The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price is down today despite investment bank Jarden claiming yesterday that the company could grow its addressable market to more than $500 billion.

The Woolworths share price has dropped 0.82% to $37.29 at the time of writing.

Let’s take a look at what has unfolded.

New revenue streams through growth initiatives

Woolworths has had a busy year in 2021, undertaking several growth initiatives to add fuel to the company’s growth engine.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) yesterday, Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci wants to generate additional revenue streams by building out the company’s retail, supply chain and rewards segments.

To illustrate, back in February, the company launched an online learning and training platform which it eventually made accessible to adjacent retail and service industries.

In April, it released its plan to more than double its e-commerce product mix through the launch of a virtual marketplace, enabling third-party sellers to drive sales through Woolworths’ website.

Later that month, it also established Q-Retail, a new business unit that brings together its data analytics capabilities with those of shopping insights platform Quantium. This followed Woolworths increasing its stake in Quantium to 75%.

Finally, in June, Woolworths also launched its financial services platform known as ‘Wpay’ as a standalone payments business segment. These moves come 14 years after it established its own in-house payments platform.

Analyst commentary

The AFR reports that Jarden analysts Ben Gilbert and Keegan Booysen believe Woolworths could “double its addressable market to more than $500 billion by expanding into areas outside the traditional food and everyday needs sectors and by leveraging its systems and expertise”.

The analysts estimated the company’s vertical businesses were already generating ~$100 million, including its:

• Cartology media interests
• Wpay for payments
• Supply chain operations via Primary Connect
• Data analytics through Quantium
• Plus other insurance/telco interests.

Gilbert and Booysen state in the equity research report:

“In our view Woolworths, along with Westfarmers, is the best positioned of Australian-listed corporates to capitalise on growing consumer brand trust to expand into right-to-play verticals and adjacencies.”

Woolworths share price summary

The Woolworths share price has given a 12-month return of just under 1% at the time of writing, which has lagged behind the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)’s return of ~21.5% over this same time.

Over the previous 5 sessions, the Woolworths share price has finished in the red, and has also finished in the red over the last 1 month by 13.94%.

The company’s share price has also lagged the ASX 200’s year-to-date return, by posting a loss of around 5% at the time of writing, compared to 9.3% for the index.

At a share price of $37.29, Woolworths has a market capitalisation of $47.2 billion, and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52.

The share price is trading off its 52-week high of $44.06 but it sitting above its 52-week low of $35.96.

The post Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price dips as experts predict growth 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 NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NFH) share price has hit a new 52-week high during today’s session.

At the time of writing, the NIB share price has dipped 1.52% into the red, after starting the day in the green and hitting an intraday high of $6.61.

This morning’s trading volume was around 9% higher than the 20-day average volume-at-time (AVAT) seen for that time of day.

Let’s cover NIB Holdings’ share price in a bit more detail.

What has NIB Holdings been up to lately?

NIB shares hit their 52-week high despite no market-sensitive information that may have impacted the company’s share price today.

Back on 23 June, NIB chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon stated there will be a paradigm shift towards a focus on medical care within the home going forward, Bloomberg LP reports.

Fitzgibbon also mentioned that NIB is aiming to provide networks within its existing channels that will connect to people in their residence or other care centres.

Speaking on these secular trends in healthcare, Fitzgibbon stated:

100 years ago about 90% of health care was practiced at home. Now, I’m not saying 100 years from now we’ll be back to 90% at home, but that’s the direction.

NIB shares have climbed more than 5% since this announcement.

Earlier in May, the ACCC also withdrew its case against NIB, originally filed for NIB’s changes to its MediGap scheme which covered customers’ Medicare services when they weren’t bulk billed.

At that time, ACCC chair Rod Sims stated:

We are pleased the industry has significantly changed practices since 2015 to ensure greater transparency for consumers, including NIB’s change of its approach and commitment to continue informing customers about changes that may affect their out–of–pocket expenses for ongoing treatment ahead of the changes occurring.

NIB share price snapshot

Today’s gains extend the run for NIB’s shares this year-to-date. Since January 1, the NIB share price has gained 8.7%, building out a 12-month return of 38.4% for the company.

