The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price has been a very strong performer on Friday.

In morning trade, the payments company’s shares are up almost 8% to $115.80.

Why is the Afterpay share price storming higher?

There appear to have been a couple of catalysts for the rise in the Afterpay share price today.

The first is strength in the tech sector after a positive night of trade on Wall Street’s Nasdaq index. The tech-heavy index stormed higher overnight after investors rotated out of value stocks and back into growth again.

It isn’t just the Afterpay share price which is charging higher today. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) is up an impressive 3.6%.

What else is supporting its shares?

Also giving the Afterpay share price a lift on Friday has been a broker note out of Morgan Stanley this morning.

According to the note, the broker has retained its overweight rating and $145.00 price target on the company’s shares. Based on the current Afterpay share price, this price target implies potential upside of 25% over the next 12 months.

What did it say?

Morgan Stanley has been looking into the company’s proposed Afterpay Money offering. The broker is very positive on its plans and believes it has the potential to almost double its revenue in Australia.

In addition to this, it expects the offering to boost its core buy now pay later transactions, reduce processing costs, and generate high quality consumer data. Its analysts also see plenty of monetisation opportunities such as cashback offers.

An internal pilot team at Afterpay is currently working on a skeleton app in production with functioning deposit and savings accounts, with iterative prototype testing continuing with customers ahead of an expected launch in the first half of FY 2022.

The post Why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price is storming 8% higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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James Mickleboro does not own any shares 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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The NRW Holdings Limited (ASX: NWH) share price is edging higher during early morning trade. This comes after the company announced it has been awarded a letter of intent (LOI) from Karara Mining Limited.

At the time of writing, the diversified service provider’s shares are swapping hands for $1.545, up 2.66%.

What’s pushing the NRW share price higher?

Investors appear pleased with the company’s latest update, sending the NRW share price higher in mid-morning trade.

According to its release, NRW advised it has been selected for mining services works at the Karara Iron Ore mine.

The works to be performed include load & haul, drill & blast and Run of Mine (ROM) re-handling with the drill & blast component. Works will be undertaken by NRW’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Action Drill & Blast.

Once the agreement has been formally executed, NRW will begin procurement of key mining equipment. In addition, site mobilisation and establishment will begin during the months leading up to the scheduled works commencing March 2022.

NRW is anticipating to spend around $170 million on the equipment over the life of the project. This includes the purchase of three 600 tonne Face Shovel Excavators and a fleet of 220 tonne trucks.

The entire contract will run for a period of 5 years, and is expected to generate roughly $702 million in revenue for NRW.

More on Karara Iron Ore mine

Located in the Gascoyne region, Karara is the largest mining operation and one of only two operating magnetite mines in Western Australia. The large open-pit mine produces high-grade concentrate product for export to Chinese state-owned offtake partner, Ansteel, for steelmaking.

Karara has grown the project to a multi-billion tonne mineral resource. The mine has an expected mine life of more than 30 years.

Management commentary

NRW CEO, Jules Pemberton welcomed the upcoming deal, saying:

I am delighted that NRW has been selected by Karara as its preferred contractor for mining services.

… With a strong local presence in the area through our Geraldton based DIAB Engineering business and our Mining contract with Gascoyne Resources at the Dalgaranga mine site, we look forward continuing to support the existing and highly experienced workforce on site through this transition, as well as creating employment opportunities for the Gascoyne region community.

Karara CEO, Changjiang Zhu went on to add:

NRW is an established West Australian-based mining and civil contractor with extensive open cut mining experience gained through a number of successful mining operations in the state. Offering new prime equipment, NRW has the capability to undertake the entire Karara scope of work comprising a broad range of mining, construction and engineering services. We look forward to negotiation of an agreement with NRW and commencement of mining services early next year.

The NRW share price has fallen by more than 46% in 2021, and is down 19% since this time last year.

The post Why the NRW (ASX:NWH) share price is edging higher 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.

