If you have a penchant for growth shares, then I have good news for you. The Australian share market is home to a good number of companies growing their earnings at a quick rate.

Two ASX growth shares that could be worth a closer look are listed below. Here’s what you need to know about them:

IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)

The first ASX growth share to look at is this international student placement and English language testing services provider.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the company very hard for obvious reasons. For example, during the first half of FY 2021, the company posted a 29% decline in revenue to $269 million and a 46% decline in EBIT to $47.3 million.

However, these numbers don’t tell the whole story. IDP Education’s performance improved greatly as the half progressed. So much so, its testing volumes had actually risen close to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the period. And while the terrible situation in India will be a step backwards, it should rebound quickly once the crisis is controlled.

Looking ahead, the company appears to be in a strong position to win a greater share of the market when the pandemic passes. This is due to its software investments and the fact that many of its smaller rivals haven’t fared as well during the crisis.

Morgan Stanley is a fan of the company. It currently has an overweight rating and $30.00 price target on its shares. The broker continues to predict a big rebound in its earnings in FY 2022.

Pushpay Holdings Group Ltd (ASX: PPH)

Another ASX growth share to look at is Pushpay. It is leading donor management and community engagement platform provider for the faith sector. It has been growing at a rapid rate in recent years and continued this positive trend in FY 2021.

For the 12 months ended 31 March, Pushpay delivered operating revenue of US$179.1 million. This was a 40% or US$51.6 million increase on the prior corresponding period.

And thanks to the achievement of further operating leverage, Pushpay reported EBITDAF of US$58.9 million for FY 2021. This was an increase of 133% year on year. It was also in line with its FY 2021 guidance for EBITDAF of between US$56 million and US$60 million, which was upgraded three times during the course of the year.

Looking ahead, the company is expecting its growth to continue in FY 2022. Pushpay expects its operating earnings to grow 12% to 20.5% year on year. Though, this guidance doesn’t include its increased investment to enter the lucrative Catholic church market.

Speaking about the expansion, management said: “The Catholic initiative is our first step in investing to grow our Customer base outside of our existing core Customer base, and we have set the goal of acquiring more than 25% of the Catholic church management system and donor management system market over the next five years.”

Combined with its existing market, this gives it a very long runway for growth over the next decade.

More reading

• Fund managers have been buying EML Payments (ASX:EML) and this ASX share
• Broker tips IDP Education (ASX:IEL) share price to smash the market in 2021
• 3 buy rated mid cap ASX shares for the long term
• ASX 200 drops again, Pushpay rises, CSR climbs
• Pushpay (ASX:PPH) share price on watch after FY 2021 results

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 Idp Education Pty Ltd and PUSHPAY FPO NZX. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended PUSHPAY FPO NZX. 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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Are you looking to add to your income portfolio in the near future? If you are, then you might want to look at the ASX dividend shares listed below.

Here’s what you need to know about them:

National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)

The first ASX dividend share to look at is National Storage. It is one of the ANZ region’s largest self storage operators with over 200 centres. From these centres, it tailors self-storage solutions to residential and commercial customers.

Thanks to its centre development and acquisition plans and the favourable housing cycle, National Storage looks well-placed for growth in the coming years.

For now, in FY 2021, the company expects to report underlying earnings per share of 7.7 cents to 8.3 cents. From this, it plans to pay 90% to 100% out to shareholders as distributions.

Based on the current National Storage share price and the middle of these guidance ranges, its shares offer investors a 3.8% dividend yield.

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)

Another ASX dividend share for income investors to consider is Telstra. After a few years of struggles, this telco giant’s outlook is improving greatly.

This due to rational competition in the telco industry, the easing NBN headwind, its T22 strategy, its leadership position in 5G internet, and its plan to split into three separate businesses. The latter is expected to simplify its operations and allow Telstra to take advantage of potential monetisation opportunities for non-core assets.

Goldman Sachs is positive on Telstra. It recently retained its buy rating and $4.00 price target on the company’s shares.

