Shares in Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL) have been on a rollercoaster this week after intensive reporting by a number of media outlets. At the time of writing, the Nuix share price is up 2.9%, with shares in the company swapping hands for $3.51.

The media reports come off the back of a disappointing start to Nuix’s time on the ASX.

The company’s December initial public offering (IPO) was sold as having the potential to be the jewel in the S&P/ASX All Technology Index‘s (ASX: XTX) crown. Such hopes turned sour when Nuix released its results for the first half of the 2021 financial year. They’ve continued to go downhill since.

Over the course of this week, the Nuix share price has dramatically surged or fallen a number of times.

Following a 9.4% drop on Monday, which saw it hit an all-time low, the Nuix share price gained 12.7% the following day. Then, after a 3.3% gain on Wednesday, it fell again yesterday, closing 7% lower.

Let’s take a look at the claims made against Nuix this week.

What’s driving the Nuix share price?

Monday

Many market watchers woke up on Monday to find Nuix in the news across three former Fairfax publications. Of course, Fairfax merged with Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX: NEC) in 2018.

The report was part of a series of articles resulting from a joint investigation by the Australian Financial Review, The Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald. It claimed the company has a history of poor governance and questionable financial disclosers.

Monday’s report discussed Castagna’s 2018 money laundering and tax evasion charges, which he was acquitted of the following year.

It also stated Castagna left Nuix’s board the day its ASX float prospectus was launched. Supposedly, this meant retail investors would have been largely unaware of Castagna’s involvement with the company.

Nuix’s board responded to the claims on Monday, saying:

Nuix has in place robust processes to measure forward indicators of performance in order to ensure that it keeps the market fully informed and has done so on a timely and regular basis. Nuix is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance

Tuesday

The following day, Nuix held its investor day presentation. There, its CEO Rod Vawdrey apologised to shareholders for Nuix’s performance since its float, saying:

That’s on us, that’s our bad. Building trust with you, our investors really is our top priority. I take full responsibility for the performance of the business.

Wednesday

Following Nuix’s investor presentation, the three publications reported more claims against Nuix’s history of disclosing information and its relationship with Castagna.

They claimed there was a gap in the company’s recording of options held by Castagna’s company Blackall (formerly named Ferodale).

According to the publications, Blackall was issued with 300,000 shares in Nuix in exchange for $3,000 in 2005. Though, only one single piece of paperwork noted the options’ existence between 2005 and 2011.

The options were supposedly cashed out for $80 million during Nuix’s IPO.

The publications questioned whether the options were actually issued in 2011 and backdated. They said that in 2011, the options were worth $1.8 million.

Thursday

The Nuix share price took a big hit on Thursday as the publications reported on looming legal action from the company’s former CEO and two potential class actions.

They said former Nuix CEO Eddie Sheehy is taking legal action against Nuix due to options within his 2008 renumeration package.

The reports stated in order for Sheehy to exercise the options, Nuix had to sell or list in an IPO for more than $40 million.

The main issue is due to a 50 for 1 share split conducted in 2017. Nuix’s lawyers say the split didn’t apply to Sheehy’s options and the December IPO didn’t meet the criteria for which the options were exercisable.

Sheehy claims the share split cost him $118 million.

Sheehy was quoted by the publications as saying:

Currently, and by all accounts, Nuix is going to owe me over $200 million in damages. So, the big question for all shareholders is, where is Nuix going to find the funds to pay me? And, if it can’t find the funds, what happens next?

Two class actions are also being evaluated by law firms. The class actions mainly relate to missing prospectus forecasts during Nuix’s first year on the ASX, which has left some shareholders jaded.

 Nuix share price snapshot

Despite its wild ride this week, the Nuix share price is up 7.34% since Monday. However, its share price has dropped 56% since its ASX IPO – leaving many shareholders disappointed.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $1 billion, with approximately 317 million shares outstanding.

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The Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) share price is in the green today. At the time of writing, shares in Australia’s busiest airport are trading for $5.85 – up 1.39%. By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is currently sitting 0.14% higher.

