There will be many retail ASX shares taking note that Aldi is planning to start online sales with an e-commerce offering of its special buys and alcohol items in the future.

News Corporation (ASX: NWS) reported that Aldi could decide to do online groceries at a later point, but the international supermarket business is planning to become more online-focused.

The Aldi CEO Tom Daunt was quoted by News Corp, he said:

We are likely to start with something more exciting like wine or Special Buys online before we would entertain a full grocery offer.

What kind of things are sold as Aldi’s special buys?

Well, almost anything can be sold in the special buy section, apart from fresh food, over the course of the year.

Toys, bed sheets, towels, shoes, tools, appliances, country-specific foods, furniture, some devices, books, stationery, clothes, cutlery, TVs, Easter items, Christmas items and so on are just some of the categories.

When you think about it, many of the product categories I just mentioned could challenge a whole heap of different ASX retailers such as: Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL), Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1), Nick Scali Limited (ASX: NCK), Adairs Ltd (ASX: ADH), Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW), Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH), Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)  and Reject Shop Ltd (ASX: TRS).

However, just because Aldi starts selling something online doesn’t mean it’s going to completely disrupt that category.

One big question will be how long those specific special buy items are sold online for. If they’re only sold for a week or two – like the in-store experience – then it won’t be providing year-round online competition to the ASX retail shares. However, if Aldi permanently sells some products online then that would be a different problem for ASX retail shares to deal with.

How important is e-commerce?

Many of the ASX retail shares are reporting very large online sales growth numbers right now, which is what is driving profit much higher during these strange COVID-19 times.

In the recent reporting season, Woolworths saw e-commerce sales rise 77.9% to $2.9 billion, Coles consumer online sales rose 61%, Accent’s online sales grew 110% to $108.1 million, Adairs online sales went up 95.2%, Wesfarmers online sales more than doubled (excluding Catch) to more than $2 billion and JB Hi-Fi online sales rose 161.7% to $678.8 million. You can see why Aldi wants in on this online action. 

Aldi’s moves will be interesting to watch in the coming years. News Corp said that Aldi now has a supermarket market share of 12.4%, according to data from Roy Morgan.

Despite the online move, Aldi continues to expand its network with 20 new stores planned this year in Australia.

More reading

• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and this growth share are in the buy zone today
• 3 under-appreciated income stocks yielding 4-9%: Motley Fool CIO Scott Phillips, on ausbiz
• 2 ASX retail shares delivering strong growth
• How to counter the ASX 200’s Achilles heel
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today

Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends ADAIRS FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Accent Group, ADAIRS FPO, and Temple & Webster Group 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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The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price will be on watch on Wednesday.

This follows the release of an update in relation to its Westpac New Zealand business this morning.

What did Westpac announce?

This morning Westpac revealed that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has instructed Westpac New Zealand to commission two independent reports concerning its risk governance and liquidity risk management.

According to the release, the first report will assess the bank’s risk governance processes and practices applied by its New Zealand board and executive management.

Whereas the second report relates to the effectiveness of the actions Westpac New Zealand has taken to improve the management of liquidity risk and the associated risk culture.

This follows previously identified breaches of the RBNZ’s Liquidity Policy (BS13) and potential non-compliance identified through the RBNZ’s liquidity thematic review.

These breaches were previously reported to the RBNZ and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). The latter regulator took action against Westpac for these issues in December.

What now?

The RBNZ has told Westpac that its New Zealand business will have to hold additional liquid assets until the central bank is satisfied that the previously required remediation work has been effective.

The bank commented: “Westpac New Zealand acknowledges the importance of liquidity and risk governance obligations and will support the independent reviewers to provide the necessary reports to the Reserve Bank. WNZL will also act promptly on any recommendations from the reviews.”

“WNZL has taken a number of steps to improve risk governance but recognises more work is required, and supports the additional oversight that the independent reports will provide.”

Westpac share price performance

The Westpac share price has been a strong performer over the last six months. During this period, it has gained an impressive 49% for shareholders.

