Jul.06 — Abraar Karan, physician at Harvard Medical School as well as at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, talks about the coronavirus pandemic. Global cases topped 11.4 million, deaths exceed 533,000, and the World Health Organization reported a one-day high in infections over the weekend. Karan speaks with Haslinda Amin and Yvonne Man on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.”
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Jul.05 — Alan Dupont, founder and chief executive officer at Cognoscenti Group, discusses the relationship between the U.S. and China, his outlook for the U.S. election and how he manages risk when dealing with both countries. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: China Open.”
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The Phoslock Environmental Technologies Ltd (ASX: PET) share price has surged by 21% today after the water treatment company reported new contracts and project extensions. New project sites have been confirmed in Washington State and New Jersey, and a Brazilian contract has been extended.
Phoslock specialises in engineering solutions and water treatment products to remediate polluted lakes, rivers, and canals. The company produces a product that removes phosphates and other contaminates from water bodies, and is also safe to use in drinking water reservoirs. Removing excess phosphorus from water inhibits the growth of harmful algal blooms that can have detrimental impacts on aquatic and human life.
Phoslock announced that it has been contracted to treat the 240 hectare Kitsap Lake in Washington State and Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey. If Phoslock’s technology is deemed successful and cost-effective at Lake Hopatcong, this could set the precedent for large-scale prevention of harmful algal blooms in other lakes through New Jersey and the United States.
The company highlights that the contracts represent an important opportunity for Phoslock’s technology to be demonstrated in new regions and could result in further business in the US, where water quality issues are receiving more government and public attention.
In Brazil, Phoslock’s contract to treat Lake Pampulha, an important recreational and cultural area, has been renewed for another year. In Rio De Janeiro, an initial application of Phoslock to a major drinking water reservoir of the city has been successful and will be followed up with further treatments in the second half of 2020. The company reports that in the second half of 2020, additional treatments are scheduled for drinking water reservoirs in northern and southern Brazil.
In Europe, Phoslock will be applied to a small alpine lake in the Dolomites in Italy and to a lowland lake in the Netherlands in the final quarter of calendar 2020. Phoslock continues to operate across China with 3 ongoing projects in Yunnan province and continued maintenance work on South Beijing canals.
Phislock is seeking to diversify the revenue base of its business. The ability to secure contracts in new regions and new markets is a key pillar of this strategy. The company also remains strongly committed to growing its business in China where its technology is increasingly accepted as best in class for water remediation. Despite travel restrictions, additional resources invested in growth outside China is being reflected in a stronger pipeline of new contracts.
The Phoslock share price is up by 21.43% in today’s trade to sit at $0.34, but still remains more than 50% down since the beginning of 2020.
Motley Fool resident tech stock expert Dr. Anirban Mahanti has stumbled upon three under-the-radar stock picks he believes could be some of the greatest discoveries of his investing career.
He’s so confident in their future prospects that he has issued “double down” buy alerts on each of these three stocks to members of his Motley Fool Extreme Opportunities stock picking service.
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Motley Fool contributor Kate O’Brien has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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The New Century Resources Ltd (ASX: NCZ) share price is up by 8.57% today, thanks to a market announcement that revealed significant increases in the miner’s quarterly production, alongside cost reduction measures.
The news will be well received by shareholders, after the New Century share price has tumbled from its $0.45 high in the past year.
In its announcement, New Century Resources declared commercial production at its Century Zinc Mine operation in Queensland, meaning that production from the mine begins to make operations economically feasible. This follows the mine recording a 22% increase in zinc metal production during the quarter ended June 2020, hitting 34,500 tonnes. The mine also saw a large decrease in direct costs, which were down to about US$0.79/lb on payable metal.
This increase is the 7th consecutive quarter in which the mine has seen not only increased zinc production but also the reduction in costs.
New Century managing director Patrick Walta confirmed that the company remains focused on continuing this trend, and commented that the mine is “now re-established as a top 10 zinc producer just 3 years since being shutdown for closure.”
Towards the end of May, New Century made an announcement that it had entered a 60-day exclusivity period with Vale in relation to the potential acquisition of the Goro nickel and cobalt mine in New Caledonia. The company is continuing to move forward with negotiations for the provision of suitable funding and long-term working capital for the operation.
If the acquisition of the Goro operation is successful, it would result in New Century Resources becoming a major supplier of nickel and cobalt for the growing electric vehicle industry.
Despite the zinc price remaining near 4-year lows, Walta stated that the company sees “potential for a price rebound due to additional metal demand from increased global infrastructure development linked to Covid-19 government stimulus.” Any price rebound in the zinc price will have a corresponding impact on the New Century share price.
The New Century share price has been wildly volatile since it listed in mid 2017, going from $1.50 to lows of $0.05 in March, before rebounding to $0.19 a share, or an increase of 280% since March.
However, New Century does remain one of the most shorted shares on the ASX.