There’s no question that Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) was one of the catalysts for the worldwide e-commerce revolution, but also one of the biggest beneficiaries of the trend. Since its IPO in 1997, Amazon has been one of the market’s best-performing growth stocks, surging more than 195,000%. Last year alone, the e-commerce giant’s stock jumped 76%, propelled higher by massive pandemic-fueled growth in online retail.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) began as a way to help third-party merchants create an online store on top of its existing e-commerce technology. What emerged gradually became Amazon’s largest profit center, representing nearly 12% of revenue in 2020 and 59% of operating profits.

The company has another Trojan horse that has flown under the radar of most investors. Amazon has been slowly perfecting this revolutionary technology, which could represent a significant — and potentially lucrative — opportunity.

Grab it and Go

In 2017, the company debuted Amazon Go, a cutting-edge store that married artificial intelligence, a variety of sensors, and computer vision to eliminate the need to stand in a checkout line.

Since then, Amazon has been slowly but surely perfecting the revolutionary technology. While it occasionally makes headlines, the technology is viewed as a novelty by many investors. That could be a big mistake. A review of how the tech works and a few recent developments could help illustrate the massive opportunity that remains.

If you build it, they will come

Customers enter the store using the Amazon app, and go about their shopping. A host of cameras and sensors detect and keep track of items the customer has taken from the shelves (or even things they’ve put back), running a virtual register tape as they shop. Because of the state-of-the-art technology, it isn’t necessary to stand in a checkout line. Once the customer leaves the store, their Amazon account is charged for the purchases and a digital receipt is provided via the app.

Amazon pioneered this “Just Walk Out” technology in a small convenience store for its employees, but has been gradually expanding it to larger locations, refining the technology in two dozen stores around the country. The e-commerce giant opened its first full-sized Amazon Go grocery store early last year. At 10,400 square feet it was five times the size of its largest existing Go location.

Just this week, the company took a “Fresh” approach. Amazon announced that it was bringing its Just Walk Out technology to the Amazon Fresh grocery store in Bellevue, Washington. At 25,000 square feet, the location sets a new watermark, at more the double the size of last year’s store record-setting debut. It also illustrates Amazon’s ability to continue to scale its cashier-less technology.

Show me the money

Amazon launched a side business in early 2020 to sell its automated checkout technology to other retailers, saying at the time that it had signed “several” agreements, though it declined to reveal the identity of these customers. Later in the year, airport shop operator OTG said it would equip its CIBO Express Gourmet Market at Newark Liberty International Airport with Amazon Go technology, with other locations to follow. A recent review of the first location raved about the ease and convenience of the experience.

The opportunity selling or licensing this technology could be significant. Overall, automated retail represents a $50 billion opportunity, according to estimates provided by Loop Ventures. Even if Amazon captures just a fraction of this market, the rewards could be substantial.

More where that came from

J.P. Morgan Chase research analysts Christopher Horvers and Doug Anmuth made an eye-popping prediction this week. Amazon will likely overtake Walmart (NYSE: WMT) as the largest U.S. retailer by sometime next year.

The analysts found that over the past six years, Amazon’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) — or the value of goods sold on its e-commerce platform — grew at a faster rate than both U.S. retail and U.S. e-commerce markets. They also estimated that Amazon’s GMV climbed 41% year over year to $316 billion in 2020, while Walmart’s GMV grew 10% to $439 billion. Given the current growth rates, Amazon is likely already breathing down Walmart’s neck.

It would be a mistake to overlook Amazon’s culture of innovation and its massive scale, or dismiss the company outright. Given the available evidence, I would argue that Amazon still has a long way to “Go.”

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

The post Investors are overlooking Amazon’s next $50 billion dollar idea appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Danny Vena owns shares of Amazon. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, 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 Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2022 $1,920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1,940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon. 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 Air New Zealand Limited (ASX: AIZ) share price is struggling to leave the tarmac this morning. This follows the release of a trading update from the airline operator.

At the time of writing, Air New Zealand shares are flat at $1.50 a piece.

Flight path to revival

The Air New Zealand share price is looking attractive to investors today after the airline disclosed an optimistic trading update.