These returns have outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)’s return over these time periods, with the Index posting returns of 9.7% and 21.9% during the year-to-date and last 12 months respectively.

Over the last 1 month, the NIB share price has gained a further 1.25% and has set 3 new 52-week highs during the past 2 weeks.

At the current share price, NIB has a market capitalisation of $3 billion and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 30.

The company also pays a 20 cents per share dividend, fully-franked, giving a current dividend yield of 2.15%. NIB has made good on each dividend payment since September 2009.

The post NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF) share price hits new 52-week high today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Blazing it? How the top ASX cannabis shares performed in FY21
• Medibank Private (ASX:MPL) share price sets new 52-week high 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 recommended NIB Holdings 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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Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (ASX: CVN) shares are on the rise today after the company announced it has formed a joint venture to produce green diesel with Frontier Impact Group.

At the time of writing, the Carnarvon share price is trading 1.75% higher at 29 cents.

Let’s take a look at what the company announced this morning.

Green diesel joint venture

Investors are driving the Carnarvon share price higher after the company reported its 50/50 joint venture with Frontier Impact Group will prioritise the production of renewable diesel from plant biomass.

The company reports the $100 million facility can also produce biochar, which can then be refined into graphene for use in the production of batteries and electronics.

The bio-refinery is poised to begin production in late 2022 and will rely on “internationally proven technology” which has never been implemented in Australia before.

Speaking about the company’s latest joint venture, Carnarvon chief executive Adrian Cook said:

This joint venture demonstrates a clear and pragmatic start to delivering on our net-zero commitment, while ensuring long-term, sustainable shareholder value remains a key determinant in our decision making.

He added:

There is a clear link between the delivery of our core projects, securing carbon offsets for these through this venture and producing valuable products such as renewable diesel.

Pivoting to show climate-change risks

Carnarvon was on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s radar in 2020, alongside a run of oil and gas players, for failing to report on its climate-change impacts.

Since these “climate pressures” emerged, the company has produced its first sustainability report, disclosing climate-change risks and actions taken to offset the same.

Carnarvon has today also committed to producing net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner.

Carnarvon share price snapshot

Over the past month, the Carnarvon share price has climbed by 16%. It has also posted gains of more than 52% over the previous 12 months.

Although the company’s shares have outpaced the returna of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over these periods, they have lagged the index on a year-to-date basis, dipping 3.33% since the start of 2021.

At the current share price of 29 cents, Carnarvon has a market capitalisation of $454 million. The share price is off its 52-week high of 34 cents but is aloft its 52-week low of 18 cents.

The post Carnarvon (ASX:CVN) share price jumps following renewables venture appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why Bigtincan, Oil Search, Opthea, & Xref shares are racing higher

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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There are a certain number of ASX dividend shares that have a relatively high yield.

These are businesses that have reasonably high dividend payout ratios and have plans to grow profit over the long-term, which may mean the leadership teams are able to increase the dividend in some years. 

Here are three with higher expected yields:

Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)

Accent is one of the largest shoe retailers in Australia with a large number of stores such as The Athlete’s Foot, PIVOT and The Trybe.

It has been increasing its margins, store count, efficiencies and online sales. Growth has accelerated during this period of COVID-19.

The FY21 interim result saw earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 29%, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) growth of 47.3% and net profit after tax (NPAT) growth of 57.3%.

This allowed the board to fund an interim dividend increase of 52.4% to 8 cents per share.

The business is expected to pay a dividend of 12.5 cents per share in FY21 according to Commsec, which would translate to a grossed-up dividend yield of 6.4%.

Nick Scali Limited (ASX: NCK)

Nick Scali is another retailer with a large dividend yield.

It imports quality furniture and sells it to customers looking to improve their homes.

Nick Scali is currently rated as a buy by Citi which has noted that sales continue to be stronger than expected with the order book continuing to see growth.

Indeed, the ASX dividend share recently said that total written sales order growth was 50% in the third quarter of FY21. April 2021 written order sales growth was 242%, cycling against widespread store closures in April 2020. It’s expecting net profit after tax growth in FY21 of between 85% to 90%.

Citi thinks Nick Scali will pay a FY21 dividend of $0.80 per share, translating to a grossed-up dividend yield of around 10%.

