The Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB) share price is under pressure again on Monday.

In afternoon trade, the goats milk infant formula and baby food company’s shares are down 1% to a 52-week low of 50 cents.

This latest decline means the Bubs share price is now down 58% from its 52-week high.

Why is the Bubs share price at a 52-week low?

Investors have been selling Bubs shares in recent months due to a number of reasons. One of those is its underwhelming performance in FY 2021 and continued cash burn.

In respect to its FY 2021 performance, last month Bubs released its half year results and reported a 33% reduction in revenue to $18.3 million.

This was driven largely by weakness in infant formula sales due to issues in the daigou channel caused partly by COVID-19.

This weakness offset strong growth in Australian supermarket and pharmacy sales. Though, it is important to note that these sales are coming off a small base.

Unfortunately, things were even worse for its earnings, with Bubs reporting an operating loss of $14.4 million for the period. This compares to an operating loss of $5.25 million a year earlier.

This means that for every $1 of revenue Bubs is generating, it is actually losing 78.7 cents.

One positive is that the company ended the period with a strong cash balance of $40 million. This was thanks to the generosity of shareholders.

Capital raisings

The reason that Bubs finished in such a strong capital position was due to its $32.1 million capital raising at at 80 cents in September.

That capital raising, which which fell short of its $40 million target, was just the latest in a long run of raisings that Bubs has undertaken, diluting long term shareholders.

Clearly, without this capital raising, Bubs would have been in a precarious position.

Agreements going nowhere

Also weighing on the Bubs share price and investor sentiment are the countless announcements of agreements over the last few years which have seemingly gone nowhere.

One of those is a supply agreement with New Times Asia in 2018. Bubs stated that it “has entered a Supply Agreement with New Times Asia with a total sales commitment for purchase orders valued at $17M in FY19, and increasing to $24M in FY20, and $37M in FY21.”

It is unclear just how much this ultimately contributed to its sales. Furthermore, there has been no word on whether this deal will continue in FY 2022.

Bearish brokers

A fourth reason why the Bubs share price is at a 52-week low is the bearish view of one leading broker.

According to a note out of Citi last week, its analysts have held firm with their sell rating and 35 cents price target on Bubs’ shares. This price target implies potential downside of 30% for its shares over the next 12 months.

Citi is concerned over the sustained weakness in the daigou channel and the uncertainty regarding the company’s pathway to achieving profitability. This is particularly the case given the resurgence of domestic infant formula brands in the key China market.

More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell next week
• 2 ASX shares that may be hit by Australia’s declining birth rate
• A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) shares and one other slapped with sell ratings
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• 2 small cap ASX shares with huge potential

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 BUBS AUST FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended 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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Cann Group Ltd (ASX: CAN) shares opened slightly higher on Monday but have since retreated. This comes after the company announced a partnership with Emyria Ltd (ASX: EMD). At the time of writing, the Cann share price is trading 1.75% lower at 56 cents after having reached as high as 59 cents in earlier trade.

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

Cann and Emyria partnership 

The Cann share price is failing to ignite today after the company announced a collaboration with Emyria will seek to accelerate the registration of a unique, low-dose, cannabidiol (CBD) only capsule with Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). 

Under the agreement, Emyria’s EMD-003 drug development program will use Cann Group’s proprietary Gelpell microsphere technology, as the basis for seeking a Schedule 3 registration for treating unmet needs in mental health. Cann Group previously acquired the rights to the Gelpell technology via its purchase of Europen company Satipharm. 

Scheduling is a national classification system that determines how medicines are made available to the public. Schedule 3 registration will result in the product being an over-the-counter, pharmacist only medicine. 

The collaboration leverages a number of important milestones that have already been met, including phase 1 trials of the Satipharm capsule. 

Emyria will lead the registration program with its experienced drug development and clinical team. The company has worked with Satipharm in the past, having written more than 400 Satipharm prescriptions to more than 170 patients.

According to the company, clinical trials have already hit the ground running and are guided by insights from Emyria data which include robust safety, efficacy and patient preference data for more than 3,500 patients treated at Emyria’s Emerald Clinics. 

Emyria managing director Dr Michael Winlo commented: 

This partnership greatly accelerates Emyria’s EMD-003 drug development program by combining Emyria’s unique clinical data and drug development expertise with Cann Group’s best in-class CBD delivery technology.

