In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has fought back from an early decline and is pushing higher. The benchmark index is currently up 0.2% to 6,898.8 points.

Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are storming higher:

CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)

The CSL share price is up 2.5% to $288.50 following the release of its half year results. For the six months ended 31 December, CSL reported a 16.9% increase in revenue to US$5,739 million and a 45% jump in reported net profit after tax to US$1,810 million. This was driven by growth in its core immunoglobulin portfolio, the successful transition to its own distribution model in China, strong growth HAEGARDA sales, and exceptionally strong demand for influenza vaccines.

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP)

The Domino’s share price is up a further 5.5% to $110.73. Investors have been buying the pizza chain operator’s shares after brokers responded positively to its half year results. Analysts at Goldman Sachs retained their conviction buy rating and lifted their price target to $112.60. Whereas analysts at Macquarie have held firm with their outperform rating and increased their price target to $120.00.

IPH Ltd (ASX: IPH)

The IPH share price has jumped 8% to $6.61. The catalyst for this was the release of the intellectual property services provider’s half year results. IPH reported a 3% increase in underlying net profit after tax to $37.6 million. This was despite facing notable currency headwinds during the half. This led to a 14 cents per share interim dividend being declared, up 4% year on year.

Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE)

The Treasury Wine share price has surged 12% higher to $11.38 following the release of its half year results. For the six months ended 31 December, the wine company reported a 23% decline in EBITS to $284.1 million. The company also revealed plans to implement a new divisional operating model. This aims to maximise the benefits of a separate focus across its brand portfolios, rather than regions. From FY 2022, the company will operate under three new internal divisions: Penfolds, Treasury Premium Brands, and Treasury Americas.

More reading

• CSL (ASX:CSL) share price pops on increased dividend
• Leading broker tips Domino’s (ASX:DMP) share price to go even higher
• CSL (ASX:CSL) share price on watch after 45% jump in half year profit
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• 3 fantastic ASX shares to buy for strong returns

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends IPH Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Treasury Wine Estates Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended IPH 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 Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price is rising after the big four bank announced a substantial rise in the FY21 first quarter profit.

ANZ told investors that it achieved strong performance in volatile trading conditions which highlighted its disciplined execution of its strategy as well as maintaining a simpler and well balanced portfolio of businesses.

First quarter profit numbers

The major ASX bank reported that it generated statutory profit after tax of $1.62 billion. ANZ also made cash profit from continuing operations of $1.81 billion, up 54% compared to the quarterly average from the second half of FY20.

ANZ reported that its underlying net interest margin (NIM) improved by 3 basis points compared to the second half of FY20 to 1.60%. The NIM was helped by the mix of assets and deposits, deposit and asset pricing, and wholesale funding.

The combination of higher volume growth and higher margins drove revenue up 4% for the quarter when excluding the impact of the markets business.

ANZ said that its common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio improved from 11.3% at 30 September 2020 to 11.7% at 31 December 2020.

Loan book

ANZ said that its credit quality was improving. The total provision result for the three months to 31 December 2020 showed a net release of $150 million. This comprised an individually assessed provision charge of $23 million and a collective provision release of $173 million. The collective provision release is equivalent to around 10% of the $1.7 billion set aside during FY20.

ANZ said that the collective provision release was prudent when balancing the improvement in the economic outlook at the end of the December quarter with the level of ongoing uncertainty.

At 31 December 2020, the credit provision balance of $4.8 billion had additional reserves of $1.4 billion compared to the pre-COVID-19 levels at 30 September 2019.

ANZ said that approximately 1% of home loan customers in Australia and New Zealand have been transferred to hardship. In Australia, 84% of deferred home loans have rolled off with 98% returning to repayment.

The bank said that the number of active housing account deferrals is 15,000, representing $6 billion of loans. The number of business accounts still in deferral is 2,500 representing $1 billion of loans.

Management’s thoughts on the outlook

ANZ CEO Shayne Elliot was quoted, saying:

ANZ is well positioned heading into the remainder of 2021 with good momentum in our core activities. The done to simplify and de-risk the business over the past five years set us up well and we have the capital, liquidity and operational capacity to continue to support our customers and the broader economy through what remains a volatile period.