More reading

• How to counter the ASX 200’s Achilles heel
• Top brokers name 3 ASX dividend shares to buy today
• Why the Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) share price is on watch today
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: Inflation fears hold ASX down
• 2 blue chip ASX dividend shares to buy

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. 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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More reading

• 2 quality ASX dividend shares to buy right now
• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and this growth share are in the buy zone today
• 2 leading ASX 200 dividend shares to buy for income
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• How does Airtasker (ASX:ART) stack up against its peers?

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Kate O’Brien owns shares of Apple and Rio Tinto Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Apple. 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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If you’re looking for some top ASX dividend shares to add to your income portfolio, then you might want to look at the ones listed below.

Here’s what income investors need to know about them:

Aventus Group (ASX: AVN)

Aventus is the largest fully-integrated owner, manager, and developer of large format retail centres in Australia. Its 20 retail centres are home to a range of high quality national retailers such as ALDI, Bunnings, and Officeworks. In fact, at the last count, national retailers represented ~87% of its total portfolio.

Unlike many other retail landlords, Aventus has performed positively during the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to the company reporting both revenue and profit growth during the first half of FY 2021.

One broker that remains very positive on Aventus is Goldman Sachs. In response to its results, the broker retained its buy rating and $3.04 price target on its shares.

Goldman is also forecasting a ~16.6 cents per share distribution this year. Based on the current Aventus share price, this represents a 5.7% yield.

National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)

National Storage is one of Australasia’s largest self-storage providers. From over 200 locations across Australia and New Zealand, it tailors self-storage solutions to residential and commercial customers.

Thanks to a combination of organic growth and growth through acquisitions, National Storage has been increasing its earnings and distribution at a decent rate over the last decade.

Positively, it looks well-placed to do the same over the next decade thanks to further acquisitions and developments and the booming housing market. The latter is traditionally a key demand driver.

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

Based on the middle of both guidance ranges and the current National Storage share price, this represents a 4% yield.

More reading

• 2 high yield ASX dividend shares to buy today
• 2 high yield ASX dividend shares to buy next week
• 2 quality ASX dividend shares to buy next week
• This ASX dividend share has a very generous 5.9% yield
• 2 top ASX dividend shares with generous yields to buy

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended AVENTUS RE UNIT. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Are you a growth investor? If you are, then you’re in luck. This is because the ASX is home to a number of companies growing strongly.

Two top ASX growth shares that have been tipped as buys are listed below. Here’s why they are highly rated:

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

Kogan is a leading ecommerce company that has been growing at an explosive rate.

For example, during the first half of FY 2021 Kogan delivered a 97.4% increase in gross sales to $638.2 million and a 250.2% jump in adjusted net profit after tax to $36.5 million.

Key drivers of this stellar growth were the accelerating shift to online shopping, the expansion of its product offering, acquisitions, and a big jump in customer numbers. In respect to the latter, the company reported a 76.8% increase in Kogan active customers to 3 million. It also has ~0.72 million Mighty Ape customers as well.

One broker that appears confident that the company has a long runway for growth is Credit Suisse. Earlier this month the broker put an outperform rating and $20.85 price target on its shares. This compares very favourably to the current Kogan share price of $13.33.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

Zip is a leading buy now pay later (BNPL) provider which has also been growing at an explosive rate.

This has been driven by its international expansion, the acquisition of QuadPay, the decline in credit card usage, and the growing growing popularity of the BNPL payment method with both consumers and merchants.

During the first half of FY 2021, Zip reported a massive 141% increase in total transaction volume (TTV) to $2.32 billion and a 130% jump in revenue to $160 million. And while the company posted a sizeable loss, it has the balance sheet capacity to accommodate this.

Zip’s impressive first half sales growth was underpinned by another material increase in active customers. At the end of December, there were 5.7 million active customers on its platform globally. This was up 217% over the prior corresponding period.

One broker that was particularly impressed was Morgans. In response to its results, the broker retained its add rating and lifted its price target to $12.10. This compares to the latest Zip share price of $8.07.

More reading

• Afterpay and Zip were among the most traded ASX shares last week
• ASX 200 crash anniversary: 5 of the best performing shares of the last 12 months
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: Inflation fears hold ASX down
• 2 ASX growth shares that could be strong buys

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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Kogan.com 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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There are a few high-quality S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dividend shares that could be worth owning for income.