Satipharm CBD has already completed robust stability testing as well as Phase 1 clinical trials as required by the TGA. This allows us to move straight to pivotal clinical outcomes trials saving significant time and money. An experienced Contract Research Organisation (CRO) has already been engaged to manage these trials.

Further, at Emyria, we already have deep insights into how the Satipharm product performs clinically, having written over 400 Satipharm prescriptions to more than 170 patients. This de-risks the pivotal clinical outcomes trials required as an important first step towards registration with the TGA.

Global mental health challenge 

The collaboration highlights the global challenge of treating increasing mental health concerns, particularly over the last 12 months. 

A recent internal analysis from Emerald Clinics revealed that more than 50% of its patients were diagnosed with moderate to severe depression, anxiety and/or stress. 

If the collaboration is successful, the companies will be able to deliver a new, registered medicine for the treatment of psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. 

Cann Group CEO Peter Crock commented that: 

We anticipate there will be a large patient demand for a TGA registered CBD medicine that is convenient to patients and demonstrates the highest standards of quality, safety and efficacy.

Cann share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Cann share price has fallen by nearly 12%. Year to date, Cann shares are also down by nearly 6%.

Based on the current share price, the company has a market capitalisation of around $158 million.

More reading

• Japan’s $103 million pot stock hypocrisy unmasked
• Why the Emyria (ASX:EMD) share price is climbing 7% higher today

Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun 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 Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX: MCY) share price is on the rise today after the company issued 200 million new green bonds. The gas and electricity company’s share price reached an intraday high of $5.81 this morning, up 3.75%. It has since dropped back and is currently trading at $5.68, up 1.43% for the day so far.

So, what are green bonds and why have they boosted the Mercury Energy share price?

Let’s dive deeper into the mystery of green bonds. 

Could green bonds be the future of environmentally friendly investing?

Green bonds are pretty much the same as normal bonds. The only difference is that a green bond must be certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), with at least 95% of the proceeds going towards climate-friendly projects.

The major benefit for environmentally conscience investors is that they can be assured their bonds are going towards financing eco-friendly projects, while still having their investment backed by the issuer’s entire balance sheet. It’s a relatively low-risk way of investing ethically (although no investment is ever risk free).

More about Mercury Energy’s new green bonds

Mercury announced its intention to issue green bonds before the market opened on 15 March. Over the following two trading days, the company’s share price launched by more than 8%. On 19 March, the company announced the interest rate that would apply to the bonds. The second piece of news was met with another, though much smaller, share price gain of 2%.

Today’s news is that the company has officially issued the bonds to those who subscribed. 

The green bonds issued by Mercury have been earmarked to fund the company’s renewable energy projects. Mercury didn’t mention whether these would be new or existing projects.

Mercury states that 100% of the energy it provides is renewable. Thus, the raised capital has the potential to go towards the company’s hydro, solar, wind or geothermal initiatives. Or, possibly something else entirely.

Each bond will set back an investor NZ$1. Mercury intends to raise NZ$200 million. 

Not all willing investors were able to grab themselves a green bond. Mercury reserved them for clients of the Joint Lead Managers, NZX participants and other approved financial intermediaries.

The bonds are 5.5 year, unsecured, unsubordinated fixed rate green bonds, with an interest rate of 2.16% per annum.

Mercury share price snapshot

The Mercury share price is up 42% over the last 12 months, but it has dropped 10.69% year to date.

Mercury has a market capitalisation of around $7.6 billion, with approximately 1.3 billion shares outstanding.

More reading

• 3 attractive ASX shares currently in a dip
• Why the Mercury (ASX:MCY) share price is surging today

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper 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.

Social media stocks: Love ’em or hate ’em, it’s where many eyeballs are going these days. While social media stocks are susceptible to government regulation, thorny privacy and safety issues, and not to mention young upstart challengers, most companies did exceptionally well last year in the pandemic. With the continuing shift to digital advertising, these companies could be in for sustained growth in the years ahead, even when the pandemic subsides.

Social media companies also benefit from powerful network effects, making first-movers hard to displace. So it’s not surprising that two “granddads” of social media, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), did well last year. Facebook is up 75% and Twitter is up 140% over the past 12 months, compared with 62% for the S&P 500.

FB 1 Year Total Returns (Daily) data by YCharts

With economies reopening and advertising revenue starting to recover, which is the better stock today?

Facebook exceeds Twitter on every business metric, but can things change?

