If you’re looking for new additions to your portfolio this week, then you might want to look at the growth shares listed below.

Here’s why these ASX growth shares are rated highly:

Hipages Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: HPG)

Hipages is a leading Australian-based online platform and software as a service (SaaS) provider. Its platform connects tradies with residential and commercial consumers, providing job leads from homeowners and organisations looking for qualified professionals.

The company estimates that over 3 million Australians have used its platform, providing work to over 34,000 trade businesses on the platform. Hipages also offers tradies its Call of Service job management software, which improves their productivity by streamlining their workflow and taking away the stress of doing admin.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs are positive on the company. They appear to believe it could be another REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) in the making. Goldman notes that the company currently captures around 5% of total industry advertising spend, but sees scope for this to increase to REA Group-type levels of 40% to 60% in the future as the company builds out its ecosystem.

Goldman Sachs has a buy rating and $3.35 price target on its shares.

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

Another option for growth investors to consider is Kogan. This ecommerce company is out of favour with investors right now because of some significant short term headwinds it is facing. This includes having a severe backlog of inventory after management failed to predict a slowdown in sales once the pandemic eased and physical stores reopened.

While this is very disappointing, nothing has changed in respect to its long term growth prospects. Thanks to its strong market position and the structural shift online, Kogan looks well-placed to grow its sales and earnings at a solid rate over the coming years once trading conditions return to normal.

Analysts at Canaccord Genuity appear to believe the recent weakness in the Kogan share price is a buying opportunity. The broker currently has a buy rating and $14.00 price target on its shares.

The post 2 highly rated ASX growth shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor 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 Hipages Group Holdings Ltd. and Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended REA Group 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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Tried logging into your mobile banking app this afternoon? If you were met with “Something went wrong”, you’re not alone. A widespread internet connectivity issue in Australia has hit many Australian companies. These include Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).

While the outage started at 2pm, the exact cause has not yet been disclosed. But here’s what we know.

Looking at the commonality

Three of the big four banks, the Reserve Bank of Australia, Allianz, Macquarie Bank, and Virgin Australia have all reported issues across their systems. Reports have suggested these companies share the same content delivery network – Akamai.

Content delivery networks are responsible for the technology that hosts their customers’ data. A part of that responsibility is protecting their customers’ websites from cyber-attacks and optimising the speed of data access. These are two things that would be essential for ASX-listed CBA and its banking customers.

Only a week ago, Akamai’s competitor, Fastly Inc (NYSE: FSLY) experienced a similar outage that left Pinterest, The Financial Times, Reddit, and many other sites unresponsive.

Furthermore, The Australian Financial Review reported that Akamai’s Prolexic service may be related to the Australian issue.

It also appears the connectivity issue extends across Asia more broadly.

CBA and RBA after ASX close

At the time of writing, some banks, including CBA, have managed to restore services. Additionally, the RBA has put in place ‘appropriate mitigations’ to get its website back up and running.

UPDATE: 4.15PM We are starting to see services return to normal following a tech outage that had widespread impact across businesses. Thank you for your patience – we're sorry to cause any inconvenience to your afternoon.

— CommBank (@CommBank) June 17, 2021

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However, the issue did result in the central bank cancelling its bond purchasing program for the day. The RBA had planned to purchase up to $2 billion worth of 11/2028 to 05/2032 bonds.

Lastly, no formal comments have been made by Akamai regarding the situation at this time.

The post CBA (ASX:CBA) and other banks hit by internet outage appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns shares of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Fastly and Pinterest. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pinterest. 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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Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) shares enjoyed a day in the green despite no news having been released by the company.

The Wesfarmers share price closed today’s session at $57.49 – 0.63% higher than yesterday’s close. However, during intraday trading, the company’s share price hit a new record high of $58.38.

Wesfarmers’ gains came about during a poor day’s trade for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which closed Thursday 0.37% in the red.

Let’s take a look at what Wesfarmers has been up to this year.

Wesfarmers’ 2021

The ASX has only been graced with three pieces of price-sensitive news from Wesfarmers this year.

The first announcement came on 17 February, when the company announced it had made a final investment decision for the Mt Holland lithium project.

The project is a joint venture between Wesfarmers and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A.

The two companies decided to commit to the full funding of the project when they receive environmental approvals for the Kwinana refinery, anticipated early in the 2022 financial year.  

Construction of the mine, its concentrator, and refinery are scheduled to begin in the first half of next financial year.

The following day, Wesfarmers released its half-year results. The results included a 16.6% revenue increase and a 25.5% increase in net profit after tax (excluding significant items).

Both pieces of news had little impact on the Wesfarmers share price.

Finally, on 3 June, Wesfarmers released its strategy briefing.