Not every that pays a dividend may be worth owning for income – dividends can be volatile and business profits can go backwards, which may lead to dividend cuts down the line.

These two ASX 200 dividend shares have demonstrated resilience over the past year:

Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW)

This is one of the larger real estate investment trusts (REITs) on the ASX with a market capitalisation of $2.7 billion, according to the ASX.

Morgan Stanley currently rates the REIT as a buy with a price target of $5.35.

It isn’t based on one particular real estate sector. It’s actually invested in a broad array of properties such as telecommunications, government (office) buildings, grocery and distribution, fuel and convenience stores, pubs and bottle shops, food manufacturing, waste and recycling management and ‘other’ such as retail, banking finance and security and defence services.

What all of its properties do have in common are long term rental contracts, which is shown in the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT’s weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 14.1 years. This is one of the longest in the sector.

It was one of the few REITs to increase its distribution to shareholders during the COVID-19-hit year of 2020.

The ASX 200 dividend share has an impressive list of “strong and stable” tenants such as Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS), Australian government entities, BP, Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Ingham’s Group Ltd (ASX: ING), Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) and David Jones.

Morgan Stanley believes that Charter Hall Long WALE REIT will pay a distribution of 29.2 cents per unit in FY21, which equates to a forward distribution yield of 6.1%.

Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW)

Brickworks was another business that didn’t cut its dividend during 2020. In-fact, it increased the dividend during the roughest part of the COVID-19 crash in March 2020.

Whilst the company is now seeing a recovery of demand from customers in Australia for building products, the US division is (or was) facing difficulty at the time of the last trading update. The company is due to release its FY21 half-year result this week, so we’ll get a closer look at how things are going. 

Brickworks owns a variety of Australian building brands like Austral Bricks, Austral Masonry, Bristle Roofing, Austral Precast and Pronto Panel.

In the US it owns a few brickmakers such as Glen Gery after acquiring them.

But it’s the other Brickworks assets that fund the dividend, which hasn’t been cut in over 40 years.

Brickworks owns around 40% of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL), which itself has been a reliable dividend payer over the last two decades thanks to its diversified and defensive portfolio of assets.

The ASX 200 dividend share also owns half of a growing industrial property trust along with Goodman Group (ASX: GMG). The concept is that the joint venture builds high-quality industrial properties on land that Brickworks no longer needs.

Two tenants that the industrial trust will soon have is Coles and Amazon. Once the warehouses are completed over the next couple of years, it could lead to rental profit to Brickworks growing by more than 25%.

At the current Brickworks share price, it has a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.5%.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• What experts are saying about Telstra’s (ASX:TLS) big restructuring plans
• ASX 200 dips, travel shares drop, Pushpay soars
• 3 under-appreciated income stocks yielding 4-9%: Motley Fool CIO Scott Phillips, on ausbiz
• Why the Xero (ASX:XRO) share price is outperforming today

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns shares of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Brickworks, Telstra Limited, and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET 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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On Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) faded as the day went on and gave back its earlier gains to end the session with a small decline. The benchmark index fell 0.1% to 6,745.4 points.

Will the market be able to bounce back from this on Wednesday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 futures pointing lower

The Australian share market is poised to edge lower on Wednesday following a weak night of trade on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 2 points lower this morning. In late trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones is down 0.8%, the S&P 500 is down 0.7%, and the Nasdaq has fallen 1% This was despite bond yields falling again.

Oil prices sink lower

Energy producers such as Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could come under pressure today after oil prices sank lower. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 6.4% to US$57.67 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has fallen 6.1% to US$60.69 a barrel. Concerns over demand following further third-wave lockdowns in Europe are weighing on prices.

Gold price falls

It could be a tough day for gold miners Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) after the gold price tumbled lower. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is down 0.75% to US$1,725.10 an ounce. The price of the precious metal fell after a firmer US dollar outweighed a dip in U.S Treasury yields.