The company comes into focus as it holds its 2021 annual general meeting (AGM) today.

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

What’s affecting the Sydney Airport share price

Chair’s address

In the first of two presentations to shareholders, Sydney Airport chair, Trevor Gerber, talked about the challenges the airport faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and outlined some of its plans for the future.

Gerber revealed Sydney Airport is aiming to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030. Net-zero means that any carbon emissions are offset by other means, which differs from zero-carbon emissions. The federal government considers both direct and indirect emissions relevant when trying to achieve net-zero emissions.

According to Gerber, 2020 was a tale of contrasts. The first quarter of the calendar year was strong for the company. Passenger traffic was comparable to the previous year before plunging to 25% passenger levels compared to 2019.

In 2020, revenue was down 51% to $803.7 million, according to the chair. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 62% $508.1 million. Most astonishingly, net operating receipts fell a mammoth 95% to $45.5 million. Gerber revealed, unsurprisingly, Sydney Airport would not pay a dividend at the end of the financial year.

Despite the lack of dividend payment, the Sydney Airport share price is rising in late morning trade.

Also in 2020, Sydney Airport undertook extreme measures to “protect the Airport’s balance sheet,” as Gerber put it.

The company secured an additional $850 million bank facility and raised $2 billion via an equity raise in 2020. Although not stated by Gerber today, in 2020, total expenses before depreciation and amortisation fell by 41% in 2020 to $291.6 million.

No guidance was issued for the remainder of the calendar year.

CEO’s address

In the second presentation to shareholders, CEO Geoff Culbert expanded on the talking points of the chair.

He called 2020 “the toughest year in the history of Sydney Airport.” Revenue in its airplane, carparking and ground transportation businesses collapsed by 70% on 2019. Retail revenue’s fall was not further behind. Culbert revealed income from that business segment was 63.5% lower compared to 2019. Furthermore, 25% of Sydney Airport’s workforce was made redundant in the third quarter of 2020, Culbert said.

Looking forward, Culbert said there was “pent-up demand” evident in domestic travel numbers. When state borders were open, domestic travel surged before falling when shut again. Passenger numbers surged again when borders were reopened, especially between Queensland and Victoria.

International travel numbers were down 97% on 2019 but the new trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and New Zealand is “an obvious bright spot” according to Culbert. He added its effects have been immaterial so far and that “it’s still early days.” Furthermore, Culbert said the company believes travel between Australia and New Zealand will continue to pick up over the course of 2021, especially heading into the winter school holidays.

The CEO added this optimism is reflected by the 96% occupancy rate of its retail stores. He concludes from this figure that retail partners “share [its] view on the long-term fundamentals of Sydney Airport.” Investors seemingly agree, judging by today’s rise in the Sydney Airport share price.

Finally, Mr Culbert called on the government to increase the speed of the vaccine rollout.

“The faster we get the country vaccinated, the earlier we can talk about opening the border. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

Sydney Airport share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Sydney Airport share price has increased by 7.33%. It has still, however, not fully recovered from the impacts of the pandemic. Sydney Airport shares are around 27% lower when compared to their closing price on 24 February 2020.

Sydney Airport has a market capitalisation of $15.7 billion.

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• The Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) share price slumped 5% today. Here’s why

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There are a few really good reasons why the Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH) share price could be worth looking at.

Pushpay is a payments and technology business. It provides electronic donation capabilities for large and medium US churches. Pushpay also provides number of church management and community tools.

Some of those tools include kids and volunteer pre-check, group participation, events, custom content and branding, sermons and audio player, push notifications, app giving and transaction history, giving analytics. It also has a livestreaming option.

Pushpay can claim multiple benefits for the church – increased participation, the ability to engage with new donors, increase recurring giving and removing barriers to generosity.

There are many reasons why the Pushpay share price might be worth owning, including these three:

Strong top line growth

ASX shares that are growing revenue at a double digit pace give themselves a better chance of producing shareholder returns.

