The Family Zone Cyber Safety Ltd (ASX: FZO) share price has failed to rally today after the cyber safety platform provider released a record quarterly update.

The Family Zone share price is up 205.88% in the last year, while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 2.73% over the same period of time.

What’s affecting the Family Zone share price?

In today’s update, Family Zone indicated more than 100% growth year on year (YoY) across all key metrics for the December quarter. These highlights include:

Contracted new schools: 425 (143% YoY growth)
Contracted new student licenses: 233,000 (164% YoY growth)

The company also managed to sign contracts with a total value of $4.1 million during the quarter (103% YoY), while simultaneously collecting $2.5 million from customers (101% YoY).

Family Zone now has more than 1.5 million contracted students and 1.67 million on the platform. This comes after the student-focused, cybersecurity operator entered into the US market more than 2 years ago.

Since then, Family Zone has been making a concerted effort to establish a foothold in the expansion market, comprising of 57 million students. Subsequently, the company reported it is now servicing more than 3% of US school districts.

At the end of the December quarter, Family Zone reported a 324% growth in its school trials pipeline. Additionally, the company grew the number of schools on its platform to 3,133 (153% YoY). The contracted number of schools now using Family Zone’s services stands at 2,862 (145% YoY).

These results reportedly exceeded all internal expectations and targets for all regions. The company expects to update the market on its annual recurring revenue growth in the upcoming quarterly activities update.

A quick Family Zone recap

Family Zone is a leading cybersecurity solution at home, on the go, and at school. In the company’s words, “Family Zone lets kids be kids – and empowers parents to be parents”. Its solution provides tools for managing screen time, blocking adult content, limiting social media, managing in-app purchases, etc.

As Netflix documentaries, such as The Social Dilemma, bring the public’s attention to the mental health impacts of unfettered social media use among children and teens, cyber safety is becoming a more prominent concern.

In short, Family Zone wants to be the primary solution provider to this sizeable, $64 billion, market opportunity.

At the time of writing, the Family Zone (ASX: FZO) share price is down 2.55% at 50 cents per share. 

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler 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 Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ) share price touched its 52-week high of $8.10 earlier today, before pulling back to $8.06 at the time of writing.

What’s been moving the BOQ share price

There has been no specific news from the bank in 2021, but the ASX market has seen positive sentiment towards banking shares in this year’s trading so far. All Big Four banks have seen share price gains in the first weeks of 2021.

The BOQ share price has gained 4% so far since the start of 2021.

As comparison, the shares of its regional rival Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) are up by 3% in 2021. However, the Bendigo share price of $9.74 is still a long way from its 52-week high of $10.63.

The BOQ share price has actually been on the up since early December, when the company revealed that it was performing in line with expectations in FY 2021.

In that announcement, the bank reported a significant reduction in COVID19-related loan deferrals. At the end of November, just 3% of its housing loans and 3% of its small to medium sized business (SME) loans were on deferral. This represents an 80% and 82% reduction, respectively, since the end of June.

Since that announcement on 8 December 2020, the bank’s shares have risen steadily by 3%.

A quick take on the Bank of Queensland

Bank of Queensland is smaller than its regional bank rival, the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and is considerably smaller than the four major banks.

After the 2019 CEO appointment of former Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) executive George Frazis, the bank said its strategic plan would centre on a digital transformation of its core banking offerings.

About the BOQ share price

The BOQ share price has gained around 10% over the past 12 months. The bank’s share dropped to a 52-week low of $4.51 in May 2020, but has since recovered to current levels.

The Bank of Queensland currently commands a market cap of $3.65 billion.

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Motley Fool contributor Eddy Sunarto 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 Digital Wine Ventures Ltd (ASX: DW8) share price rose by more than 2% this morning after the company announced that its wine shipments have blasted up over 1,000%, month-to-month.

The Digital Wine share price has soared by more than 14% over the past month.

A growing customer base

Digital Wine aims to identify and invest in early-stage technology-driven ventures that have the potential to disrupt and digitally transform segments within the global beverage market. The company supports these ventures providing access to capital, expertise and share services.