According to the airline, the strong and sustained recovery in demand for domestic travel, in addition to its cargo business has been a significant factor in mitigating the negative impacts of COVID-19.

On 27 May 2021, Air New Zealand advised it had been awarded a further five months of cargo flights under the New Zealand government’s Maintaining International Air Connectivity (MIAC) scheme. This agreement will see the kiwi airliner conduct an average of 30 international flights per week until the end of October 2021.  

The company reported that domestic capacity across its operations is now around 90% of pre-COVID levels, with corporate demand showing strong signs of recovery. Additionally, the Trans-Tasman bubble is hovering around 70% pre-COVID levels.

Commenting on the trading update, Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said:

The airline has its eyes firmly set on the future as we move out of the survive phase and into revival mode. For us this means further strengthening our core Domestic business and putting even greater focus on our customer obsession, making sure we understand what our customers truly want from their end-to-end travel journey.

Long haul international passengers remain heavily impacted by international border restrictions. Currently, less than 5% of pre-COVID long haul passenger volume is being exhibited.

How about the finances?

Air New Zealand stated that it has been earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) positive since September 2020. Similarly, the airline has been operating cash flow positive since the second quarter of FY21 – buoyed by cargo support, wage subsidies, and relief packages.

Additionally, Air New Zealand has managed to defer the delivery of its first of eight Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The order has been pushed back to 2024 from the 2023 financial year.

The company has continued its cost management focus. No further drawdowns have been made on its $1.5 billion Crown standby loan facility, since the release of its interim results in late February. The airline’s current amount drawn down remains at $350 million.

Importantly, Air New Zealand provided an update on its FY21 earnings guidance. Losses before other significant items and taxation will not exceed $450 million for FY21, according to the airline.

Likewise, the company expects a comparable loss in FY22, as government support drops off.

Employees to receive Air Zealand shares

After a tumultuous period, the Kiwi airliner is looking to give its permanent employees a pat on the back.

In recognition of the efforts, Air New Zealand will be awarding eligible employees $1,000 worth of Air New Zealand shares. The issue price was not stated.

These shares will be allocated in the fourth quarter of the calendar year.

The post Air New Zealand (ASX: AIZ) share price on the ground following update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler 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 Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB) share price is rising like cream on Friday. At the time of writing, shares in the infant formula manufacturer are trading for 44 cents each – up by a whopping 17.33%.

The company comes into focus after announcing this morning it is entering the US market for dairy-based powder formula.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news.

Why the Bubs share price is surging

In a statement to the ASX, Bubs Australia said from September 2021, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT), will begin to stock and sell its products under the brand name ‘Aussie Bubs’ on its website. As well, the product will be sold in the US by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

The company claims the US formula market is worth a total of US$5.1 billion. On top of this, Bubs says it will be the “only Australian Goat Milk Formula product on the USA market.” If that’s the case, then this helps explain today’s meteoric rise in the Bubs share price.

To facilitate the launch of Aussie Bubs, Bubs Australia will establish a US-based subsidiary. The company said it will “spearhead in-country marketing and [be] based in health-conscious Northern California.”

Management commentary

Bubs CEO Kristy Carr said:

We are delighted to announce this important milestone in our continued implementation of our export diversification strategy, as we look for key global markets in which to expand our now award-winning Clean Label formulations.

Bubs executive chair Dennis Lin added:

As Australia’s largest producer of goat dairy products built on our unique vertically integrated business model and deep understanding of the speciality goat dairy supply chain, we are well placed to take advantage of continuing opportunities to expand our global footprint for the Bubs range.

Bubs share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Bubs share price has decreased by around 55%. Australia’s international border closures, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, severely affected the company. The daigou market formed an important part of the business’ performance, with Bubs suffering when the channel shut down.

Bubs Australia has a market capitalisation of around $273 million.

The post Bubs (ASX:BUB) share price explodes 17% on US launch appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, 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 Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2022 $1,920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1,940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon and BUBS AUST 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 Pentanet Ltd (ASX: 5GG) share price is under pressure on Friday morning.