Pushpay is seeing a number of positive growth numbers that help revenue. Over FY21, its total customers increased by 2% to 11,099. Average revenue per customer (ARPC) per month grew 12% to US$1,475. Total processing volume in FY21 rose 39% to US$6.9 billion.

All of these different measures helped operating revenue rise by 40% to US$179.1 million.

Over the long-term, Pushpay is aiming to grow its annual revenue to US$1 billion. That would represent a market share of around 50%.

One of the main ways that Pushpay is attracting so much demand for its software is Churchstaq. That’s the offering of Pushpay tools, combined with all of the tools offered by Church Community Builder.

Pushpay quoted a client from the Emmanuel Christan Centre who said that the functionality of the Pushpay tool is the best he has ever experienced.

The annual revenue retention rate is more than 100% – customers appear to be loyal and sticky.

Operating leverage

Not only is Pushpay seeing strong growth of revenue, but it’s also experiencing profit growth at a much faster pace.

As margins grow, it means that net profit can rise at a faster pace than revenue. Net profit is one of the key factors that investors look at when deciding what the Pushpay share price should be.

During FY21, Pushpay’s gross profit margin increased by three percentage points from 65% to 68%. This helped net profit after tax increase by 95% to US$31.2 million and operating cashflow grow by 145% to US$57.6 million.

Pushpay said that it’s going to continue to balance expanding its operating margins with opportunities to increase revenue growth.

Investing for the future

Pushpay is growing within its core customer base, but it’s also going to invest for growth.

In FY22 it plans to invest US$6 million to US$8 million to establish relationships and increase engagement with key stakeholders in the Catholic segment. Two thirds of that money will be spent on product design and development. The rest will be spent on sales and marketing.

Management expect to see the benefits of this expenditure over the course of the following financial years.

Pushpay said that it’s the “first step” in investing to grow outside of its existing core customer base. It has set a goal of winning more than 25% of the Catholic church management system and donor management system market over the next five years.

The ASX share pointed out that the Catholic church is closely associated with many education providers and non-profit organisations, which presents further opportunities within the US and other international jurisdictions.

It continues to look for acquisition opportunities to bolster its growth prospects.

Pushpay share price valuation

According to Commsec, the Pushpay share price is currently valued at 24x FY23’s estimated earnings per share (EPS).

More reading

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Value shares will easily outperform growth stocks over the next 10 years, according to Vanguard’s Investment Research Group.

The conclusion is drawn in a paper from the group titled Value versus growth stocks: The coming reversal of fortunes released earlier this month.

“We expect value to outperform growth over the next 10-year period by as much as 5% to 7% per year, and perhaps by even more over the next 5 years,” the report read.

The research was based on US markets, which the fortunes of Australian equities closely correlate to.

The four authors, Kevin DiCiurcio, Olga Lepigina, Ian Kresnak and Dr Joseph Davis, acknowledged that growth has completely outplayed value over the last decade. 

But this is historically unusual.

“Over the last 10 years, US growth stocks have outperformed US value stocks by an average 7.8% per year,” said the report.

“[However,] the value factor, as defined by Fama-French, has on average outperformed growth over 10-year time horizons going back to 1936.”

Their analysis showed legitimate reasons for growth’s dominance in recent years — low inflation, near-zero interest rates, corporate profits growth, and share market volatility.

But now they believe that narrative has been “oversold” — and it’s time for value’s revenge.

Post-COVID return to ‘fair value’

The tide is about to turn, say the report’s authors.

“Growth and value appear to be at the upper and lower bounds of their respective fair value to market estimates,” the report read.

“Based on the historical performance of the models, deviations from fair value typically revert to fair value over time.”

The other big driver is the rise of inflation back to more historically standard levels.

“If the [post-COVID] recovery were to stall meaningfully (or reverse) and neither inflation nor corporate profits accelerated, there is a risk that growth could continue to outperform,” the study stated.