Nick Scali plans to offer more products, open more stores and expand its digital offering.

Centuria Industrial REIT (ASX: CIP)

Centuria Industrial is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that is the largest pure play on industrial property in Australia.

On 11 June 2021, it announced that its portfolio had increased to be worth over $3 billion across 66 high-quality industrial properties after an acquiring three properties with a blended initial yield of 5% and an average weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 5.8 years.

The manager of Centuria Industrial explains that the REIT’s strategy is to secure high-quality industrial assets within key metropolitan locations. Mr Jesse Curtis says that the ASX dividend share has a strong track record of identifying value and providing value-add opportunities through repositioning and active leasing to deliver reliable income returns and capital growth to unitholders.

The broker Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) rates the ASX dividend share as a buy, with the potential of further improvements in the valuations of the properties. Macquarie thinks Centuria Industrial will pay a distribution of 4.9% in FY22.

The post 3 high-yielding ASX dividend shares 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 Macquarie Group Limited. 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 Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) share price is outpacing the broader market after it sold its interest in a JV and announced a FY22 reinsurance placement.

The Suncorp share price jumped 0.3% to $11.21 during lunch time trade with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) slumped 0.3% into the red.

Management announced today that it sold its 50% stake in RACT Insurance Pty Ltd (RACTI) to its JV partner, the Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania Ltd (RACT) for $83.8 million.

Suncorp share price lifts on possible capital return

The sale price equates to around a price-earnings multiple of 18.1 times based on the expected FY21 earnings.

Suncorp will book a pre-tax profit on the divestment of $65 million to $70 million. The total capital release is expected to be $50 million.

No word yet on what Suncorp intends to do with the surplus capital and investors will be hoping for some form of capital return. No doubt the Suncorp share price will rally if management handed back some of the cash.

The bank and insurance group last did a capital return in 2019 when it paid 39 cents a share on top of its regular dividends.

Downsizing to upside the Suncorp share price

The sale is consistent with Suncorp’s plan to streamline its business. It said the transaction was in the best interest of shareholders and customers.

“Suncorp and RACT have enjoyed a successful relationship in Tasmania since 2007,” said Suncorp’s chief executive Steve Johnston.

“We have mutually agreed that now is the right time for RACT to take full control of the insurance entity. This is consistent with our focus on simplifying the Group and driving improvement in our core insurance and banking businesses.”

The sale isn’t expected to be completed till late this calendar year and is subject to regulatory approval.

Reinsurance update brings relief

Suncorp also announced that it has placed its FY22 reinsurance program. Reinsurance is like insurance for insurance companies to protect them in the event of a major claim event.

Given the growing incidences of natural disasters linked to climate change, the news is welcomed by shareholders.

The structure of the main catastrophe program remains unchanged from FY21. There is an upper limit of $6.5 billion covering the Home, Motor and Commercial property portfolios across Australia and New Zealand.

Pleasingly, the cost of the FY22 reinsurance program and natural hazard allowance are in-line with management’s guidance. The natural hazard allowance for FY22 is expected to be $980 million and Suncorp’s maximum event retention remains at $250 million.

No unexpected bad news to rock the Suncorp share price here.

Another reason for shareholders to cheer

Investors will also be relieved about Suncorp’s underpayment controversy. The group completed its review into pay and leave entitlements of staff in Australia.

It said it will make remediation payments to current and former employees identified by the review from July 2021.

More importantly, it believes that the $60 million it has set aside in the FY20 results will be enough to cover all costs.

The post Suncorp (ASX:SUN) share price bucks market downtrend on ~$84m divestment appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• ASX 200 up 0.2%: Westpac asset sale, Ramsay increases Spire offer
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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday

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

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The 2021 financial year was overall a very good one for ASX shares. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) managed to put on a performance of 24% for the 12 months to 30 June 2021. That makes FY2021 one of the best financial years ever for the Australian share market.

But some sectors inevitably performed better than others. That’s capitalism for you. And the sector we’re looking at today – ASX cannabis shares – certainly had its fair share of both winners and losers.

So let’s check out how this popular sector fared in the financial year that has just passed us by.

How did the top ASX cannabis shares fare in FY21?