Since its last company update, Digital Wines has racked up 16 new customers. The business recently acquired Wine Delivery Australia, which is presently being rebranded as WineDepot. Nearly half of the new customers gained through the acquisition are McLaren Vale-based wineries.

Commenting on this, CEO Dean Taylor said, “McLaren Vale is a prime example of how word of mouth, positive testimonials and customer referrals have helped us develop a dominating market share in a very short amount of time.”

WineDepot shipped close to 25,000 cases in December 2020. December 2020 orders in total came in at 12,884, a 113% increase over November 2020.

The Wine Delivery Australia acquisition

Upon completion of the Wine Delivery Australia acquisition announced 30 November 2020, WineDepot added an additional 180 new brands to its platform. 

The essence of the Wine Delivery Australia service is to dispatch orders directly from cellar doors to customers. This saves money by cutting out the need for a mainstream carrier. This ‘door-to-door’ service was a new offering for WineDepot, enhancing the company’s value proposition by breaking into new territory. 

Mr Taylor commented on the acquisition:

While it’s a relatively small acquisition, I expect the synergies, value proposition improvements and customer relationships will generate a lot of value for DW8 shareholders in due course. It also shows the potential for us to accelerate the development of the WINEDEPOT business through carefully selected strategic acquisitions.

At the time of writing, Digital Wine shares are swapping hands for 4.8 cents. The current Digital Wine share price gives the company a market capitalisation of $74.99 million.

More reading

• Why the QBE (ASX:QBE) share price is in focus today
• Bell Potter names the ASX industrials shares to buy in 2021
• The Neuren (ASX:NEU) share price is falling today despite positive news
• Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ) share price rockets 47% on major copper discovery
• 3 ASX dividend shares with yields above 4%

Motley Fool contributor Gretchen Kennedy 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 QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) share price has edged higher after an early announcement today. The Aussie insurer has now finalised the renewal of its 2021 reinsurance program effective 1 January 2021.

At the time of writing, the QBE share price is up 0.23% at $8.58.

Why is the QBE share price on the move?

QBE told the market the 2021 reinsurance program was placed in line with expectations, at terms “slightly better” than allowed for in its planning.

Reinsurance is when an insurer purchases insurance from others to reduce risk in the event of large claims. It helps to reduce risk in the event of catastrophes where many claims may arise from the same event.

QBE has increased its main catastrophe tower to $3.4 billion, up from $3.3 billion in calendar year 2020. North America peak catastrophe retention is $200 million, down from an initial $400 million in 2020 which was reduced to $150 million due to coronavirus.

QBE’s US and Australian non-peak catastrophe retention increased to $175 million, up from $125 million in 2020. Retention for other non-peak perils remains unchanged from 2020 at $100 million.

QBE said the increase in catastrophe aggregate attachment reflected exposure growth, increased US and Australian non-peak retentions and recent industry-wide catastrophe frequency.

Foolish takeaway

The finalisation of the reinsurance program for the year has been well-received with the QBE share price climbing higher, despite broader softness in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). Shares in the Aussie insurer are now trading with a dividend yield of 3.6% per annum with a $12.7 billion market capitalisation.

After this morning’s update, the QBE share price is now trading slightly higher than where it started the year.

Aussie insurers have started the week strongly with QBE not alone in climbing higher. The Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price has jumped 2.74% higher to $4.88 per share at the time of writing. Similarly, shares in Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) are up 1.27% to $10.39 per share.

More reading

• ASX 200 down 0.4%: Afterpay tumbles, bank shares lower, gold miners crash
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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall 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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Analysts at Bell Potter have been busy finding ASX shares from several industries that they believe are best placed to have a strong 2021.

On this occasion, I’m going to look at the industrials sector. Here are a couple of shares they rate highly:

Carbon Revolution Ltd (ASX: CBR)

One share in the industrials sector that Bell Potter is positive on is Carbon Revolution. It is an advanced manufacturer that has developed single piece carbon fibre automotive wheels to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) quality standard. Bell Potter has a speculative buy rating and $3.72 price target on its shares.