The broker also continues to forecast the company paying a 16 cents per share fully franked dividend for the foreseeable future. Based on the current Telstra share price, this will mean a very attractive 4.6% dividend yield over the next 12 months.

More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX dividend shares to buy today
• These ASX dividend shares offer generous fully franked yields
• Why it might be time to give the TPG (ASX:TPG) and Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price a second look
• ASX 200 down 0.4%: Xero sinks, Telstra hit with $50m fine
• Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price higher despite being hit with $50 million penalty

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra 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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There are some very high quality S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares that would be worth owning for the long-term.

Some ASX 200 shares have proven to be very defensive, even during a pandemic. They are large enough to be reliable but small enough to have plenty of growth potential.

Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP)

Bapcor is the largest auto parts business in Australasia with a number of different divisions.

It recently expanded its exposure to Asia after an important investment in Tye Soon. It now owns 25% of the business. Tye Soon is described as the most prominent independent auto parts distributor in South East and North East Asia. It has operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia. This business makes around $200 million Singaporean dollars of annual revenue. This 25% stake cost S$12.5 million.

Bapcor is also growing its own Burson business in Asia, starting in Thailand. Burson is the key profit driver of the ASX 200 share, with a large client base of mechanics across Australia. Burson grows profit in a number of different ways. It grows same store sales, Burson is adding stores (it now has around 200) and the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin continues to rise.

But Burson isn’t the only division that’s growing. Autobarn is seeing a retail boom and the specialist wholesale businesses are also seeing good growth. Bapcor has also recently expanded into truck parts as well.

The ASX 200 share has plans to grow its networks of trade, retail and service locations over the coming years. It also wants to sell more private label products and increase efficiencies.

According to Commsec, the Bapcor share price is valued at just 20 times FY22’s estimated earnings.

Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SHL)

Sonic Healthcare is one of the biggest ASX 200 healthcare shares.

The business has a large presence in pathology in Australia, Europe and North America. It has been growing for a few decades and it’s providing a very valuable service in COVID-19 testing with its PCR tests. It has been conducting millions of tests.

Its pre-COVID business is proving to be increasingly resilient to the impacts of the pandemic.. When COVID-19 subsides, Sonic should be able to grow with the ageing demographics and the advancements in medical diagnostics.

During this pandemic, Sonic’s experience shows that the temporary base business declines are more than offset by increased COVID-19 testing.

The high levels of profit has reduced its debt levels and now Sonic is well positioned to continue to pursue value-accretive growth opportunities, including acquisitions. It’s also looking at contract and joint venture growth opportunities. Sonic is bidding on “significant” opportunities in Australia, the UK, the USA and Canada.

Sonic says that geographical diversification provides increased opportunities for expansion.

The company expects that COVID-19 PCR testing will continue for the foreseeable future and there’s potential demand for COVID-19 serology testing (which looks at the immunity status).

According to Commsec, the Sonic share price is valued at 24x FY22’s estimated earnings.

More reading

• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• These were the best performing ASX 200 shares last week
• ASX 200 rebounds, Treasury rises, Xero falls
• What drove the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price this week?
• Why is the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price up 4% today?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Bapcor. 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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There are some smaller ASX dividend shares that have pretty big dividend yields.

Smaller businesses are often less covered by analysts and investors which can lead to lower price/earnings ratios and higher dividend ratios.

These ASX dividend shares all have high dividend yields on offer:

Pacific Current Group Ltd (ASX: PAC)

This is a business that makes investments into global investment managers around the world. Each investment and fee structure is different, but Pacific benefits if the funds under management (FUM) grows.

Using the last 12 months of dividends, Pacific has a trailing grossed-up dividend yield of 9.1%. As the FUM grows, the underlying profitability of the Pacific business increases (particularly as it is lowering its costs after the onset of COVID-19).

Pacific continues to invest into new opportunities such as Astarte Capital Partners which may be able to become larger contributors to profit in the coming years.