Most of the news within the briefing was positive. However, the company admitted its businesses had been affected by COVID-19 induced fluctuations. Additionally, its Catch business’ gross transaction value growth has been negativing since mid-March.

The briefing’s release saw the Wesfarmers share price end the day around 2% lower than the previous session.

Wesfarmers share price snapshot

The Wesfarmers share price has been having a solid year on the ASX. Currently, it’s around 14% higher than at the start of 2021. It has also gained around 33% since this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $65 billion, with approximately 1 billion shares outstanding.

The post Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price hits new all-time high appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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

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The Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH) share price has delivered a stellar performance so far in 2021.

Since the start of the year, the hearing solution company’s shares have continued on their upwards trajectory, gaining almost 30%.

However, today Cochlear shares reached an important milestone, breaking a new 52-week high of $244.62.

With no news released to the ASX today, let’s take a look at Cochlear’s most recent price-sensitive announcement.

What’s been pushing the Cochlear share price higher?

Investors have been buying up Cochlear shares over the last 6 months following the company’s positive February half-year results.

For the 6-month period, Cochlear reported sales revenue of $742.8 million, down 4% against the first half of FY20’s result. While this may appear disappointing, when looking closer, surgeries recovered towards the second quarter following the easing of COVID-19 shutdowns.

Sales revenue dropped 8% in the first quarter, but rebounded to edge 8% higher in the following 3 months (Q2 FY21). Cochlear attributed the performance to varying degrees of growth across established versus emerging international markets. The United States, Japan, South Korea, and China recorded robust sales, while India and Brazil struggled with volumes.

On the bottom line, the company posted an underlying net profit of $125.3 million, falling 6% against a COVID-free first-half period (H1 FY20). The result was driven by a solid recovery in sales revenue and lower operating expenses due to material COVID-related savings.

Cochlear is projecting it will achieve FY21 underlying net profit between $225 million and $245 million. This is a 46% to 59% increase on last year’s FY20 result.

The company noted that the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, and rapid return of surgeries, is a positive sign for its resilient business.

Broker update

After reporting its first-half results, a number of brokers rated the company with varying price points. Investment firm, Macquarie raised its price target for Cochlear by 1.7% to $245.00. Morgan Stanley followed suit to also increase its rating by 6.1% to $227.00. The most recent broker note came from Credit Suisse in late May, which initiated a price of $225.00 for the hearing solutions company.

At today’s market close, the Cochlear share price had slightly retreated from its 52-week high to $243.46, up 0.58% for the day.

The post Cochlear (ASX:COH) share price edges higher to break 52-week record appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Cochlear Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cochlear 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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When you’re young and first start investing you might focus on growth shares that provide you with the potential for outsized returns. After all, if your investments don’t work out as planned, you have time on your side to recover from your losses.

But as you enter retirement, it may be prudent to limit your exposure to these type of investments and focus on those that offer income and capital preservation. With that in mind, here are a couple of ASX shares that retirees might want to take a look at. Here’s what you need to know about them:

BWP Trust (ASX: BWP)

The first option for retirees to look at is BWP Trust. It is the largest owner of Bunnings Warehouse sites in Australia with a portfolio of 68 stores leased to the hardware giant. BWP has been a strong performer during the pandemic thanks to the quality of its tenancies. With Bunnings reporting stellar sales growth, BWP has been able to collect rent as normal.

In light of this, the company intends to pay a full year distribution of ~18.3 cents per share in FY 2021. Based on the current BWP share price of $4.30, this equates to an attractive 4.25% dividend yield.

National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)

National Storage is a leading self-storage focused real estate investment trust. It is one of the largest self-storage operators in the ANZ region with a network of over 200 centres. But it doesn’t plan to stop there. The company continues to see room to expand its network in the future via its development projects and growth through acquisition strategy. In fact, the company is in the process of raising $325 million to strengthen its balance sheet and replenish its investment capacity.

This should support solid income and distribution growth over the next decade, especially given the booming housing market. This traditionally results in growing demand for its services as people move homes or downsize. For now, analysts at Ord Minnett are forecasting dividends of 8.2 cents per share in FY 2021 and then 8.6 cents per share in FY 2022. Based on the latest National Storage share price of $2.03, this will mean yields of 4% and 4.2%, respectively.

The post 2 high quality ASX shares for retirees appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has 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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By far the most popular and tracked index covering Australian shares is the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). Sure, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is older. But the ASX 200 seems to have overtaken the All Ords in terms of what ASX investors usually take a peek at when they want to know what’s going on with the share market.

And fair enough too. Everyone knows the major constituents of both indexes, such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) and Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW). But you’d be hard-pressed to find an Aussie (perhaps even an investor) that could name 5 companies outside the ASX 200.

Most ASX index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) accordingly track the ASX 200 .These include the iShares Core S&P/ASX 200 ETF (ASX: IOZ), the SPDR S&P/ASX 200 ETF (ASX: STW) and the BetaShares Australia 200 ETF (ASX: A200).