Twitter is up more than Facebook over the past year due to improvements relative to 2019. Still, Facebook clearly has the better overall business as things stand today. During the fourth quarter, here’s how the two social networks stacked up on several key metrics.

FY 2020 Metric	Facebook	Twitter
Year-end MAUs	2.80 billion	N/A
Year-end DAUs	1.84 billion	192 million
DAU growth	11%	27%
Revenue	$86.0 billion	$3.7 billion
Revenue growth	22%	7%
Operating profit	$32.7 billion	$26.7 million
Operating profit growth	36%	(93%)

Data source: Company filings. Table by author.

There’s no real question as to which is the better business at this moment: Facebook wins hands-down. Thanks to its unmatched scale, intimate knowledge of customers, highly visual format, and precision targeting capabilities, Facebook is becoming the advertising platform of choice for businesses large and small, and is especially key for small online businesses to reach new customers.

But Twitter is improving

Despite the massive outperformance of the Facebook business, Twitter has been the better stock over the past year. This is likely due to where both stocks started. Facebook is a nearly $800 billion market cap behemoth, while Twitter, even after its big run, only has a market cap of $49 billion.

Twitter’s user base also accelerated more than Facebook’s, with mDAUs growing 27% in 2020 versus Facebook’s 11%. That could lead some to believe Twitter will accelerate its top line, even though it actually lagged Facebook on a revenue growth basis last year.

Twitter has clearly had problems monetizing its platform, but things began to improve throughout 2020. Revenue accelerated throughout the year, exiting Q4 at a 28% revenue growth rate, higher than the 7% it posted for the full year. Within overall revenue, ad revenue growth was an even higher 31%.

Notably, the company brought in more direct response advertisers, not just big brands. And Twitter also retooled its ad server to better target mobile ads. The new mobile application promotion (MAP) tool generated 50% growth in Q4. Management also hopes to improve its non-existent standing with small businesses going forward.

But Facebook may be the better stock in a rising rate environment

With the economy reopening and interest rates going up, things may swing more in favor of more profitable companies in 2021. That bodes well for Facebook, which is still much, much cheaper than Twitter on both a price-to-earnings and price-to-sales basis:

FB PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Twitter may also have a hard time generating near-term profits even if its revenue growth holds up, because it’s still making some heavy investments. Management forecasts 25% growth “or more” in total expenses in 2021, so Twitter will have to accelerate revenue if it hopes to grow profits at all.

Meanwhile, Facebook should continue to mint profits, which not only affords Facebook the ability to reinvest in its core platform and buy back stock, but also invest in new technologies, setting up its next chapter. For instance, Facebook’s Oculus AR platform could be a future growth driver, and the company just unveiled a new wrist-based wearable that could become an AR-based virtual computing platform of the future.

Stay with the safer bet

Whether or not Facebook can make a disruptive breakthrough in augmented reality is still an open question. However, even absent any new business, Facebook’s better value and more solid profits stand to hold up better in the rising rate environment than Twitter’s hoped-for growth. I’d expect the relative performance of these two companies to reverse in 2021. Today, Facebook’s the choice.

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

More reading

• I want to double your money every 5 years: fundie
• How to counter the ASX 200’s Achilles heel
• When dividends can be a bad thing for an ASX share
• How to invest in the Nasdaq Index on the ASX
• Nine (ASX:NEC) and News Corp (ASX:NWS) share prices rise after Facebook deal

Billy Duberstein owns shares of Facebook and has the following options: short August 2020 $140.0 puts on Facebook. His clients may own shares of the companies mentioned. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, 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 recommends Facebook and Twitter. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Facebook. 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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Every so often, I like to look to see how successful investments in initial public offerings (IPOs) have been.

On this occasion, I’m going to look at how a $10,000 investment in Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) shares would have fared. Here’s what I found:

The Kogan IPO

Kogan has now been listed on the Australian share market for just under five years. The ecommerce company’s shares landed on the ASX boards on 30 June 2016 at a listing price of $1.80 per share.

This means that if you bought $10,000 worth of Kogan shares at its IPO, you would have ended up with approximately 5,556 shares in your portfolio.

How has Kogan performed?

Kogan has been a very strong performer since its IPO, delivering stellar sales and earnings growth over the period.

For example, upon listing, Kogan was generating sales of $200 million and aiming to increase this to $240 million in FY 2017.

If we fast-forward to today, Kogan has recently released its half year results and revealed that its gross sales came in at $322.9 million for the six months.