It’s currently rated as a buy by Ord Minnett with a price target of $6.70. In FY22, it’s expected by the broker to pay a grossed-up dividend yield of 9.6%.

Pengana Capital Group Ltd (ASX: PCG)

Pengana is a fund management business. At the end of March 2021, it had $3.71 billion of FUM (up from $3.63 billion in February 2021).

It earns management fees and performance fees from the FUM that it manages, which turns into profit and dividends for shareholders.

Looking at the last 12 months of dividends, Pengana has a grossed-up dividend yield of 7.4%.

The ASX dividend share’s FY21 half-year FUM increased by 15% and underlying profit before tax increased by 17.1%. The board was happy enough to increase the interim dividend of 25% to 5 cents per share.

Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)

Accent is a business that aims to increase its dividend consistently for investors. Indeed, its dividend has actually been consistently growing over the last few years.

The FY21 half-year result saw the board increase the dividend by 52.4% to 8 cents per share. This was funded by a 56.9% increase of the earnings per share (EPS), with earnings before interest tax (EBIT) going up 47.3% and digital sales jumping 110%.

Accent Group continues to make compelling acquisitions, such as the Glue Store which diversifies the company’s earnings and gives it more avenues to grow.

The ASX dividend share also continues to grow its store network, increase store like for like sales and improve its profit margins. The gross margin increased from 56.7% to 58.1%.

Further growth is expected into FY22. It’s expecting to open at least 90 stores in FY21 and then there should be continued strong store openings into FY22.

In the first eight weeks of the second half of FY21, like for like retail sales were up 10.7% and digital sales were up 65.4%. Online sales continues to track above 20% of total sales.

More reading

• Why these 2 ASX dividend shares may be just what your portfolio needs
• Got money to invest for dividends? Here are 2 ASX shares
• Down 9% today, why the Redbubble (ASX:RBL) share price continues to tumble
• 2 highly rated ASX dividend shares with generous fully franked yields
• 3 ASX shares to buy in May 2021

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns shares of PACCURRENT FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Accent Group. 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) was out of form last week. Concerns over rising inflation in the United States spooked investors and led to the index dropping 66.6 points or 0.9% to end at 7,014.2 points.

While a good number of shares tumbled lower with the market, some fell more than most. Here’s why these were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week:

Perenti Global Ltd (ASX: PRN)

The Perenti Global share price was the worst performer on the ASX 200 last week with a 28.6% decline. Investors were selling the mining services company’s shares following the release of an operational update. Perenti revealed that it will no longer be delivering on its guidance for second half revenue and margins in line with what it reported in the first half. Instead, due largely to COVID-19 headwinds and Australian labour market shortages, it is expecting softer earnings in the second half. It also warned that these headwinds will persist for the next 12 to 18 months.

A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

The A2 Milk share price was well and truly out of form and sank 21.2% lower last week. The catalyst for this was the infant formula company downgrading its FY 2021 guidance for the fourth time. The company now expects revenue of NZ$1.2 billion to NZ$1.25 billion with EBITDA of NZ$132 million to NZ$150 million. This will mean a year on year reduction in EBITDA of 73% to 76% year on year. Sustained weakness in the daigou channel and a massive NZ$103 million to NZ$113 million inventory provision were behind the underperformance.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

The Xero share price wasn’t far behind with a disappointing 15.9% decline. The cloud-based business and accounting platform provider’s shares were sold off following the release of its full year results. Although Xero delivered strong growth on both the top and bottom lines, it was still short of the market’s expectations. This was particularly the case for its EBITDA, which was 16% below the market consensus estimate. In addition to this, higher than expected operating expense guidance for FY 2022 also weighed on sentiment.

PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH)

The PointsBet share price was a poor performer and dropped 13% over the five days. This appears to have been driven largely by weakness in the tech sector following a strong inflation reading in the United States. It wasn’t just PointsBet that was sinking. The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) tumbled 5.7% lower over the five days.