It notes that the company has achieved commercial adoption across several major models. This includes with car giants Ferrari and Ford.

The broker commented: “CBR is expecting to return to strong sales growth in 2H21e, after CY20 was characterised by COVID-related disruptions to key customers Ferrari and Ford, which are expected to continue to impact 2Q21e volumes.”

“We see a range of other positive catalysts in 2H21e that should support capital growth, including: (1) 2-4 official vehicle launches, two of which are expected to enter production; (2) positive gross profit before the end of CY21e; and, (3) the potential to win new vehicle programs, such as the Asian based OEM that is currently in engineering validation stage,” it added.

Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)

Another industrial share that Bell Potter rates highly is this travel agent giant. The broker currently has a buy rating and $19.00 price target on Flight Centre’s shares.

It is a fan of the company largely due to its increasingly important corporate business, which it notes is now attributable to two-thirds of its earnings.

Its analysts commented: “We are most attracted to FLT’s Corporate business which generated 67% of FLT’s profit despite making up only 43% of the Company’s TTV.”

“The company also has a significant presence in the leisure travel market, particularly in Australia. This business – which naturally carries a high fixed cost-base due to its extensive in-store network has undergone a significant restructure since Covid-19 strangled the demand for travel – also provides a value driver which is leveraged to a rebound in international travel,” it added.

And while it recognises that the pandemic is not over and the short term carries risks, once the crisis passes it is expecting Flight Centre to “restore earnings at higher margins with the removal of structural costs and market leadership from FLT’s corporate business to be the key drivers of value over the long-term.”

More reading

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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday

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 Carbon Revolution Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Carbon Revolution Limited and Flight Centre Travel Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: NEU) share price has changed direction today despite positive news on its drug trials. 

In early morning trade, the biopharma company’s shares were up 2.7% to $1.50. But the Neuren share price has since sunk 3.75% to $1.41 at the time of writing. The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is also down today, currently 0.45% lower at 6992 points.

A quick take on Neuren

Based in Victoria, Australia, Neuren develops therapies for an array of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. The company currently has 2 key drug products in the pipeline, NNZ-2566 and NNZ-2591. The first of which is aimed at treating Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. Both are currently in phase 3 and phase 2 trials, respectively.

The second drug in development, NNZ-2591, is advancing to provide remedy for Phelan-McDermid, Angelman and Pitt Hopkins syndromes. Neuren is conducting phase 1 trials with plans to commence phase 2 sometime this year.

What did Neuren announce?

Neuren has been granted received three Orphan designations for its second lead drug candidate, NNZ-2591. This treats Phelan-McDermid, Angelman and Pitt Hopkins syndromes. 

The favourable decision from the European Commission was based on the recommendations of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Orphan designation relates to a company receiving bonus benefits from achieving incentivised targets. This includes free protocol assistance, fee reductions, and 10 years of market exclusivity within the European Union. The period can be extended with a further 2 years if the company is approved for paediatric use.

That means that no other similar product can be granted a marketing authorisation approval from the EMA or EU countries.

About the Neuren share price

The Neuren share price has fallen more than 45% in the past 12 months.

The company’s shares hit a multi-year high of $3.04 in February before COVID-19 sent shockwaves throughout the world. The result left the Neuren share price plummeting to a 52-week low of 96.5 cents.

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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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The Castillo Copper Ltd (ASX: CCZ) share price has surged 47% at the time of writing after the company released exploration results from its Big One deposit in Queensland. 

About Castillo Copper 

Castillo Copper is an Australian-based explorer focused on copper across Australia and Zambia. The company is embarking on a strategic transformation to morph into a mid-tier copper producer. Castillo currently has four properties: 

• Mt Oxide project in the Mt Isa copper-belt district, north-west Queensland, which delivers significant exploration upside through having several high-grade targets 
• Four high-quality prospective assets across Zambia’s copper-belt, which is the second largest copper producer in Africa 
• A large tenure footprint proximal to Broken Hill’s world-class deposit that is prospective for zinc, silver, lead, copper and gold 
• Cangai Copper Mine in northern New South Wales, which is one of Australia’s highest grading historic copper mines.