Underpinning this strong growth has been the shift online, acquisitions, the success of Kogan Marketplace, and the launch of countless new verticals such as Kogan Cars.

Where are its shares today?

Interestingly, Kogan had a terrible start to life as a listed company. The Kogan share price fell as much as 17% before closing at $1.50 on day one.

Pleasingly, investors that took part in its IPO and held firm during the day one sell off have been rewarded handsomely thanks to its impressive sales growth.

This afternoon the Kogan share price is fetching $12.69. This means that the 5,556 shares you would have picked up at its IPO now have a market value of $70,500.

Where next for the Kogan share price?

The good news for shareholders is that the gains may not be over, according to one leading broker.

A recent note out of Credit Suisse reveals that its analysts have an outperform rating and $20.85 price target on its shares.

If the Kogan share price were to rise to this level, those 5,556 shares would be worth a sizeable ~$116,000.

Overall, this demonstrates why investing in IPOs can be worth considering as part of a balanced portfolio.

More reading

• Got money to invest? Here are 2 ASX shares to buy
• Is Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) the best e-commerce ASX share to buy right now?
• ASX retail shares beware: Aldi e-commerce is coming
• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and this growth share are in the buy zone today
• 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 Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia 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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The Golden Mile Resources Ltd (ASX: G88) share price is rocketing in early-afternoon trade. This comes after the company announced exciting gold results from its recent aircore (AC) drilling program. At the time of writing, the Australian-based miner’s shares are fetching 11 cents, up more than 111%.

What’s driving the Golden Mile share price higher?

Investors are fighting to pick up Golden Mile shares after the company updated the ASX with its drill results.

According to its release, Golden Mile has intersected a wide zone of thick, high-grade gold mineralisation at the Wanghi Prospect. The high impact AC drilling program that began in late February reported the following results:

• 33 meters @ 1.60g/t (grams per tonne) Au (gold) from 48 meters in hole BTAC187 including 16 meters @ 2.95g/t Au from 61 meters.
• 3 meters @ 2.74g/t Au from 15 meters in hole BTAC 188.
• 4 meters @ 0.51g/t Au from 36 meters in hole BTAC 189.

The company stated that BTAC187 is the first of six holes that have received assays from its 2021 drilling campaign. Currently, there are another 75 holes that have been drilled amounting to over 3,000 kilometres of AC drilling.

Golden Mile noted that it has over 1,000 samples at a laboratory in Perth, Western Australia to analyse the results. It’s expected that the finding will be released within the next few weeks.

In addition, Golden Mile revealed that geological mapping has identified a previously unrecognised structural trend controlling gold mineralisation. The company plans to commence RC drilling mid-next month targeting the site for further mineralisation.

What did management say?

Golden Mile managing director James Merrillees commented:

These are exciting results for the Company. We intersected further wide zones of strong gold mineralisation in fresh rock at Wanghi, and the recognition of important structures controlling mineralisation provides an important new targeting tool for the follow up RC drilling planned next month.

The Golden Mile share price has gained 450% in the past 12 months and is up by around 83% year to date, thanks in large part to today’s gains.

More reading

• How New Yorkers could send ASX cannabis shares higher
• Evolve (ASX:EVO) share price lifts after centre settlement, CEO retirement
• Why is the Inca Minerals (ASX:ICG) share price up 8% today and 430% this year?
• Could this ASX ETF be in a perfect storm in 2021 and beyond?
• Why Immutep, Inghams, REA Group, & Synlait shares are sinking

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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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It wasn’t too long ago that the very idea of ASX cannabis shares was laughable.

Aside from a few smoky hash bars in the Netherlands, cannabis use was prosecuted vigorously across most countries. While billions of dollars were earned in global black markets, ASX investors had no means to tap into the underground industry.

But the 21st century has brought a lot of change, albeit slowly.

Today a growing cadre of nations have legalised medicinal cannabis use, including Australia. While recreational use remains illegal in Australia, the list of nations (and states within the United States) giving the green light for recreational pot smoking also grows inexorably.

New York’s legal cannabis bill eyes $460 million tax revenue

In the US, New York looks to become the latest state seeking to capitalise on the tax benefits of legalised cannabis use while lightening the burden on its legal system.

The state’s Legislature is scheduled to vote on legalising the sale and use of cannabis this week.