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Altium or Afterpay when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true.
And while Altium and Afterpay have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
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Motley Fool contributor Daniel Ewing has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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Technology has revolutionised how we work and play. Furthermore, being technology focused has enabled some companies to weather the coronavirus crisis far better than others. Social distancing measures have hammered the economy this year. But some companies, as well as their investors, have reaped the benefits that stem from operating tech-focused businesses in the current environment.
Let’s discuss 3 such ASX tech shares that I believe will reward long-term investors.
New contract wins have helped the NextDC share price surge to new highs over the past 12 months. In an update released to the market on 1 July 2020, CEO and managing director Craig Scroggie stated: “The demand for our data centre services continues to accelerate and exceed expectations”.
NextDC was also admitted as a top 100 ASX listed company in the June S&P/ASX Indices quarterly rebalance.
In May of this year, the Aussie data centre operator also completed a $191 million share purchase plan. This followed a $672 million institutional placement completed on 8 April. The funds will assist the company with pursuing growth opportunities including the proposed development of a new data centre in Sydney.
Technology One is an Australian Software as a Service (SaaS) provider. The company’s diversified client base and global expansion plans are helping it to consistently deliver stable and increasing earnings.
In fact, in an announcement on 19 May, Technology One advised it anticipates annual recurring revenues (ARR) to grow to $500 million by FY24. ARR in FY19 was $202 million. Furthermore, the company reported a low churn rate of 0.45% for the half year ended 31 March.
CEO Edward Chung said: “With a strong pipeline, a high proportion of locked in recurring revenues, no debt and a strong balance sheet, we are well positioned to deliver continuing strong growth over the full year”.
Xero offers cloud-based accounting software for small and medium sized businesses. The software is designed to make record keeping simple and user-friendly.
The group has been successfully expanding and now operates in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, North America, and other parts of the world.
In its FY20 investor presentation on 14 May this year, the company announced subscribers have grown 467,000 to 2.285 million. As a result, revenue climbed 30% year-on-year to $718.2 million. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) has also increased $64.6 million year-on-year to $137.7 million.
Its successful growth strategy is a key reason the Xero share price has been surging. While the company cautioned about the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, it remains committed to its growth targets and long-term strategy.
CEO Steve Vamos said on 14 May 2020: “…Now more than ever, small businesses are recognising the benefit of being able to use the cloud to run their businesses and manage their finances.”
I believe technology is driving flexibility of operation in the modern world. As a result, barriers such as physical location are now declining allowing us to increasingly work and play online.
I’m confident an investment in the companies listed above has the potential to reward long-term investors with capital growth due to the increasing demand for their products and services.
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Altium or Afterpay when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true.
And while Altium and Afterpay have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
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Matthew Donald has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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The best performer on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) on Monday has been the Mesoblast limited (ASX: MSB) share price by some distance.
In afternoon trade the allogeneic cellular medicines developer’s shares are up a sizeable 8% to $3.65.
Investors have been buying the company’s shares after it provided an update on its allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) product candidate, remestemcel-L.
According to the release, an expanded access protocol (EAP) has been initiated in the United States for compassionate use of remestemcel-L in the treatment of COVID-19 infected children with cardiovascular and other complications of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C).
This means that patients aged between two months and 17 years may receive one or two doses of remestemcel-L within five days of referral under the EAP.
The company advised that the protocol was filed with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and provides physicians with access to remestemcel-L for an intermediate-size patient population under its existing Investigational New Drug application.
MIS-C is a life-threatening complication of COVID-19 in otherwise healthy children and adolescents. It includes massive simultaneous inflammation of multiple critical organs and their vasculature.
In approximately 50% of cases this inflammation is associated with significant cardiovascular complications that directly involve the heart muscle and may result in decreased cardiac function.
Furthermore, the virus can result in dilation of coronary arteries with unknown future consequences.
Remestemcel-L is believed to have immunomodulatory properties to counteract the inflammatory processes by down-regulating the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, increasing production of anti-inflammatory cytokines, and enabling recruitment of naturally occurring anti-inflammatory cells to involved tissues.
The therapy comprises culture-expanded mesenchymal stem cells that are derived from the bone marrow of an unrelated donor. It is then administered in a series of intravenous infusions.
Mesoblast’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Fred Grossman, appears optimistic that remestemcel-L can offer important therapeutic benefits to MIS-C patients.
He commented: “The extensive body of safety and efficacy data generated to date using remestemcel-L in children with graft versus host disease suggest that our cellular therapy could provide a clinically important therapeutic benefit in MIS-C patients, especially if the heart is involved as a target organ for inflammation.”
“Use of remestemcel-L in children with COVID-19 builds on and extends the potential application of this cell therapy in COVID-19 cytokine storm beyond the most severe adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome,” he concluded.
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Altium or Afterpay when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true.
And while Altium and Afterpay have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
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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. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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