Below is a table of how the ASX’s top cannabis shares performed in FY2021:

ASX Cannabis Share	% Gain/Loss for FY21
Creso Pharma Ltd (ASX: CPH)	351.6%
Little Green Pharma Ltd (ASX: LGP)	154.3%
Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: BOT)	107.7%
Althea Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AGH)	(6.3%)
Zelira Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: ZLD)	(20.4%)
Auscann Group Holding Ltd (ASX: AC8)	(26.7%)
Elixinol Wellness Ltd (ASX: EXL)	(29%)
Cann Group Ltd (ASX: CAN)	(57%)
Ecofibre Ltd (ASX: EOF)	(69.4%)

As you can see, it was something of a mixed bag. If you were lucky enough to hold Creso Pharma shares over the financial year, you would have enjoyed a very pleasing gain of more than 350%. However, if you were unfortunate enough to have money invested in Ecofibre, you instead would have had to cop a nasty near-70% loss for your time, effort and capital.

 

Highs or red eyes for ASX cannabis?

While each company had its own individual trials, triumphs and tribulations, it’s worth noting this is a sector that often moves in tandem. This is due to the unique but uniform challenges ASX cannabis shares all face. The most prominent of these is, of course, the legal status of cannabis itself.

Whilst recreational use of cannabis/marijuana is still illegal in many countries, including Australia, recent changes have been happening.

Perhaps at the forefront of these changes is the ever-evolving regulatory landscape in the United States. As it currently stands, 18 US states currently allow recreational use of cannabis.

Most recently, we saw the state of New York ‘legalise it’ back in April. This saw an immediate boost to the values of ASX cannabis shares despite the Australian market implications being limited.There is also debate in Mexico over the potential legalisation of cannabis. If this went ahead, it could open up a market of nearly 130 million people.

Another headache…

On the other hand, ASX cannabis shares have seen some setbacks in this arena as well. Last October, New Zealand held a ‘reefer-rendum’ on legalising recreational use of cannabis across the ditch. It failed, meaning that, at least for now, recreational use of cannabis remains illegal in the Land of the Long White Cloud. This was a big setback for the ASX cannabis sector here in Australia.

But, as you may have noted, there were some clear winners in this space regardless. As we noted earlier, Creso Pharma was the top performer in its sector.

Creso managed to capture investor attention through its acquisition of Halucenex Life Sciences. Halucenex specialises in psychedelic compounds and stands to benefit if the US state of California legalises psilocybin (the active drug in ‘magic mushrooms’). This is still currently being debated in the Californian Congress but investors certainly seem optimistic.

It’s also worth noting that some of the worst-performing ASX cannabis shares of FY21 were once known as some of the best performers.

Companies like Althea and Xalra were top-performing companies as recently as last year. But the tide has definitely turned for some of these companies’ share prices. Mostly, complications surrounding the pandemic, as well as regulatory issues, are mostly to blame here for the woes of Ecofibre and Cann Group in particular.

The post Blazing it? How the top ASX cannabis shares performed in FY21 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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

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The Medibank Private (ASX: MPL) share price has hit a new 52-week high this afternoon.

At the time of writing, the Medibank Private share price is trading hands at $3.21, up 2.23%. The 52-week low was $2.45 on 9 September 2020.

Trading volume was about 40% higher than the 20-day average volume-at-time (AVAT) for the same time of day this morning.

Let’s take a look at the Medibank Private share price in closer detail.

The month so far for Medibank Private

Medibank’s share price has hit its 52-week high despite there being no company-specific or market-sensitive news today.

Medibank has had a busy month, however, which could explain the rise in share price seen recently. The big item on Medibank’s agenda has been the company’s premium relief payments policy.

On 29 June, the company announced that it will return approximately $105 million to customers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic through premium relief payments.

The insurer said the premium relief program would cover approximately 2 million accounts.

Speaking on the program, Medibank chief executive officer David Koczkar said:

Covid-19 restrictions limited how our customers could use their health insurance.

The moves take the company’s total Covid-19 support package to $300 million. Medibank Private shares climbed from $3.16 to $3.21 following the announcement.

Medibank Private share price snapshot

The Medibank Private share price has had a bumpy year in 2021 but has jumped into the green by 6.6% since January 1.