 The Big One deposit 

One of Castillo’s priorities has been developing its Mt Oxide Project, especially progressing drilling campaigns at the Big One deposit. 

Today, the company announced “game changing assays”, which significantly extend the known mineralisation at the high-grade Big One deposit. This discovery pushed the Castillo share price up by 47% to 6.5 cents at the time of writing. 

Castillo Copper’s Managing Director Simon Paull commented:

We are delighted to receive assays of this calibre, especially with global copper supplies tight. There is now compelling evidence Big One Deposit is a shallow, high-grade copper-cobalt system that can potentially scale further. The Board is now ramping up forward development work and the modelling of a maiden JORC compliant resource.

There is an expected pause in drilling activities due to the commencement of the wet seasons across northern Australia. However, the company announced a geophysics campaign is being formulated to identify new bedrock conductors and potential test-drill targets. 

In addition, the board has instructed the Castillo geology team to commence modelling a JORC compliant resource based on available historic and fresh data. If the outcome of the geological modelling is positive, then the board expects to commence applying for a fresh mining lease.

The Castillo share price is up by 170% on this time last year. On current prices, Castillo has a market capitalisation of $65.92 million.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor Lina Lim 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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There are some ASX dividend shares out there with yields of more than 4%.

The official Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) interest rate is now just 0.25%, which impacts the savings rates on bank accounts.

Here are some examples of businesses that have dividend yields of more than 4%:

Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)

Rural Funds is an agricultural real estate investment trust (REIT) which owns a portfolio of different farm properties including cattle, almonds, macadamias, vineyards and cropping (cotton and sugar). It has a total of 61 properties with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 10.9 years.

The ASX dividend share aims to grow its distribution by 4% per annum for investors. The REIT plans to turn to some cattle and sugar cane properties to macadamias, a higher and better use. Planting 5,000 hectares of macadamias will take approximately five years. Discussions for the lessees for the orchards is ongoing. The business said that it has the capacity to fund the initial macadamia developments while importantly continuing to fund unitholder distributions.

Rural Funds has provided guidance that the distribution will be higher by 4% to 11.28 cents per unit in FY21.

At the current Rural Funds share price of $2.57, this equates to a distribution yield of 4.4%. However, the adjusted net asset value (NAV) per Rural Funds unit is $1.94. The pro forma gearing is 28.3%.

Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW)

Brickworks is a diversified ASX dividend share with multiple exposures to the real estate industry.

It’s well known for its building products divisions. It manufactures and sells a variety of items like bricks, paving, masonry, precast and roofing. Brickworks is the market leader of bricks across Australia.

The company also has a sizeable presence in the US. It acquired three brickmakers in the United States, including Glen Gery, making it the market leader in the north east of the US.

The Australian division is seeing a recovery of earnings as the economy rebounds, however the US division is still suffering.

Brickworks hasn’t cut its dividend for over 40 years. That dividend is supported by two sources of cashflow.

The first is its holding of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL) shares, an investment conglomerate that has grown its dividend every year since 2000 thanks to its diversified and defensive portfolio. Its largest investments include TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX”: TPG), Brickworks, New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).

The other Brickworks division is its property trust. There’s a joint venture with Goodman Group (ASX: GMG). The joint venture owns industrial properties which are leased to quality tenants. It will soon have Amazon and Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) as tenants with two large distribution warehouses being built. This will increase the property trust rental profit distributions by at least 25%.

At the current Brickworks share price it has a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.4%.

Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)

Wesfarmers is a diversified business that has a number of retail businesses including Bunnings, Officeworks, Catch, Kmart and Target.