At the time of writing, the growth-focused telco’s shares are down 4% to 73 cents.

Why is the Pentanet share price dropping today?

The weakness in the Pentanet share price on Friday comes after the company announced a successful capital raising.

According to the release, the company has received firm commitments to raise $20 million before costs via a share placement to institutional and sophisticated investors.

Pentanet is raising the funds at 72 cents per new share, which represents a 5.3% discount to its last close price.

Positively, demand was very strong for the placement. In fact, the company revealed that it received demand three times in excess of what it was seeking. Furthermore, there was a strong level of institutional participation that included many notable Australian funds.

Why is Pentanet raising funds?

The release explains that the funds will be primarily used to accelerate the disciplined execution of the company’s Fixed Wireless and Cloud Gaming growth strategy. Central to this strategy is the deployment of Terragraph and GeForce NOW infrastructure to drive industry leading performance capability and to build a unique telecommunications and gaming platform in the Australian market.

Management notes that market interest in GeForce NOW Powered by Pentanet (the Australian deployment of NVIDIA’s cloud gaming service) has exceeded initial expectations since its announcement in January.

As a result, Pentanet has significantly expanded the planned pilot infrastructure rollout and put in place an upgrade capability to accelerate the network deployment where market demand continues to support this.

Pentanet’s Managing Director, Stephen Cornish, commented: “It is good to see the strong support from investors, highlighting an increased level of understanding around the relationship between cloud gaming and 5G, now enabling us to move Pentanet into the next stage of growth early. It is a fast-developing market and we have taken advantage of market opportunities in both our Fixed Wireless and our Cloud Gaming services to strengthen our capabilities.”

“Our team will continue to show that we are leaders in these developing services, and the highest tier when it comes to providing subscribers with industry leading internet performance and delivering on what will be Australia’s best and most anticipated high-quality Cloud Gaming service.”

Despite today’s weakness, the Pentanet share price is up a sizeable 25% since the start of the year.

The post Why the Pentanet (ASX:5GG) share price is sinking today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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James Mickleboro does not own any shares 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 Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX: SPL) share price is on course to end the week on a strong note.

At the time of writing, the dendrimer products developer’s shares are up 7% to $1.66.

Why is the Starpharma share price pushing higher?

The Starpharma share price is pushing higher today after the company released another update on its COVID-fighting Viraleze antiviral nasal spray.

According to the release, new data demonstrates that the active ingredient in the Viraleze antiviral nasal spray, SPL7013, has been shown to be highly effective against various COVID-19 strains.

The release explains that SPL7013 achieved a more than 99.9% reduction of virus against the Alpha (UK), Beta (South Africa) and Gamma (Japan/Brazil) SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variants of concern in laboratory-based virucidal assays. The testing of SPL7013 was conducted in the laboratory of virologist Professor Philippe Gallay at The Scripps Research Institute in the United States.

Management advised that SPL7013 virucidal activity against the Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants in the current assays were broadly consistent with the virucidal activity demonstrated in the US strain of SARS-CoV2 in the same assay.

It notes that within 30 seconds to 1 minute of exposure, SPL7013 achieved >99% reduction in infectious virus against Beta and Gamma variants, and >99.9% within 5 minutes. The Alpha variant was quicker, achieving a >99.9% reduction in infectious virus within 30 seconds to 1 minute of exposure.

Starpharma’s CEO, Dr Jackie Fairley, commented: “We are very pleased to see such potent and rapid virucidal activity of Viraleze against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. These variants continue to spread across the globe and challenge efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Given its broad spectrum of activity, Viraleze could prove to be particularly beneficial as an additional protective measure against these variants. This could prove particularly useful in settings where these variants can be problematic, like hotel quarantine and major international events such as the Tokyo Olympics,” she concluded.

The post Starpharma (ASX:SPL) share price jumps 7% on COVID variant update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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James Mickleboro does not own any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Starpharma Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Starpharma 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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The Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) share price is on the move on Friday morning.

At the time of writing, the electronic design software provider’s shares are up 3% to $35.46.

Why is the Altium share price pushing higher?