As Bloomberg reports:

The expansive bill would allow dispensaries to open as soon as next year, and includes special cannabis taxes, permission for home growers to cultivate their own marijuana, and as well as limits on the number of licenses that can go to large corporations.

According to New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo, legalising the sale of marijuana could bring in US$350 million (AU$460 million) in taxes every year. He also said it might create 30,000–60,000 new jobs.

The proposed legislation will also see people previously convicted for cannabis crimes that will no longer be illegal have their convictions expunged.

Two leading ASX cannabis shares

New York’s move on legal cannabis alone is unlikely to have an immediate, large impact on most ASX cannabis shares.

But for longer-term investors, the state’s move highlights the continuing trend towards global legalisation. And with that trend, the best-placed ASX cannabis shares could see their share prices run far higher.

There are a growing number of cannabis shares on the ASX. For the purposes of this article, we’ll look at 2.

First up, Creso Pharma Ltd (ASX: CPH). The company develops pharmaceutical-grade cannabis treatments for human and animal healthcare.

Creso Pharma has a market cap of $220 million. The Creso share price is down 10% since Friday after the company announced the intent for an $18 million capital raising at 19 cents per share. Despite that fall, Creso shares are still trading at 22 cents per share at the time of writing.

Over the past 12 months, the Creso Pharma share price has soared 275%. That dwarfs the 36% gain posted by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO). So far in 2021, Creso shares are up 25%.

The second ASX cannabis share we’ll look at today is Althea Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AGH). With a market cap of $139 million, the company produces and supplies pharmaceutical-grade medicinal cannabis in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Down 0.96% today, despite announcing additions to its medicinal cannabis product line, the Althea share price has also outperformed over the past 12 months, up 115%.

Year-to-date, Althea shares have gained 17%, compared to a 1% gain on the All Ords.

More reading

• Why the Althea (ASX:AGH) share price is on a high today
• Here’s why the Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) share price is falling 7%
• Japan’s $103 million pot stock hypocrisy unmasked
• Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) share price lower despite cannabis sales update
• Why the Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) share price is rocketing 16% higher today

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben 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 Evolve Education Group Ltd (ASX: EVO) share price is up 1.69% today after the company announced its CEO is retiring and that it has settled five of 10 recent child care centre acquisitions.

Evolve is a dual-listed company that now operates 132 childcare centres across Australia and New Zealand, with an additional five yet to be settled.

It announced the purchase of 10 Australian child care centres on 5 March, with a total licence capacity of 810 children per day. This resulted in an almost 20 cent jump in the Evolve share price this month, before falling again to its current price of $1.20.

Evolve Education share price on the rise

Today’s movement is indicative of a steady recovery for the Evolve share price, which has risen from 71 cents per share at the beginning of November.

Evolve predicts that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for these five centres will be $3.6 million per annum, and they will settle the remaining five centres by May. Evolve paid $27 million for the 10 centres. 

The company’s share price was hit hard by COVID-19 – after a 32% drop in childcare fees throughout the lockdown period – but has also fallen steadily over the past four years.

In 2017, Evolve’s share price was more than $3.97 per share in 2017, but the company has suffered from unprofitability. These recent acquisitions were made possible by raising $35 million through the sale of notes, some of which went to repaying Australian debt.

The company has also suffered negative publicity recently. First, for a cancelled contract which would have cut teachers’ full-time hours while requiring them to be on call. Second, for charging clients at its Lollipop childcare centre in New Zealand while it was unable to offer services due to the lockdown.

Evolve resuming dividends as new CEO search begins

Evolve recently announced it will resume dividend payments to shareholders this year, although it’s yet to announce what they will be, after it last paid dividends of 2 cents per share in 2019, before halting them due to the COVID economic downturn.

Evolve also announced that its New Zealand CEO, Tim Cook, is retiring due to family reasons and returning to Australia, resulting from the lack of Trans-Tasman travel due to COVID-19. 

The company also announced former First Steps General Manager, Craig Presland, will become Evolve’s Chief Operating Officer. 

More reading

• Why the Evolve Education (ASX:EVO) share price is jumping 8%

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh 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 Inca Minerals Ltd (ASX: ICG) share price has risen 8% today and is up 430% this year after the company released its sixth mineral and drilling update this month.

Inca’s gains today are based on a new report showing that the potential worth of its recent minerals project acquisition in the Northern Territory, titled Frewena Project, have been upgraded.