Initial reaction for the ANZ share price

The market’s reaction has been positive to the result, with the ANZ share price currently up more than 2%.

Analysts have also been having their say. The Australian Financial Review quoted Evans and Partners analyst Matthew Wilson:

ANZ trades at a 7 per cent price-to-book discount to Westpac, yet it is in far superior shape with external focus and much less required self-help.

More reading

• ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price on watch after $1.8 billion Q1 cash profit
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price on watch as it delivers $2bn quarterly profit result
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX cools on earnings reality check
• 2 high quality ASX dividend shares with generous yields

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison 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 Douugh Ltd (ASX: DOU) share price is plummeting despite the release of a positive update on its first 3 months of trading. In the first hour of trade, the financial wellness app provider’s shares are down more than 9% to 25 cents.

Below, we take a look at what Douugh released to the ASX market.

What did Douugh announce?

According to this morning’s release, Douugh reported robust growth for its first 3 months of operation. However, investors seem unpleased with the company’s latest report, sending the Douugh share price down.

In its announcement, the company advised customer and transactional numbers have surged since its market launch on 17 November 2020.

In particular, customer numbers soared to 8,001, reflecting a compounded monthly growth rate (CMGR) of 364% (month-over-month since November 17). This translated to a total of US$804,297 deposits received. This was an increase of 93% on the CMGR.

In addition, card spend also rose to US$281,512, a jump of 92% on the CMGR.

Douugh further noted that as marketing and onboarding channels are further optimised, it expects customer acquisition run rates to flourish.

For the end of Q2 FY21, the company recorded a cash balance of $16.02 million in the bank. The funds will be proactively used to drive customer growth through a number of measures. They include prioritised product development based on customer feedback, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) from its Autopilot feature, and increase marketing programs.

Douugh also mentioned that its financial wellness app has been downloaded 29,034 times on Apple’s iOS platform.

Management commentary

Douugh founder and CEO, Andy Taylor, touched on the company’s progress, saying:

Whilst it’s early days, we are delighted with our initial traction and the achievement of first revenues. We have been focused on testing and optimising digital media acquisition channels as well as refining our onboarding process.

We have developed a robust and fully automated fraud scoring matrix, and work has begun on the development of the Android App, which we plan to launch in Q4FY21.

…As we increase acquisition spend, our focus continues to be on increasing the sign-up conversion rate and lowering the overall CAC. We will introduce our own integrated Member-get-Member program – providing a monetary incentive to Douugh users for inviting people to sign up to the platform – coupled with the onboarding of Affiliate marketing partners (including social media and YouTube influencers) to expand our distribution channels.

About the Douugh share price

The Dough share price has gained more than 730% since its listing of 3 cents in early October last year. The company’s shares hit an all-time high of 49 cents in November.

Based on the current share price, Douugh has a market capitalisation of roughly $173 million.

More reading

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• ASX investigates after Douugh (ASX:DOU) share price spikes 56%
• Why Douugh, Macquarie, Starpharma, & Suncorp shares are storming higher

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 IOUpay Ltd (ASX: IOU) share price has returned from its trading halt and is charging higher.

The Malaysia-based buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares were up as much as 14% to 80 cents at one stage.

However, the IOUpay share price has now pulled back notably from there and is currently up 3.5% to 72.5 cents.

Why is the IOUpay share price charging higher today?

This morning IOUpay returned from its trading halt following the successful completion of a $50 million placement to sophisticated and institutional investors.

According to the release, 100 million shares were offered to investors at 50 cents per share. This represents a 28.6% discount to its last close price of 70 cents.

Management advised that the placement received strong investor demand far exceeding the placement limit agreed by the company. It also secured strong support from new and existing sophisticated, local and international institutional investors.

To put this placement into context, at the start of 2021 IOUpay had a market capitalisation of $74 million. This is based on an IOUpay share price of 19.5 cents and its shares outstanding of ~380 million.

This means that through this placement the company has raised over two-thirds of its market capitalisation from just six weeks ago.

Why is IOUpay raising funds?

Management advised that the proceeds will be used for growth initiatives including digital payments and to accelerate new business development opportunities in the BNPL sector in South East Asia. Funds will also be used for working capital purposes.