More reading

• These were the best performing ASX 200 shares last week
• ASX 200 rebounds, Treasury rises, Xero falls
• What drove the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price this week?
• Why is the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price up 4% today?
• Why De Grey, GrainCorp, Pilbara Minerals, & Xero shares are dropping

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 recommends Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended A2 Milk. 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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A number of fast-growing ASX tech shares are being sold off with worries about inflation and interest rates.

Lower prices might be able offer investors a better time to buy these opportunities.

Over the long-term, these ASX tech shares may be able to recover strongly:

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

The Kogan share price has fallen by 40% over the last three months. Several e-commerce ASX shares have fallen heavily recently. Online shopping businesses are now cycling against strong sales performance 12 months ago during the depths of COVID-19.

Even so, Kogan is still producing high levels of sales growth. In the three months to 31 March 2021, Kogan reported that gross sales rose by 47% and revenue grew by more than 65%.

But, excess inventory and lower sales growth have combined to cause problems for Kogan.

During the period, Kogan received inventory ordered in response to the high levels of demand seen in the first half of FY21. This led to the company ending up with high levels of inventory. But then demand fluctuated to lower levels than what had been seen during FY21. That meant the company had to store larger amounts of inventory than expected, resulting in high storage costs and demurrage fees. Kogan has increased promotional activity to compensate for this and optimise its inventory position.

Gross profit grew by 54%, which was faster than the gross sales growth, showing continued margin improvement.

But the inventory issues saw the adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decline by 24%.  

What about the future? The ASX tech share said:

The board looks to the future with confidence as the business has grown its active customer base, invested in key strategic initiatives and has a strong level of in-demand inventory heading into the end-of-financial-year and Christmas trading periods while observing price inflation through global supply chains.

VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF (ASX: ESPO)

This exchange-traded fund (ETF) is about giving investors exposure to the world’s leading businesses in the video gaming and e-sports world.

If you know a bit about gaming you’ve probably heard of several of the ETF’s positions, including some of the biggest 10: Nvidia, Tencent, Sea, Advanced Micro Devices, Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Netease, Electronic Arts, Bilibili and Nexon.

An ETF’s return is simply the combined performance of its underlying holdings. VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF has fallen in price by 10% over the last month and 20% since mid-February.

But the gaming businesses are exposed to strong underlying trends. The video game business is now supposedly bigger than both the movie and music industries, and e-sports is the world’s fastest-growing sport.

Video gaming has achieved an average annual revenue growth rate of 12% since 2015. E-sports is opening up a number of new revenue avenues including media rights, merchandise, ticket sales and advertising.

E-sports revenue has grown by an average of 28% each year since 2015. VanEck says:

With an active, engaged and relatively young demographic, the stage is set for sustainable long-term growth.

More reading

• 2 ASX dividend shares to buy with yields above 4%
• 2 beaten down ASX shares rated as buys
• Down 9% today, why the Redbubble (ASX:RBL) share price continues to tumble
• 2 high-growth, quality ETFs to buy
• These are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX

Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Kogan.com ltd and VanEck Vectors ETF Trust – VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF. 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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I’m a big fan of buy and hold investing and believe it is the best way for investors to grow their wealth.

To demonstrate how successful it can be, I like to pick out a number of popular ASX shares to see how much a single $20,000 investment 10 years ago would be worth today. This time around I have picked out the three ASX shares that are listed below:

BWP Trust (ASX: BWP)

This commercial property company has been a market beater over the last decade. This has been thanks to its growing portfolio of warehouses which are predominantly leased to hardware giant Bunnings Warehouse. A combination of inorganic and organic growth through rental increases has supported consistent earnings and distribution growth since 2011. This has led to BWP’s shares providing investors with an average total return of 13% per annum. This means a $20,000 investment 10 years ago would have grown to be worth ~$68,000 today.

Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)

This corporate travel booker’s shares have been a fantastic place to invest over the last 10 years, even if they are trading almost 50% lower than their record high. Thanks to the company’s successful growth through acquisition strategy and its focus on technology, Corporate Travel Management’s sales and earnings and grown rapidly. For example, in FY 2011, the company generated revenue of $46.8 million for the 12 months. Whereas today, it recently reported third quarter revenue of $52.4 million. That’s 12% more revenue in just three months and despite COVID-19 headwinds still weighing heavily on its performance. During the last 10 years, its shares have generated a total return of 26.2% per annum for investors. This would have turned a $20,000 investment into $200,000.

NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Another company which has come a long way over the last decade is data centre operator NEXTDC. Thanks to the structural shift to the cloud, a significant increase in demand for data centre services, and the expansion of its network footprint, NEXTDC has delivered consistently solid operating earnings and revenue growth over the period. This has resulted in a sustained upward trajectory for the NEXTDC share price, underpinning market-beating returns for investors. Since 2011, its shares have provided an average total return of 21.4% per annum. This would have turned a $20,000 investment into ~$140,000 in 2021.

More reading

• These ASX dividend shares offer generous fully franked yields
• Little ASX software share to explode once everyone wakes up: fundie
• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and these ASX growth shares are rated as buys
• 2 fantastic ASX 50 shares that could be in the buy zone
• Is the NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) share price in the buy zone?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of NEXTDC Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Corporate Travel Management 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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Weakness in the tech sector weighed heavily on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) last week. This led to the benchmark index falling a disappointing 66.6 points or 0.9% to end the period at 7,014.2 points.

Fortunately, not all shares on the index tumbled lower. Here’s why these were the best performing ASX 200 shares last week:

Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX: OBL)

The Omni Bridgeway share price was the best performer on the ASX 200 last week with an 11.1% gain. This gain was driven by the litigation funding provider announcing the settlement of the Wivenhoe class action with the State of Queensland and Sunwater for an aggregate amount of $440 million. Omni Bridgeway will receive a distribution from the settlement of the project costs and the project management fee totalling approximately $30 million.

Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN)

The Crown Resorts share price was the next best performer with a 7.6% gain. The catalyst for this was news that rival Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR) has tabled a conditional, non-binding, indicative merger proposal. On a pro forma basis, Star’s offer implies a price in excess of $14.00 per Crown share. This was a 15.5% premium to its last close price at the time. Crown revealed that it is considering the offer, along with an improved bid from Blackstone.

Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG)

The Resolute share price wasn’t far behind with a gain of 7.5% over the five days. While the gold miner announced the appointment of a new CEO at the end of the week, this wasn’t the reason for the gain. In fact, the Resolute share price fell almost 2% on Friday following the announcement. The gain may have been due to bargain hunters looking for undervalued options in the gold sector. After all, the Resolute share price is still down 31% year to date even after this gain.

Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)

The Whitehaven Coal share price was on form and charged 7.45% higher last week. All of this gain and more was made on Friday after the coal producer’s shares jumped 9%. This was driven by the release of two positive broker notes that morning. Both Macquarie and Credit Suisse upgraded its shares to an outperform rating on valuation grounds. Macquarie has a $1.70 price target and Credit Suisse has a $1.55 price target.

More reading

• ASX 200 rebounds, Treasury rises, Xero falls
• What drove the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price this week?
• Crown Resorts (ASX:CWN) share price lifts amid sell-off push
• Why is the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price up 4% today?
• The Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price hits new record high

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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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Respected fund manager Wilson Asset Management (WAM) has recently identified two ASX shares that it thinks are buys.

WAM operates several listed investment companies (LICs). Some focus on larger companies like WAM Leaders Ltd (ASX: WLE), whilst others go for smaller companies like WAM Research Limited (ASX: WAX) and WAM Microcap Limited (ASX: WMI).

WAM Microcap targets small cap ASX shares with a market capitalisation under $300 million at the time of acquisition.

WAM says WAM Microcap targets the most exciting undervalued growth opportunities in the Australian microcap market.

The WAM Microcap portfolio has delivered gross returns (that’s before fees, expenses and taxes) of 25% per annum since inception in June 2017, which is superior to the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index average return of 11.6%.