Medibank shares are also up around 1.2% over the previous 1 month and remain in the green over the previous 5 trading sessions.

The company’s share price has posted a 12-month return of ~6% which has lagged the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)’s return of 21.88% over the same period.

At the current share price, Medibank Private has a market capitalisation of $8.8 billion and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of around 24.

The company pays a dividend of 12 cents per share, fully-franked, and the dividend yield is 3.77% at the current market price. Medibank also has earnings per share of 13.1 cents from its most recent filing.

The post Medibank Private (ASX:MPL) share price sets new 52-week high today 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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In early afternoon trade on Tuesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has given back its morning gains and is sinking. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.3% to 7,294.9 points.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are racing higher:

Bigtincan Holdings Ltd (ASX: BTH)

The Bigtincan share price is up 4.5% to $1.18. Investors have been buying the sales enablement platform provider’s shares after it announced a major contract extension. According to the release, US based telco giant T-Mobile has extended its contract by $6.3 million in total contract value over a two-year period. This means the T-Mobile total contract value now stands at $18.4 million since its initial deployment.

Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH)

The Oil Search share price is up 4% to $4.05. There have been a couple of catalysts for this rise. One is a jump in oil prices overnight and the other is a broker note out of Morgans. In respect to the latter, the broker has upgraded the energy producer’s shares to an add rating with a $4.40 price target. This follows an upgrade to Morgans’ medium term oil price forecasts.

Opthea Ltd (ASX: OPT)

The Opthea share price has jumped 9.5% to $1.38. This morning the biotech revealed that it has received Fast Track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for its product to treat patients with neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In addition, Opthea noted that it may also be eligible for accelerated approval and priority review as long as it meets the needed criteria.

Xref Ltd (ASX: XF1)

The Xref share price has stormed 22% higher to 45 cents. This follows the release of the human resources technology company’s fourth quarter update. According to the release, Xref expects to report record sales of $6.37 million and cash receipts of $5.93 million for the quarter. Management notes that COVID-19 has accelerated the global demand for remote working. This has led to organisations seeking better ways to perform candidate verification, leading to growing demand for its self-serve platform.

The post Why Bigtincan, Oil Search, Opthea, & Xref shares are racing 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 BIGTINCAN FPO and Xref Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BIGTINCAN FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Xref 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 Strategic Elements Ltd (ASX: SOR) share price is soaring today on news the company’s subsidiary will be making an autonomous vehicle in collaboration with the Australian Department of Defence.

At the time of writing, shares in Strategic Elements are up 3.49% ­ – trading for 22.3 cents apiece.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news from the exploration and information technology development fund.

Autonomous vehicle collaboration

Strategic Element’s subsidiary, Stealth Technologies, will be designing and delivering an autonomous drone-carrying vehicle to help the Australian Defence Force adopt autonomous technology faster.

The project will be in collaboration with the Department’s Defence Science Technology Group (DSTG).

The vehicle will be able to deliver drones and sensors to a target location, automatically detecting and sensing chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents on the way.

The vehicle will use Stealth Autodrive Hardware and Stealth OS Software to navigate through environments. It will also be able to launch a drone with CBRN detection and sensing abilities and have it land back in the vehicle.

The Western Australian Defence Science Centre (DSC) will provide $150,000 for the autonomous vehicle’s development and an investigation into whether it could be manufactured in Western Australia.

DSTG, DSC, the University of Western Australia, and Stealth Technologies will each put $350,000 towards the collaboration.

DSTG will also provide personnel, existing CBRN search algorithms, facilities, equipment, and support.

Stealth Technologies will retain all intellectual property and commercialisation rights for CBRN detection and other defence force-related applications.

Stealth Technologies will eventually demonstrate the vehicle’s abilities to the DSTG and the Army.

The company will also look into using technology to fulfil other Defence needs. These may include resupplying or intelligence, surveillance, or reconnaissance missions.

The autonomous vehicle and drone launch and land system’s initial concept design is expected this quarter.

According to Strategic Elements, the global market for CBRN Defence was estimated to be worth US$16.2 billion in 2020. It’s expected that will increase to US$21.9 billion by 2027.