The catalyst for the rise in the Altium share price today has been the release of a presentation and a trading update.

In respect to the latter, Altium’s Chief Financial Officer Martin Ive revealed that the company’s performance improved in the second half after a slow start to the year. However, due partly to a shift in its sales mix, there is a danger it could fall short of expectations in FY 2021.

He said: “Momentum has returned to Altium’s business with double-digit growth in the second half, however, after a slow first half due to the impact of COVID and our pivot to the cloud, the full year is likely to be at, or slightly below, the low end of our guidance.”

The guidance range Mr Ive is referring to is for revenue of US$190 million to US$195 million in FY 2021.

In addition to this, Altium is expecting its margin to be at the low end of the guidance range of 37-39% on an underlying basis. This excludes one-off acquisition costs and the write back of the SolidWorks minimum contractual amount due to termination of its agreement.

Mr Ive further commented: “Altium’s renewal business is strong, Octopart is set for a record performance and China is delivering a solid performance. Demand is growing for Term Based Licences (TBLs), which is a positive for future recurring revenue, however, Altium’s perpetual licence sales have underperformed relative to our expectations in the key markets of the US and EMEA as our sales organization works through its transition of our new sales model.”

This new sales model is gathering pace, with the adoption of the Altium 365 cloud platform continuing to increase. The release advises that there are now more than 13,100 monthly active users and over 6,300 monthly active accounts.

What about the future?

While FY 2021 might have been a touch disappointing, management remains very positive on the company’s long term growth prospects. This appears to have supported the Altium share price today.

It has reaffirmed its commitment to achieve Altium’s aspirational 2025 financial goals of US$500 million revenue and 100,000 subscribers. This is expected to be underpinned by the company’s unique position within the global engineering software industry and track record of strategic execution.

In addition to this, due to the aforementioned change in its sales mix, management expects the majority of this revenue to be recurring in nature by then. It anticipates recurring revenues growing from 60% to 80% of overall revenue by 2025.

Commenting on the future, Altium’s CEO, Aram Mirkazemi, said: “Everyone at Altium is strongly focused on delivering our strategy and driving value for our investors. Electronics sit at the heart of all intelligent systems, and Altium software and services provide the unique bridges that connect electronic design to the electronics supply chain and the manufacturing of electronics products.”

“With the strong early adoption of our cloud platform, we are evolving from our PCB design origins and are now playing an essential and growing role in the design and making of smart products, that spans manufacturability and productivity, research and influence, and component sourcing.”

Mr Mirkazemi appears confident in the company’s strategy and expects Altium to dominate the industry.

He said: “With our strategy we are pursuing dominance and transformation simultaneously. This will allow us to continue to deliver value to shareholders, while driving electronics industry transformation for the benefit of our customers.”

“The building blocks of our strategy are in place; our flagship PCB design tool Altium Designer supported our journey to market leadership and remains at the core of the Company, our new cloud platform Altium 365 will drive our ambition to unify and align the electronics industry and our ecosystem platform Nexar will bring transformation and a clear pathway to monetization.” Mirkazemi added.

The post Altium (ASX:ALU) share price higher on guidance update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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James Mickleboro does not own any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Altium. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Altium. 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.

For Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the future is about far more than our physical reality. The company is building tools for augmented reality (AR) that could be in common use by over 1 billion devices around the world, and virtual reality (VR) has been rumored to be on the way as well.

What’s become clear in the last few quarters is that Apple is building the foundation of its AR strategy right before our eyes. Lidar included in iPhones and iPads today increases the accuracy and fidelity of AR on the devices, and Apple is already creating an ecosystem of apps and tools for developers. At its Worldwide Developers Conference last week, Apple said it is bringing AR into maps and capture tools for third-party apps in an AR strategy that could keep this tech stock growing for the next decade.

Augmented reality is coming to maps

The most notable AR addition announced last week was AR for maps. In a news release, Apple described its mapping AR technology by saying, “With iOS 15, users can simply hold up iPhone, and Maps generates a highly accurate position to deliver detailed walking directions in augmented reality.”