But there is a glaring exception. The Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS) shuns the ASX 200 in favour of the S&P/ASX 300 (ASX: XKO). This index is just like it sounds – instead of covering the top 200 ASX shares by market capitalisation, it throws on an extra 100 smaller ASX companies on the bottom.

This Vanguard ETF also happens to be the most popular (by fund size) ETF on the ASX. So how does the ASX 300 measure up against the ASX 200?

ASX 200 vs ASX 300 – is bigger always better?

Let’s look at some performance figures.

So according to Vanguard, The VAS ETF has returned 28.78% over the past 12 months (to May 31, 2021). It has also averaged a 10.1% per annum return over the past 3 years, 10.16% over the past 5 and 8.64% over the past 10.

To compare this performance to an ASX 200 ETF, let’s take the iShares IOZ ETF. According to this fund’s provider BlackRock, IOZ has returned 28.12% over the past 12 months (also to 31 May). Again, that’s including fees and expenses (0.09% per annum this time), and also assuming all dividend distributions were reinvested. Over the past 3 years, this EFT managed an average of 9.82%. Over the past 5, it was 9.97%, and 8.55% for the past 10.

So the ASX 300 appears to have a slight edge when just looking at historical performance. However, keep in mind that the future is uncertain and that these past numbers do not indicate future returns.

We can say that ASX investors who chose the ASX 300 VAS ETF to invest in have done marginally better than those going for the ASX 200 IOZ fund over the past decade. In saying that though, there really wasn’t much in it though.

The post Could investing in the ASX 300 be better than the ASX 200? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Corporation Limited and Woolworths 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 S&P/ASX 50 index is home to 50 of the largest listed companies on the Australian share market.

This means the index is home to many of the highest quality and most well-known companies that the ANZ region has to offer. While there are a number of quality options, two that could be standouts are listed below. Here’s why they are rated as buys:

NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

NEXTDC is a leading data centre operator with a portfolio of nine world-class centres in key locations across the country. It may also be adding to this network in the near future after announcing provisional plans to expand into both Singapore and Tokyo.

While this expansion could provide NEXTDC with a huge runway for growth in the future, its long term prospects in Australia are also very positive. Thanks to the structural shift to the cloud, demand for data centre capacity is growing quickly and underpinning strong revenue and earnings growth.

For example, during the first half of FY 2021, NEXTDC posted a 27% increase in data centre services revenue to a record $121.6 million and a 29% increase in EBITDA to $65.7 million. This was driven by a 33% lift in contracted utilisation to 71MW, a 16% lift in customers, and a 16% rise in interconnections.

Macquarie is a fan of NEXTDC. It currently has an outperform rating and $13.95 price target on its shares.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

Xero is a leading cloud-based business and accounting software provider. Its platform provides businesses and their advisors with a solution that offers deep cloud accounting functionality and an ecosystem of over 800 third-party app partners.

Demand for its platform has been growing strongly over the last few years. This is being driven by the ongoing shift to cloud accounting solutions and its international expansion.

The good news is that its growth doesn’t appear likely to end any time soon. For example, in FY 2021, Xero reported operating revenue of NZ$848.8 million. This represents just 1.9% of its total addressable market which is estimated to be worth NZ$45 billion at present.

Goldman Sachs is positive on Xero and believes it is well-positioned for long term growth. This is due to the quality of its offering, the ongoing shift to cloud-based solutions, its global market opportunity, and burgeoning app ecosystem. Goldman has a buy rating and $153.00 price target on its shares.

The post 2 fantastic ASX 50 shares rated as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Xero. 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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Stock investors have put ASX 200 company boards on notice to reduce the incidence of sexual harassment in workplaces.

An Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) study released Thursday showed just 19% of S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) companies accepted that the board has primary accountability for fighting sexual harassment.

The research, commissioned by investor advocacy group Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), also showed just 19% of surveyed companies require directors to receive training on good governance and sexual harassment.

The shocking findings come after a rough 12 months among ASX 200 companies for their cultural response to sexual misbehaviour allegations.

AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) infamously lost 2 board members over its handling of accusations against Boe Pahari, who was promoted to AMP Capital boss despite the cloud.

In September, QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) suddenly sacked its chief executive after a complaint from a female employee.

Transparency was also a concern coming out of the study. Less than one-third of ASX 200 companies comply with ASX Corporate Governance Principles by reporting sexual harassment incidents to the market.

And 14% of them don’t ever report to any external party.

Companies that ignore harassment risk long-term damage

Harassment incidents are obviously traumatic for those involved. 

But there is also a massive cost to the company and its shareholders, according to ACSI chief Louise Davidson.

“There is plenty of evidence over recent times that companies that fail to appropriately manage this issue do significant damage,” she said. 