IOUpay Chairman, Aaron Lee, commented: “The Company is delighted to see the market respond so strongly to our plans to accelerate our market position as a leading operator in the digital payments and BNPL sectors in South East Asia.”

“This capital raising represents another important milestone in our roadmap to expand our existing and new product offerings and accelerate the growth potential of that expansion. We welcome all new shareholders and thank our existing shareholders for their continued support for this exciting new next chapter of IOU which combined with existing cash reserves provides us with a strong capital platform to execute our market validated business plan,” he concluded.

More reading

• What’s with the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price fall today?
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• The Cirralto (ASX:CRO) share price is hitting 52-week highs today
• Why the IOUpay (ASX:IOU) share price is halted again today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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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CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) shares are trending higher in early trade today following the release of the pharmaceutical giant’s half-year results. At the time of writing the CSL share price is 2.38% higher at $287.89.

Profits in tip-top shape

All eyes were on the CSL share price this morning following the release of the company’s results. Fortunately, the numbers did not disappoint, sending CSL shares higher in morning trade.

The most exhilarating number to come out of the half-year report was the company’s bumper profit. Due to increased margins, CSL managed to deliver a 45% increase to its reported net profit after tax of US$1,810 million.

Additionally, CSL’s revenue grew to US$5,739 million. Although not as substantial an increase in percentage terms, at 16.9%, the top-line growth is significant. The driving force behind the increase was a 9% lift in CSL Behring revenue and a 38% jump in Seqirus revenue.

Importantly, it appears the business segment responsible for the seasonal flu vaccine has contributed largely to the result. Seqirus added US$693 million to earnings before interest and tax – an increase of 112%.

Increased CSL dividend

As a result of the strong numbers, the CSL board increased the interim dividend by 9% to US$1.04 per share. Unfortunately, the weak US dollar to AUD means this payout is 9% lower than the prior corresponding period on a constant currency basis.

By chief executive officer and managing director Paul Perreault’s account, the future for CSL remains rosy: “Demand for CSL’s core plasma, and influenza vaccine products remain robust.”

However, there is expected to be a lift in costs in the next half as the biotech builds its research up again, after falling due to COVID-19 vaccine development efforts.

CSL share price under the microscope

The CSL share price has taken a beating over the last year, down by around 13%. COVID-19 disruptions and vaccine development efforts weighed on the business and its usual operations.

However, in the last month, the share price has experienced a reasonable 7.6% lift as some geographies return to normal.

More reading

• CSL (ASX:CSL) share price on watch after 45% jump in half year profit
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• 3 fantastic ASX shares to buy for strong returns
• AstraZeneca vaccine approved for use in Australia, CSL (ASX:CSL) share price up
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX cools on earnings reality check

Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL 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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The Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SVW) share price is falling in morning trade today, down 2.73% at $22.48 at the time of writing.

Let’s look at the Seven Group’s results for the first half of the 2021 financial year (H1 FY21).

What financial results did Seven Group report?

In this morning’s ASX release, the diversified investment company reported its trading revenue increased 4% year-on-year to reach $2.4 billion.

Underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $396 million was down 5% on the H1 FY20 results.

Seven Group’s underlying operating cash flow increased 4% compared to the prior corresponding period, to $367 million.

The company’s reported an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $247 million, a decrease of 3% year-on-year, while underlying earnings per share (EPS) also dropped 3% to 73 cents.

The final dividend of 23 cents per share (cps), fully franked, was up 10% year-on-year.

Management commentary

Commenting on the results, Seven Group CEO Ryan Stokes said:

We are pleased to deliver group revenue growth and underlying EBIT growth for WesTrac and Coates. Our industrial services portfolio is benefitting from accelerating mining production and economic stimulus measures to generate building and infrastructure activity. During the half, we further increased our exposure to industrials and the growing pipeline of infrastructure projects through our investment in Boral.

While our energy portfolio was impacted by lower realised oil prices during the half, Beach has remained active with drilling success at Enterprise-1, FID taken on Waitsia Stage 2 and new asset acquisitions to consolidate its East Coast gas position.

Addressing the growing issue of corporate sustainability policies, Stokes said Seven Group Holdings would achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

Seven Group share price snapshot

The company has performed strongly in the past 12 months, with the exception of last year’s COVID-driven market meltdown which saw the Seven Group share price tumble 56% from 20 February through to 23 March.