For now, this technology will only be available on the iPhone, but it’s unlikely that’s the end game. AR glasses like Magic Leap have long envisioned maps as a high-value use for augmented reality technology. A Magic Leap app called Holomaps says you can “see 3D maps with live data, traffic, weather, and Twitter updates.” If and when Apple announces AR glasses, it could offer the same tools.

The combination of knowing a user’s location and being able to scan the surrounding area opens up a world of possibilities, especially if users are wearing Apple AR devices. And if Apple can use the user’s scan data to improve its maps, we could see that add value not only to maps but also to new technologies like self-driving vehicles.

Capturing AR assets just got a lot easier

Another notable addition to iOS is Object Capture. One of the challenges with building cost-effective AR tools is capturing 3D assets, and now that can be done with just a camera. Here’s what Apple said about Object Capture and RealityKit 2, part of ARKit, in a press release:

RealityKit 2 introduces Object Capture, a simple and powerful [Application Programming Interface] API on macOS Monterey [the codename for Apple’s latest OS] that enables developers — like Wayfair, Etsy, and more — to create high-quality, photo-realistic 3D models of real-world objects in minutes by taking photos shot on iPhone, iPad, or DSLR and transforming them into 3D models optimized for AR. These models can be viewed in AR Quick Look or added to AR scenes in [applications like] Reality Composer or Xcode, making it easier than ever to build amazing AR apps.

If capturing assets gets easier, it’ll make it easier for developers and companies to include AR assets in their apps. And more assets mean more app possibilities for current iOS devices and next-generation devices like AR or VR glasses or headsets.

AR is core to Apple’s future

Apple highlighted that it has over 1 billion AR devices in the world, and the company has slowly but surely been building a foundation in AR for years. It has hardware with AR technology integrated, tools for developers to build with, and billions of users already in the ecosystem. If Apple introduces AR glasses in the next few years, as rumored, it could expand its product lineup even further and continue growth into the next generation of technology devices. Don’t sleep on the importance of AR to Apple’s future.

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

The post Apple is already building an augmented reality future appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Travis Hoium owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Apple, Etsy, and Twitter. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple. 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 RPMGlobal Holdings Ltd (ASX: RUL) share price will be one to watch on Friday.

This follows the release of an update in relation to the mining software company’s sales for FY 2021.

What did RPMGlobal announce?

RPMGlobal shares will be in focus today after the company revealed its current trading conditions have been stronger than the previous year.

The company provided an update on total contracted value (TCV) and annual recurring revenue (ARR) for subscription software sales.

During FY 2021, RPMGlobal has achieved $40 million in TCV software subscriptions, with $40.4 million recorded year to date. This is an increase of $9 million from when the company reported $31.4 million in TCV sales early last month.

ARR from software subscriptions has also grown to $21.5 million, up from $20.1 million on 4 May 2021.

What does RPMGlobal do?

Founded in 1968, RPMGlobal provides advisory consulting, training and software for the mining and related services industries. The group operates across 3 segments, namely software, advisory, and GeoGAS.

The software division integrates planning and scheduling with maintenance and execution, and simulation and costings for mining companies.

Next up, the advisory division comprises consulting and advisory services, delivering expertise on technical mining papers. This provides insights into geology, engineering and environmental, social and governance factors, as well as mining logistics to resource companies.

And finally, the GeoGAS division provides services to coal mining customers such as gas content testing and relevant consulting services.

RPMGlobal share price summary

Over the last 12 months, the RPMGlobal share price has accelerated by almost 60%. In 2021, the company’s shares have lifted by nearly 30%.

Last Thursday, RPMGlobal shares hit a milestone all-time high of $1.735. It’s worth noting that at the current price of $1.66 before market open, they could break a new record today if investors respond positively to the company’s latest update.

RPMGlobal has a market capitalisation of roughly $380 million, with approximately 229 million shares on its registry.

The post Why the RPMGlobal (ASX:RUL) share price will be in the spotlight today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended RPMGlobal Holdings. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended RPMGlobal Holdings. 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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