Qantas rated as a buy

The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price is in the buy zone according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. Although the broker notes that data shows that discounting is increasing by domestic carriers, it believes investors should overlook this. It explained: “We reiterate our Buy rating on QAN.AX with our 12-month TP of A$6.38. While average ticket prices are falling, we note that a greater proportion of this travel is being taken on leisure routes and for QAN we expect greater penetration of the low-cost Jetstar brand.”

Dividends being paid

Shareholders of a number of ASX 200 shares can look forward to being paid their latest dividends later today. Among the companies paying dividends are stock exchange operator ASX Ltd (ASX: ASX), iron ore giant Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG), and healthcare company Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL).

More reading

• What experts are saying about Telstra’s (ASX:TLS) big restructuring plans
• ASX 200 dips, travel shares drop, Pushpay soars
• Why ASX 200 energy shares should outshine as inflation picks up
• Why the Xero (ASX:XRO) share price is outperforming today
• Why BrainChip, Crown, Qantas, & Quickstep shares are tumbling lower

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Sonic Healthcare Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Participants of the Airtasker Limited (ASX: ART) initial public offering (IPO) would have been rubbing their hands together on today’s successful listing. By the end of its debut trading session, the online marketplace for local services finished at $1.05. That puts the ASX-listed Airtasker share price 61.5% higher than the IPO price of 65 cents.

There’s no doubt plenty of excitement surrounding the company. The five times oversubscribed IPO is clear evidence of that. Even Airtasker’s own select group of ‘taskers’ and staff subscribed for more than 10 times more shares than originally anticipated.

With all the excitement it’s easy to forget that Airtasker still has competitors. So, how do they stack up against each other?

ASX-listed Airtasker competitors

Unsurprisingly, in the world of digital innovation, the old employment model is giving way to something more flexible and nimble. There is a proliferation of people working for themselves, using online platforms to offer their services anytime, anywhere, for anything.

Airtasker is now publicly listed among other such ASX shares as Hipages Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: HPG) and Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN). At face value, these companies are very similar. All three provide a website and/or mobile app to find people in your area capable of completing tasks you may require.

Both Airtasker and Freelancer offer an extensive range of services. This includes everything from computer programming to mowing your lawn. However, Hipages differs by being focused on trade-based services – think home renos and air conditioning installation.

Another point of difference between these companies is their service base. For instance, Hipages relies on mostly physical labour, so its operations are predominantly carried out within Australia. The same is somewhat true for Airtasker, while Freelancer operates extensively outside of Australia, due to its services being highly focused on remote digital work.

Money matters, and so do visits

When looking at online businesses, it can sometimes be handy to compare website traffic between peers. Referring to SimilarWeb, it can be seen that in the last month Freelancer has commanded 8.1 million visits, while Airtasker and Hipages were both around 1.3 million. However, this doesn’t quite paint the entire picture considering the ASX’s fresh face, Airtasker, is commonly used through an app.

A more useful comparison is the businesses’ finances. However, Freelancer reports on a different timeline to Hipages and Airtasker, so some calculations were needed to get it on comparative terms. With that being said, for the half-year ended December, revenue and earnings for each company are as follows:

• Airtasker: $12.61 million revenue; $2.06 million loss
• Hipages: $26.9 million revenue; $1.5 million profit
• Freelancer: $29.3 million revenue; $493,000 loss

In revenue terms, Airtasker is certainly the smallest by a substantial margin.

Lastly, knowing the company’s revenue and earnings, it’s worthwhile comparing market capitalisation between these three ASX shares. These are as follows:

• Airtasker: $441.6 million
• Hipages: $266.5 million
• Freelancer: $253.03 million

Foolish takeaway

Based on a simple price to sales (PS) ratio Airtasker looks expensive, trading on a PS multiple of 35. Whereas Hipages and Freelancer are trading at 10 times and 9 times respectively. Potentially investors are pricing in higher growth for the newly listed company.

Whether the listed competitors will surge to meet Airtasker’s rich valuation or Airtasker’s ASX parade will be rained on, remains to be seen.

More reading

• ASX 200 dips, travel shares drop, Pushpay soars
• Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price cools after explosive IPO
• Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price rockets 78% after IPO
• Airtasker’s ASX debut happens tomorrow, after 24-hour delay
• Airtasker IPO: staff demand 10 times the shares offered

Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Hipages Group Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Freelancer 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 ReadyTech Holdings Ltd (ASX: RDY) share price will be one to watch on Wednesday.