“We expect a gradual rise in fair value over the next 5 to 10 years as long-term inflation measures begin to normalise to our 2% target, real interest rates rise, and corporate profit growth rates increase amid the COVID-19 recovery.”

Return forecasts for value and growth shares

Over the next 5 years, the Vanguard study predicts value stocks will outperform growth by between 9% and 13%. That will moderate to 5% to 7% winning margin over the next decade.

“Investors who allocate their entire equity portfolio to value can expect average annualised returns of 4.3% to 7.3% over the next decade, versus 3% to 5% for the broad US equity market.”

The big question mark over this forecast is how much longer the market will reward growth companies for research and development spending. 

But the report’s authors reckon this has already been priced in.

“While we do not have an informed view on the expectation for future R&D spending by growth companies, we can say that current valuations of growth relative to the broad market are already priced to reflect the most optimistic corners of the distribution,” the study read.

“Therefore, it is not unreasonable to believe that, even if investors continue to reward this behaviour, less upside potential remains.”

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Australia’s top brokers have been busy adjusting their estimates and recommendations once again. This has led to the release of a number of broker notes.

Three broker buy ratings that have caught my eye are summarised below. Here’s why brokers think these ASX shares are in the buy zone:

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

According to a note out of Ord Minnett, its analysts have retained their buy rating and $24.75 price target on this artificial intelligence data services company’s shares. This follows the release of a trading and restructure update earlier this week. Ord Minnett was pleased to see the company reaffirm its earnings guidance for FY 2021. It was also happy to see the company restructure its business in a way that will provide more clarity in relation to what is driving its growth. The Appen share price is fetching $13.46 today.

Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)

A note out of the Macquarie equities desk reveals that its analysts have retained their outperform rating and $17.50 price target on this travel agent’s shares. This follows the release of recent updates from travel peers such as Qantas. And while it suspects that lower travel agent commissions could weigh on its recovery, it believes valuation support is emerging. It also notes that it remains sensitive to positive news flow as borders reopen and vaccines roll out. As a result, it holds firm with its positive view on the company. The Flight Centre share price is trading at $14.88 on Friday.

Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN)

Analysts at Morgan Stanley have retained their overweight rating and $5.90 price target on this airline operator’s shares following its market update. According to the note, the broker was pleased to see that domestic capacity is expected to increase beyond previous expectations during the fourth quarter. And while its guidance for the full year fell short of expectations and its international operations look set to drag on its FY 2022 results, the broker sees enough value in its shares to maintain its overweight rating. The Qantas share price is trading at $4.73 this morning.

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

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

What happened

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) stock enjoyed a modest tailwind Thursday, closing the day up 3.1% after announcing that its new electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck will go on sale next year for the low, low price of $39,974. That’s just $74 more than Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) says it will sell its Cybertruck for, and with Ford beginning sales in 2022 — but Tesla not saying when its Cybertruck will arrive — Ford’s F-150 Lightning might even beat Cybertruck to market. 

And yet, while it was Ford that made the headlines, it was Tesla stock that went up more today: 4.1%.

So what

So how did Tesla steal Ford’s thunder? (I mean, its Lightning?)

I’ve got a couple of theories. The most likely is that investors are viewing Ford’s electric F-150 bet as validating Tesla’s idea of selling electric pickup trucks, and as a sort of backhanded endorsement that Tesla was right all along about the future of cars — and trucks — being electric.

A second factor possibly helping out Tesla investors is that famed tech investor Cathie Wood snapped up another 69,508 shares of Tesla today for three of her ARK investment funds. Combined with the more than 47,000 shares Wood purchased the day before, that makes for about 116,500 Tesla shares she’s added to her holdings this week — the first such buying she’s engaged in since April.  

Now what

After a month of nearly continuous selling of Tesla stock on the market, driving shares of Elon Musk’s car company down nearly 25%, investors may be taking Wood’s buying as a “green light” signal that it’s safe to get back in the water again.

