like Tesla.

So what

The latest news that may have benefited Tesla stock came on Thursday morning when electric-car news website Electrek reported that Tesla is in talks with Norwegian officials to open up its Supercharger network to other automakers in the country. This follows a rumor last week that Tesla was considering opening up its fast-charging network in Germany. Not only could sharing its extensive charging network create a new revenue stream for Tesla but it could also draw more attention to electric cars overall, speeding up their adoption from consumers.

A rebound in Bitcoin after a sharp sell-off on Tuesday may have also played a role in Tesla stock’s rise this week — particularly on Wednesday. The automaker has purchased $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency and it plans to hold its stake for the long haul. This stake in Bitcoin sometimes causes some volatility in the price of Tesla stock when Bitcoin trades sharply higher or lower.

Finally, many growth stocks rose several percentage points or more as Wall Street starts to warm up to these companies’ shares after many of them were sold off sharply earlier this year. This market trend is likely helping Tesla stock.

Now what

In the meantime, Tesla is wrapping up its second quarter. Investors are likely hoping Tesla can deliver more vehicles than ever before in Q2 as the company strives to hit its guidance to grow total 2021 deliveries more than 50% year over year.

Investors should get an update on the period at some point during the second half of July, when Tesla usually reports its second-quarter results.

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

The post Why Tesla shares surged this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Daniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3xRf7jD