This follows the release of an announcement after the market close on Tuesday.

What did ReadyTech announce?

This afternoon the education and workforce solutions software as a service (SaaS) company announced the successful completion of its $80 million acquisition of Open Office.

Open Office is a leading government and justice case management SaaS provider with strong customer bases in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

According to the release, the acquisition of Open Office involves an upfront consideration of $54 million and an earn out consideration of up to an additional $26 million. This will be funded from the proceeds of a capital raising in November and scrip.

The completion comes after shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the acquisition at an extraordinary general meeting on Friday of last week.

The acquisition is anticipated to be low double-digit EPS accretive in FY 2021 on a pro-forma basis before synergies and excluding integration costs.

What now?

It will be business as usual for Open Office following the acquisition. ReadyTech advised that its experienced management are aligned with its vision, strategy and culture, and will be retained to further strengthen the expanded team.

Open Office’s Managing Director, Phillip Simone, will become ReadyTech’s Chief Executive of Government and Justice.

ReadyTech’s Co‐Founder and CEO, Marc Washbourne, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome the Open Office team to ReadyTech, and are excited by the growth potential we see for our expanded SaaS businesses. With growing revenues, strong margins, profitable operations and positive cashflows, ReadyTech is in a unique position to support our customers, build exciting careers for our people, and deliver sustainable growth in shareholder value.”

Mr Simone added: “Open Office has a strong foothold into all levels of government in Australia. This is an exciting new chapter for us, as ReadyTech’s proven capability will assist in driving deeper connections with an industry that has strong barriers to entry, leveraging the robust, long‐term relationships we already have with our customers.”

More reading

• 2 of the best ASX shares to buy this month
• 8 ASX 200 shares rated as ‘outperform’ by brokers
• Compared! How are ASX gaming share prices performing?
• Why the K-Tig (ASX:KTG) share price opened 10% higher today
• 2 quality ASX dividend shares to buy this month

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 Readytech Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Readytech Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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If you’re looking to a make a new addition or two to your portfolio, then you might want to take a look at the ASX shares listed below.

Here’s what you need to know about them:

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

The first ASX share to look at is Appen. It is a developer of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Through its team of over 1 million crowd-sourced contractors, Appen develops the data required to create the AI models of some of the biggest tech companies in the world. An example of this, is its work helping Apple develop its Siri virtual assistant.

While the last 12 months have been difficult due to many tech giants pushing back some of their investments in AI because of the pandemic, demand is expected to rebound strongly once the crisis passes. After which, due to the growing importance of AI for businesses and governments, demand for its AI data services is predicted to grow rapidly over the next decade.

One broker that believes the recent weakness in the Appen share price is a buying opportunity is Ord Minnett. It recently upgraded its shares to a buy rating with a $24.75 price target.

NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Another ASX share to consider is NEXTDC. It is one of the region’s leading data centre-as-a-service provider with 11 world class centres in key locations across Australia.

From these Tier III and Tier IV facilities, NEXTDC provides colocation services to local and international organisations. 

Unlike Appen, NEXTDC has experienced a huge increase in demand for its services during the pandemic. This has been driven by the structural shift to the cloud, which has accelerated over the last 12 months. In fact, demand has been so strong, that the company brought forward capacity additions to meet it.

In addition to this, the company has opened up offices in Singapore and Tokyo with a view of expanding into these markets in the near future. If this expansion is a success, it could provide NEXTDC with a significant runway for growth.

Goldman Sachs is positive on the company. Last month it retained its buy rating and lifted its price target to $13.50. The broker believes NEXTDC is well-positioned for growth over the medium term.

More reading

• Why the Xero (ASX:XRO) share price is outperforming today
• How this exponential growth could send ASX 200 data centre shares soaring
• 5 of the best ASX shares to buy next week
• How to turn $20,000 into $650,000 in 5 years with ASX shares
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday

James Mickleboro owns shares of NEXTDC Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Appen Ltd. 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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