And not even a press release from Ford could stop this rally.

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

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• Here are the US shares ASX investors were buying last week

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

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Value investors will increasingly need to look at the ASX dogs of FY21 to find bargains for the new financial year, and three stand out as they are named the latest buys by leading brokers.

The fact is, the hunt for attractively-priced ASX shares is getting more difficult. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) is sitting on a stellar gain of nearly 30%.

If it closes at these levels on June 30, it will mark its best performance in years.  

The ugly ducking could be a swan in FY22

Those sifting through the FY21 laggards for gems to pick up for the next 12-months might want to look at the A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price.

You’d be hard pressed to find a bigger dog. The A2 share price has taken a shocking shellacking and has shed more than 70% of its value over the past year.

But UBS is growing increasingly confident in its turnaround and reiterated its “buy” recommendation on the A2 share price.

Buy this ASX share as its glass is half full

“Average price for best seller a2 Platinum SKUs on major direct CBEC online platforms increased from CNY205/tin to CNY214/tin in April,” said UBS.

“At the same time, a2 Platinum share of best seller declined from 18% to 15% in April, but still remains above pre COVID-19 levels of 13%.

“We have also seen a sequential lift in Australian distributor pricing proxy for a2 Platinum. Collective, this is consistent with our analysis pointing to significant channel inventory tightening in 2HFY21.”

The broker’s 12-month price target on the A2 share price, which is also listed on the New Zealand stock exchange, is NZ$13.50.

Green shoots of earnings recovery

Meanwhile, the Nufarm Ltd (ASX: NUF) share price is another FY21 underperformer that got a tick of approval from Morgans.

The broker repeated its “add” recommendation on the Nufarm share price after the seeds and fertiliser group posted a better-than-expected result.

“NUF’s 1H21 result materially beat expectations as sales occurred earlier than normal given favourable operating conditions and COVID uncertainty/supply chain disruptions,” said Morgans.

“The strong result (EBITDA up 118% on pcp) was led by its ANZ, Europe and Seed Technologies businesses.”

The broker’s 12-month price target on the Nufarm share price is $6.50 a share.

Spoon full of sugar makes this ASX share a buy

One of the latest “buy” picks from Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) is the Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API) share price.

While the API share price is holding a 7% gain over the past year, that’s still way behind the broader market.

But Macquarie thinks this could soon change after it signed a non-exclusive deal to distribute Pfizer’s PBS medicines.

Pfizer distributes its medicines to over 5,600 pharmacies in Australia and the deal does not include Pfizer’s COVID-19 drug. But Macquarie thinks this could change if the government enlists the help of pharmacies to administer the vaccines.

Earnings upgrade

“API expects the additional volume provided by Pfizer Australia’s agreement will result in an uplift in EBIT of ~$4m p.a., which is an increase of +4.8% on our current FY22 estimates to ~$88m,” said Macquarie.

“API’s agreement with Pfizer’s will be generating a higher margin than its existing pharmacy distribution business.”

The broker’s 12-month price target on the API share price is $1.45 a share.

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• ASX 200 up 0.95%: Qantas update, Nufarm’s profits surge

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The NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF) share price is pushing higher on Friday following the release of an update.

At the time of writing, the private health insurer’s shares are up almost 1% to $6.10.

What was announced?

This morning the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that it is planning to authorise Honeysuckle Health and NIB to form and operate a health services buying group for five years.

However, the proposed authorisation will include a condition limiting the size of the buying group, and the ACCC is now seeking submissions on its draft determination.

What are NIB’s plans?

The Honeysuckle Health and NIB buying group intends to collectively negotiate and manage contracts with healthcare providers on behalf of private health insurers and other healthcare payers who join the group.

The ACCC considers the buying group is likely to result in public benefits by providing more choice for insurers and other healthcare payers, increased competition between buying groups, and giving participants more input into contracts and better information.