The ASX dividend share continues to report growth despite the COVID-19 disruptions. In the first four months of FY21 to October 2020, Bunnings total sales went 25.2%, Kmart sales went up 3.7%, Target sales declined 2.2%, Catch sales grew 114.4% and Officeworks sales went up by 23.4%. Overall, online sales were up 98% excluding the Melbourne online sales.

Its industrial businesses continue to recover from the effects of COVID-19 as well.

At the current Wesfarmers share price, it has a trailing grossed-up dividend yield of 4.7%.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns shares of RURALFUNDS STAPLED and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Brickworks, RURALFUNDS STAPLED, and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET and Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Total Brain Ltd (ASX: TTB) share price shot up 20% this morning, after the company told the market its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has increased 67% since December 2019.

At the time of writing, the Total Brain share price has retreated slightly, trading up 13.5% at 33.5 cents.

What’s moving the Total Brain share price today?

In addition to the ARR increase, Total Brain says the number of potential new clients in its sales funnel has also increased since December 2019, up 58%.

The company attributes this to its launch of the Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition, which generated 10 new clients in the last 5 months.

By comparison, 5 companies were in the pipeline a year ago, which resulted in 2 paying clients for a total of $510,000 in ARR.

However, Total Brain reported that COVID-19 had caused significant setbacks with those sales already in the pipeline, including one with IBM (NYSE: IBM).

The contract with IBM – which was for the deployment of its Mental Fitness 360 and GRIT platforms – is now in the final stages of the contract process, after being delayed since December 2020. The initial contract rollout is for approximately 25,000 users, representing $570,00 in ARR.

The company also says that it has spent significant resources throughout 2020 on improving its products, which is a prerequisite for scaling user numbers and ARR.

Priorities in 2021

Total Brain also updated the market on its 2021 priorities. The company said in the coming months it will focus on aligning its sales team against client pipelines that can lead to immediate revenue conversion.

Total Brain also plans to double down on the momentum made through its Mental Health Index. This will include digital marketing, as well as events such as speaking opportunities and 1-1 prospect meetings.

How has the Total Brain share price performed

Total Brain describes itself as a “mental health and brain performance self-monitoring and self-care platform”. It was founded in 2002 in San Francisco, California by neuroscientist Dr Evian Gordon. 

The Total Brain share price has lost around 48% of its value over the past 12 months. This is despite the company reporting a 20% increase in revenue on the prior quarter in its last update in October.

Total Brain commands market valuation of $32 million.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor Eddy Sunarto 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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At lunch on Monday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week on a disappointing note. The benchmark index is currently down 0.4% to 6,732.2 points.

Here’s what has been happening on the market today:

Tech shares tumble.

Tech shares such as Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) have failed to follow their US counterparts higher on Monday and are acting as a drag on the ASX 200. The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) is down a disappointing 1.5% at the time of writing. This compares to a 1% gain by the tech-focused Nasdaq index on Friday night.

Bank shares lower.

The big four banks are out of form on Monday. At lunch, three of the big four banks are in the red and are weighing on the performance of the benchmark index. The only bank in positive territory is Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC). Though, the Westpac share price is only up by a single cent to $20.29.

Gold miners crash.

It has been a disappointing day for gold miners such as Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). At lunch, all of the major gold miners are trading notably lower after the gold price sank 4.1% lower to US$1,835.40 an ounce on Friday night. Traders were selling safe haven assets after US political risks faded. The S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index is down 4.8% at the time of writing.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers.

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Monday has been the Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price with a 4.5% gain. Investors have been buying the company’s shares after oil prices rose strongly on Friday. The worst performer has been the Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX: WGX) share price with an 8% decline. This follows the aforementioned decline in the gold price on Friday.

More reading

• The latest ASX “buy” recommendations from top brokers
• Why Costa, Monash IVF, Newcrest, & Xero shares are dropping lower
• Why the SelfWealth (ASX:SWF) share price is on the rise this morning
• Why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price has rocketed 250% in 12 months
• Why the Costa Group share price (ASX:CGC) is crashing this morning

James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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