Inca share price rises as reports enhance Frewena prospectivity 

Inca announced today that additional data  from a recent drill program has considerably enhanced the prospectivity of iron oxide copper gold ore (IOCG) deposits in the Northern Territory area fully enclosed by Frewena’s exploration licences. 

Geological, structural, alteration and mineralisation indicators in one of the holes that Inca operates in the area suggest the presence of IOCG-style mineralisation. Copper mineralisation, (chalcopyrite and bornite), increases from 250 metre depth and is open at the end of one of these holes.

The recent high-resolution core photography performed in the area further reveals the widespread nature of alteration, structural deformation, veining, haematite and sulphides in the same drill hole. 

The company outlined why these results, partly exposed due to government logging of the area, are so encouraging from an exploration standpoint.

The occurrence of hydrothermal alteration and sulphides, especially ore-forming copper sulphides, over a 326.8m down-hole interval is very encouraging. Importantly, the visually government-logged copper mineralisation remains strong at EOH, meaning the mineralisation as it is currently understood is open in all directions,” its ASX announcement read.

It is also most encouraging seeing bornite in the core and noting that its abundance appears to increase with depth. Bornite is a high-grade copper sulphide and generally forms in the hotter parts of a mineralised system and towards where one would expect to find potential higher grade ore.

Inca share price gains reflect breakthrough month

The Inca share price’s 430% rise over the past year has beaten the basic materials sector by 379% and the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) by 390% after positive developments in its drilling programs in Peru and its acquisition of iron-copper-gold mineralisation project Frewena in the Northern Territory.

The small-cap company has a current market capitalisation of $41 million and a share price of 10 cents, ranking it 337 in the basic materials sector.

Its plethora of announcements this month signpost a breakthrough period for the company, which was only valued at 0.019 cents per share in July 2020. Inca’s focus remains the exploration at its flagship Riqueza Project in Peru. 

More reading

• Could this ASX ETF be in a perfect storm in 2021 and beyond?
• Why Immutep, Inghams, REA Group, & Synlait shares are sinking
• Will the ASX 200’s ‘China problem’ get worse?
• Anteris (ASX:AVR) share price drops 7% despite positive announcement
• Why is the PYC Therapeutics share price up 170% in a year?

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh 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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2021 is a year in which the global economy is still experiencing massive change. The coronavirus pandemic last year proved to be an incredibly powerful force for change in this respect.

We are all familiar with the phenomenon of ‘COVID shares’ getting a boost last year. The likes of Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) and Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) enjoyed massive share price gains.

We saw a similar move with companies like Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) over in the United States.

Many of these company share prices have since calmed down. Investors might have come to terms with the fact that 2020 was probably an outlier year. Despite it bringing forward much change.

But one area that I think all investors could agree is filled with growth prospects is cybersecurity. According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) yesterday, Nine Entertainment Co Ltd (ASX: NEC) was the subject of a major cybersecurity breach over the weekend. It was a ransomware attack that reportedly left the company unable to broadcast from its Sydney studios.

According to a separate AFR report, Department of Parliamentary Services systems were taken down over the weekend after “suspicious activity” was noticed.

This is a big problem in our modern world. Fortunately, the ASX has an exchange-traded fund (ETF) dedicated to investing in the companies that are taking up the fight.

An ASX HACK?

The BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK) is a fund that holds a basket of 40 shares in this space. The vast majority of these holdings are US-listed companies, reflecting this country’s dominance in global cybersecurity. However, other countries like Israel, Britain, France, Japan and South Korea are also represented.

Some of the top companies in this ETF include Crowdstrike Holdings Inc, ZScaler Inc, Splunk Inc and Cisco Systems Inc.

Simple logic might dictate that cybersecurity is a growth area. But HACK’s numbers back this thesis up. This fund has returned an average of 21.04% per annum for the past 5 years. That includes a 27.05% return over the past year alone (as of 28 February 2021). Those returns are inclusive of this ETF’s 0.67% per annum management fee.

More reading

• Why the Nine (ASX:NEC) share price is falling today
• 3 stellar ETFs for ASX investors to buy
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• 2 ETFs to buy today for future-proof ASX diversification

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Zoom Video Communications. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Amazon, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., and Zoom Video Communications. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Kogan.com ltd and Temple & Webster Group Ltd and recommends the following options: long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO and BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon, Kogan.com ltd, Temple & Webster Group Ltd, and Zoom Video Communications. 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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