ACCC Commissioner Stephen Ridgeway said: “Our preliminary view is that authorising nib and Honeysuckle Health to form a buying group delivers public benefits that outweigh any potential adverse effects on competition,”

“Increased competition between buying groups is likely to incentivise the buying groups to provide better value to health insurers, which may reduce upward pressure on premiums for their members.”

Though, the regulator doesn’t want the buying group to become too powerful.

Mr Ridgeway explained: ”Although we intend to authorise this arrangement, we would be concerned about the potential effect on competition if the group was to become too large.”

“Many interested parties, including medical specialists, made submissions opposing the authorisation, and this led nib and Honeysuckle to make changes to limit the size of the group. The ACCC’s preliminary view is that these changes and the condition limiting participation in the buying group are sufficient to address these concerns,” he concluded.

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) may have found itself a bottom after a sudden crash on Wednesday wiped out as much as 30% of its value. After briefly touching US$30,000 around 11pm on Wednesday, Bitcoin bounced back a coincidental ~30% to US$39,700 at the time of writing.

Other popular tokens including Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) have also recovered a respective 90% and 60% off lows.

China’s crackdown on crypto could be a driving catalyst behind the steep selloff, alongside Elon Musk’s decision to pull the plug on Bitcoin payments at Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) last week.

As it’s common for crypto trading platforms such as Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) to offer leverage to investors, the sudden pullback saw a surge in liquidations. At the height of the selloff, more than ~840,000 traders were liquidated to an amount totalling some US$9 billion.

Cryptocurrencies are likely digesting the implications of China’s tough laws on cryptocurrency and Musk’s stance on the environmental implications of Bitcoin mining and transactions.

Past recoveries

Bitcoin has had much larger selloffs in the past, but the digital asset somehow always managed to bounce back.

In some cases, the recovery has been almost V-shaped. Its February 2020 COVID-19 driven selloff wiped out more than half its value from US$10,300 to US$4,700 between 15 February and 12 March. Just two months later, prices had recovered back to the US$9,000 level.

But the 2017 to 2019 crypto bear market tells a much more harrowing story. After reaching a peak of almost US$20,000 in late 2017, Bitcoin, alongside its cryptocurrency peers, plunged more than 80%.

In 2018, news such as rumours of South Korea preparing a ban on cryptocurrency trading, Japan’s largest cryptocurrency OTC market getting hacked US$530 million, and social media platforms including Facebook, Google and Twitter banning advertisements on initial coin offerings sent Bitcoin spiralling to as low as US$3,160 by December 2018.

For investors that bought the peak or initial dips, it would have taken almost 3 years to break even.

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The Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART) share price won’t be going anywhere on Friday.

This morning the online marketplace for local services requested a trading halt.

Why is the Airtasker share price in a trading halt?

Less than two months since completing its initial public offering (IPO) on 23 March and raising $83.7 million at $0.65 per new share, Airtasker is tapping the market again for funds.

According to the announcement, the company is seeking to raise $20.7 million via a capital raising.

Airtasker is aiming to raise these funds at $1.00 per new share, which represents a discount of approximately 7.5% to its last close price. This will be undertaken via a fully underwritten placement to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors.

Why is Airtasker raising funds?

Airtasker is raising capital in order to fund an acquisition in the United States and to further invest in its international growth plans. The latter includes its plans to expand into key city markets in the United Kingdom.

The release explains that the company has signed an agreement to acquire San Francisco-based Zaarly for ~$3.4 million. It is a local services marketplace with more than 597,000 registered users and 900+ verified service providers. Management believes the acquisition will jump start its expansion in the massive US market.

Furthermore, Zaarly’s highly experienced team of marketplace product, engineering, and operations executives will continue to be led by CEO Bo Fishback, who joins Airtasker to lead the US market expansion.

What’s next?

The Airtasker share price is expected to remain in its trading halt until the earlier of the commencement of trade on 25 May and the completion of its placement.

At the time of writing, the Airtasker share price is up a sizeable 66% since hitting the ASX boards in March. This is all the more impressive given the recent weakness in the tech sector.

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