“Long term investors have an interest in ensuring the companies they invest in are well run, safe for their employees, and have culture that prevents and addresses workplace sexual harassment when it occurs.”

Workplace sexual harassment cost the Australian economy an estimated $3.8 billion in 2018, said AHRC sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins.

“Workplace sexual harassment causes immense social and economic harm.

“I welcome ACSI’s initiative in commissioning this survey and report, and their recognition of the critical role that ASX 200 boards and executive management have in preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment.”

8 ways companies and shareholders can all improve

The research identified 8 actions ASX 200 companies and investors could take to improve treatment of sexual harassment cases:

• Ensure board has primary responsibility and accountability for harassment issues
• Ensure companies have skills and experience to prevent and respond to incidents
• Make gender equality a priority and set targets
• Ensure systems and frameworks are in place to manage risks
• Align appointment, expertise and performance management of CEO and executive team for leadership on sexual harassment issues
• Report internally and externally
• Investors should demand information on a company’s systems and processes
• Investors should advocate for improved transparency on sexual harassment

The post Investors warn ASX 200 boards to stamp out sexual harassment appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Tony Yoo 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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Fans of Australia’s superannuation retirement scheme often love to complain about governments ‘fiddling with the rules’ when it comes to super. It’s not a good day for those fans.

The federal government announced a range of proposed changes to how superannuation works in the last federal budget, which was delivered last month. These changes have been subject to the usual massaging and tinkering that can be necessary for proposed laws to pass both houses of our Parliament. But today, we have news that the tinkering is over. We now have a new and imminent set of rules and regulations when it comes to super.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) today, the government’s Your Future, Your Super legislative package has just passed the Senate. The government was able to get One Nation and independent senators on board with a 34-30 vote in the Senate.  This means it will almost certainly become the law of the land very shortly.

So what’s in these new rules and regs that we ought to know about?

New superannuation rules for Aussie workers

The bill’s flagship change (and that has seemingly attracted the most controversy) is a ‘stapling’ mechanism. Presently, an employee can be automatically enrolled in a workplace’s default superannuation fund. This process can potentially repeat for every new job said employee moves on to. No longer. This reform will require a worker’s first super fund to automatically ‘follow’ them when they change jobs. The workers can still choose to change out their superannuation fund if they wish.

The government says this is designed to reduce the prevalence of multiple super accounts for workers. This stapling mechanism will come into effect on 1 November this year. The Labor opposition has said that this stapling might risk locking Aussie workers into underperforming funds. But the government clearly thinks the potential benefits outweigh these risks.

Other measures in this super package include a super fund annual performance test. As well as a public ranking system of super funds to be run by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It also includes a requirement for super funds to act in the “best financial interests” of their members’ funds for all expenditures.

Other measures that were proposed by the government have been knocked back following the Senate negotiations. Most prominently was a regulation that would have allowed the government authority to prohibit investments by super funds that the government judged were against the national interest. That didn’t make the final cut.

With these new rules, it might be a good time to check your own super fund, and make sure everything is going to plan!

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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 World Bank has reportedly refused to help El Salvador instate Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) as a legal tender.

The South American country committed to instate the cryptocurrency as legal tender last week.

World Bank’s refusal

According to reporting by Reuters, the World Bank has declined El Salvador’s requests for assistance on implementing the cryptocurrency as legal tender due to environmental concerns and transparency issues.

Bitcoin has recently been plagued with environmental concerns. The same concerns saw Telsa Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) drop the coin as a payment option last month.

The cryptocurrency relies on the process of Bitcoin mining to verify transactions. As Bitcoin mining is extremely complicated, miners use supercomputers to do much of the hard work.

These super computers use a huge amount of energy and often rely on electricity from burning coal.

Additionally, Bitcoin can be used anonymously, although not as anonymously as cash. Still, this can hinder financial transparency.

The World Bank isn’t the only international financial organisation concerned with the country’s newest currency.

IMF communication department director Gerry Rice told a press conference last week that the IMF has concerns about El Salvador’s adoption of the cryptocurrency as legal tender. He said:

[The] adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues that require very careful analysis. So we are following developments closely and will continue our consultations with the authorities.

El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly voted in favour of recognising the cryptocurrency as legal tender on 10 June.

The nation’s president, Nayib Bukele, said the cryptocurrency’s adoption will give Salvadorians more financial freedoms and allow them to dodge fees when receiving remittances from family members living abroad.

Bitcoin price

Currently, a single Bitcoin is worth $50,790.43. The cryptocurrency’s price has fallen 3.8% over the last 24 hours.

It has gained 5.6% since El Salvador recognised the cryptocurrency as legal tender.

The post World Bank won’t support El Salvador’s Bitcoin ambitions 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. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin. 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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