Shares are up 144% from the March low, and running 16% higher over the past 12 months. That compares to a 3% loss on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

The Seven Group share price is down 4% year-to-date.

More reading

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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 Whispir Ltd (ASX: WSP) share price is gaining today, up more than 2% in morning trade. At the time of writing, the Whispir share price has retreated slightly to $4.16, down 1.2%. 

This comes following the release of the cloud-based communication platform provider’s financial results for the half-year ending 31 December (H1 FY21).

Financial results for H1 FY21

In this morning’s ASX release, Whispir reported a 29.2% increase in its Annualised Recurring Revenue (ARR) to $47.4 million. That’s up from ARR of $36.7 million over the prior corresponding half year. The company credited most of the boost to increased activity from its existing customers.

Total revenue of $23.1 million was up 27.3% over the prior corresponding period (PCP).

Bringing 77 net new customers aboard during the half-year, Whispir reported it now has 707 customers, an increase of 38.9% from the first half of the 2020 financial year.

Earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was $(1.8) million. Though still negative, this represents a 61% improvement year-on-year.

Commenting on the results, Whispir’s CEO Jeromy Wells said:

Our Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) operations continue to outperform our expectations with revenue increasing 30.2% over the PCP. Our enterprise customers are spending more with us as they increase use cases, utilising our contemporary tools to solve more of their communications challenges. This region is also experiencing strong growth in new customers as organisations look for platforms that can be implemented quickly to digitise their business communications…

In line with our five-year product roadmap, we continue to add new features and functionality to improve user experience. Enhanced platform functionality with AI-inferred insights will enable us to better serve our existing customers with additional data driving more valuable, higher margin products and supporting our transition to becoming a communications intelligence company.

Whispir spent $4.6 million on research and development (R&D) during the half-year to deliver its five-year product roadmap. The company expects to increase its R&D expenditures in the second half of the 2021 financial year.

Looking ahead, Whispir upgraded its guidance of the FY21 EBITDA from $(6.2)–$(4.8) million to $(4.5)­–$(3.0) million.

Whispir share price snapshot

Whispir is among the star performers over the past 12 months, with shares up 198%. By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is down 3% over that same time.

So far in 2021, the Whispir share price is up just over 17%.

More reading

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Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Whispir 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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Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) shares have had a lousy 12 months, having dropped more than 40% over the past year. The bad news keeps coming for shareholders with the Origin share price dipping another 1.74% in early trade today.

This comes on the back of the energy giant’s FY2021 half-year results (1H FY21) which were released to the market this morning. 

Let’s take a look at how Origin has been performing.

What’s impacting the Origin share price?

The Origin Energy share price is on the slide this morning after the company reported its statutory profit tanked from $599 million in 1H FY20 to $13 million in 1H FY21. Underlying profit also fell from $528 million in 1H FY20 to $224 million in 1H FY21.

Origin’s earnings per share (EPS) also took a dive. Statutory EPS dipped to 0.7 cents in the half compared with 34 cents in the prior half. Meanwhile, underlying EPS fell from 30 cents in 1H FY20 to 12.7 cents in 1H FY21.

Investors are driving down the Origin share price after the company slashed its interim dividend to 12.5 cents, down from 15 cents in the prior corresponding period. 

Origin reported free cash flow for the period of $655 million as at 30 December 2020. This compares to the $680 million that was reported for the first half of FY20.

CEO comments

Discussing what lies ahead for the business, Origin CEO Frank Calabria said:

Throughout the first half, Origin continued to navigate the very challenging operating conditions facing the sector, as the pandemic caused a reduction in energy demand and depressed prices across key commodities…

The recent rally in oil and gas markets is expected to have a positive impact on Australia Pacific LNG’s earnings in the second half, given the lag in contract LNG prices.

However, as flagged in our recent earnings update, the near-term outlook for Energy Markets is more challenging. A mild summer has compounded already weaker demand and reduced volatility, gas supply costs are expected to increase, and wholesale electricity prices remain depressed, particularly as renewable supply continues to come online.

Outlook

Origin provided updated guidance for FY21 on 4 February 2021. It advised that the company’s outlook is dependent on no material changes in market conditions or the regulatory environment. It also cautioned that considerable uncertainty remains due to the potential ongoing impacts of coronavirus.