Strategic Elements share price snapshot

Today’s good news hasn’t been enough to get the Strategic Elements share price back into the green.

It’s currently 6% lower than it was at the beginning of 2021. However, it has gained 221% since this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $86 million, with approximately 388 million shares outstanding.

The post Strategic Elements (ASX:SOR) share price up on Defence Force collab 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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As we’ve covered extensively on the Fool over the past week, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a very successful year over the last financial year that has just passed us by. Over FY2021, the ASX 200 managed to add a very healthy 24%, making it one of the best financial years ever for ASX 200 shares. But that’s old news now. So today, we’re checking out how some of the ASX’s top biotech shares performed over FY21. Here’s the tea:

5 top ASX biotech shares in FY21

Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS)

Healius is an ASX biotech company that works in the pathology, imaging and medical centres spaces. It has also recently branched out into COVID-19 testing. Healius had a rather successful FY2021. Healius started the financial year at approximately $3.05 a share. It finished up last Wednesday at $4.63 a share, putting its FY21 gains at a very robust 51.8%. A positive trading update that Healius delivered back in May seems to have lit a fire under the company’s shares over the back half of the financial year in particular. This update showed quarterly revenue growth of 8%, as well as the company reaching the milestone of 3 million COVID-19 tests in total.

Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME)

Pro Medicus is another ASX biotech share that performed rather well in the financial year just gone. This compnay started FY21 at $26.4 a share, but ended up last week at $58.66. That’s a 12 month gain of 121.7%. Pro Medicus is in the imaging and diagnostic space as well. It also provides radiology information systems, communication services and visualisation to hospitals, medical centres and other health care facilities.

A series of positive announcements over FY21 seems to have been the primary catalyst here. Back in May, Pro Medicis announced an 8-year contract with The University of Vermont Health Network, which locks in a revenue stream for the company. Further, Pro Medicus also announced in June that it had inked a long-term collaboration agreement with Mayo Clinic.

Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX)

The Telix share price might be having a rough time today (down 2.8% at the time of writing). But that doesn’t take away from the fact that this company had an outstanding FY2021. Telix started the financial year at just $1.28 a share. It finished up last Wednesday at $6.08 a share, marking its FY21 gains at a very pleasing 375%. So what went so right for Telix?

Well, Telix is a biotech company that is working on molecularly-targeted radiation therapy to assist cancer patients. Again, it was a series of positive updates that seemed to be at work here. Back in May, Telix announced that its bone marrow conditioning drug TLX66 had “met study objectives” in patients during a clinical trial. That wasn’t the only piece of good news either. Back in January, Telix reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the recruitment of patients in a study looking at Zirconium Imaging in Renal Cancer Oncology (ZIRCON).

Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU)

And at last, we get to the best performing ASX biotech share in Imugene. Imugene was also the best performing ASX share in the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) over FY21 as well, incidentally. Imugene shares started the financial year at just 3.1 cents a share, but finished up last week at 35.5 cents. That’s a gain of a whopping 1,045%. Why was Imugene such a powerful biotech gainer in FY21? Well, in April, it informed the markets that its clinical trials for the treatment of gastric cancer had proved successful. Soon after, Imugene announced in May that it would be conducting further clinical trials for the treatment of cancerous tumours with oncolytic virus and cell therapy technology.

CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)

This one is a bit of a bonus, but we couldn’t miss the ASX’s largest biotech company (and the third-largest ASX share overall by market capitalisation). CSL, in contrast to the companies above, didn’t have a great FY21. Investors might remember the cracking growth CSL shares became known for over the past decade. But 2020 and 2021 has seen this growth stall somewhat. CSL shares started out FY21 at $287 apiece.

But by the end of the financial year, they hadn’t strayed too far, ending last week at $285.47. That’s a loss of 0.53% for the preceding 12 months. Nothing terrible happened to CSL over the year that caused this stagnation. But ongoing problems with the company’s formerly lucrative plasma collections business, mostly due to the pandemic, can perhaps be blamed here. A rising Aussie dollar over the financial year wouldn’t have helped either (CSL reports in US dollars).

The post How these top ASX biotech shares performed in FY21 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen 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 CSL Ltd. and Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Pro Medicus 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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