These are two ASX shares that WAM outlined in its most recent monthly updates:

Dusk Group Ltd (ASX: DSK)

This is a pick by WAM Microcap.

Dusk is the leading Australian omni-channel specialty retailer that is focused on home fragrance products.

The ASX share recently gave a trading update for the third quarter of FY21 with sales of $27.7 million, up from $18.4 million in the prior year. Financial year to date sales were $118.7 million, up from $77 million in the prior corresponding period.

Wilson Asset Management also pointed out that full year sales guidance is for a range of between $147 million to $151 million. It’s delivering a lot of growth.

Dusk had a strong inventory position for Mother’s Day in May according to WAM. New stores will further add to growth, it has added 10 new stores over the last year.

The fund manager is positive on Dusk because the disciplined cost management provides the business with operating leverage as it rolls out new stores across the country.

Imdex Limited (ASX: IMD)

This is a pick by WAM Research.

What’s Imdex? The LIC explains that it’s a global provider of end to end technology solutions for mining exploration and development, developing drilling optimisation products and sensors to provide real-time data.

Imdex is truly a global business with operations in the mining regions in Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa and the Americas. It has a presence on 70% of minerals drilling projects globally and sales in more than 100 countries.

The ASX share has benefited from strong copper prices, which reached almost US$10,000 per tonne in April, which is the highest in 10 years.

WAM Research explained where it’s seeing opportunities. Clean energy and the battery mineral space continue to see significant investments. This help gives copper, nickel and lithium a strong outlook because of all of the demand.

Wilson Asset Management also thinks that the company will benefit from higher global exploration budgets after years of under-investment.

More reading

• Is there still upside to the JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) share price?
• Why retailers are stepping up as top performing ASX shares this week
• Why the Dusk (ASX:DSK) share price is in focus

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison 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 SKY Metals Ltd (ASX: SKY) share price was up today after the company noted copper sulphides in its latest exploration update.

SKY Metals shares were trading 3.4% higher at 15 cents per share at the close of trade. 

Let’s see what’s spearheading a minor recovery in the SKY Metals share price today.

SKY Metals’ wide copper sulphides

SKY Metals reported exploration updates for three separate New South Wales drill projects today, all with ostensibly solid results.

The company has intersected wide zones of copper sulphides in its maiden reverse circulation drilling operations at its Iron Duke project. Iron Duke is a copper-gold project. 

The copper price is currently barnstorming near its all-time highs, so copper sulphides may have a positive impact on the SKY Metals share price. SKY Metals has submitted the samples from its Iron Duke project and is currently awaiting full assay results to discover whether its found any high-grade results.

The company clearly has faith in its Iron Duke project, however, as it’s already secured a diamond drilling rig from a contractor that’s due to start within two weeks.

The company also reported results from its Galwadgere project, another copper and gold mine.

SKY Metals currently has resource modelling underway for the Galwadgere deposit, but drill core re-sampling from its historic Galwadgere diamond drill holes has delivered “wide copper-gold results”.

The company reported  27.8 metres of 0.5% copper & 0.07g/t of gold from 175 metres deep.

Meanwhile, its Cullarin gold, lead and zinc mine has revealed “further strong zones of gold-lead-zinc” according to the company. SKY Metals is reporting nine metres of 0.57g/t gold, 0.31% copper, and 4.55% lead and zinc from 136 metres deep.

Sky Metals share price snapshot

The Sky Metals share price had barely nudged above four cents in the entire previous decade until 2020 when it tripled in four months between January and April last year.

It’s since fallen back off those highs and has been steady around the 15 cent mark in 2021. Overall, it’s down more than 50% in the past 12 months.

More reading

• Why is the SkyCity (ASX:SKC) share price falling today?
• 2 high quality ASX dividend shares rated as buys
• ASX 200 rebounds, Treasury rises, Xero falls
• Broker eyes these ASX 200 shares following Federal Budget
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Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh 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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