The company’s energy markets earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the 2021 financial year is expected to be in the range of $1 billion to $1.1 billion.

Based on the current Origin share price of $4.52, the company commands a market capitalisation of around $8.1 billion with 1.8 billion shares outstanding.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor Gretchen Kennedy owns shares of Origin Energy Limited. 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 Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price is pushing higher on Thursday following the release of its half year results.

At the time of writing, the iron ore producer’s shares are up 2% to $24.93.

How did Fortescue perform in the first half?

For the six months ended 31 December, Fortescue delivered a 44% increase in revenue to US$9,335 million and a 66% lift in net profit after tax to US$4,084 million.

This strong result was of course driven by the sky high iron ore price. During the half, the company commanded an average realised price of US$114 per dry metric tonne for its iron ore. This was a 42.5% increase on the prior corresponding period.

This is actually a larger increase that the 62% Fe CFR Platts index over the same period. Management advised that the outperformance of the index reflects the enhanced contribution of higher value products meeting the demands of its customers, as well as iron ore market supply constraints from South America.

Also supporting its growth was a 2.4% increase in shipments to a total of 90.7 wet metric tonnes.

Fortescue increases its dividend

In light of its strong first half and its positive outlook, the Fortescue board has declared a fully franked A$1.47 per share interim dividend. This is an increase of 93.4% on the prior corresponding period.

Based on the current Fortescue share price, this interim dividend alone equates to a fully franked 5.9% yield.

Fortescue’s interim dividend also represents a payout ratio of 80% of net profit after tax. This is in line with its guidance of maintaining a payout ratio at the top end of the Board approved range of 50% to 80% of net profit after tax.

Management advised that the interim dividend declared reflects the strong operating cash flow environment, confidence in the outlook for the second half of FY 2021, and the strength of the balance sheet.

Outlook

Possibly holding back the Fortescue share price slightly today has been a change to its guidance due to the stronger Australian dollar.

While Fortescue continues to target iron ore shipments of 178mt to 182mt, it has revised its C1 costs and capital expenditure guidance.

C1 costs are now expected to be US$13.50 to US$14.00 per wet metric tonne. This compares to previous guidance for US$13.00 to US$13.50 per wet metric tonne. Whereas capital expenditure is now expected to be at the upper end of its previous guidance range of US$3 billion to US$3.4 billion.

This is based on a revision to the assumed FY 2021 average exchange rate from 0.70 to 0.75 USD/AUD.

More reading

• Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price hit by a $3 billion cultural problem
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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.

Shopify Inc (NYSE: SHOP) reported its fourth-quarter earnings before the market open on Wednesday, and even though the e-commerce platform delivered impressive top- and bottom-line results, its guidance left investors wanting for more. The company cautioned that the frantic pace of growth that characterized much of the past year would slow in 2021, giving investors pause.

The company reported revenue of $978 million, up 94% year over year. Adjusted net income of $199 million generated adjusted earnings per share (EPS) that soared 198% to $1.58. This easily surpassed analysts’ consensus estimates, which called for revenue of $910 million and adjusted EPS of $1.25. 

There was plenty of stout growth that underpinned Shopify’s robust top- and bottom-line performance. Subscription solutions revenue grew an impressive 53% year over year to $279 million, spurred on by monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $83 million, which was also up 53%.

It was merchant solutions that stole the show, however, with revenue that grew 117% to $698 million. This was driven higher by gross merchandise volume (the value of products that changed hands on Shopify’s platform) that soared 99% to $41 billion in the fourth quarter.

While these number all gave investors cause to celebrate, shareholders focused instead on Shopify’s guidance, sending the stock lower. The company didn’t provide specific numbers for the upcoming quarter or full year, but rather painted broad strokes of how it sees 2021 playing out.

Management noted that growth would be “driven by more merchants … joining the platform in a number lower than the record in 2020, but higher than any year prior to 2020 … We expect that we will continue to grow revenue rapidly in 2021, albeit at a lower rate than in 2020.” 

Shopify said it will continue to invest “aggressively” to fuel growth.

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

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Danny Vena owns shares of Shopify. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Shopify. 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.

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