Jun.29 — The economy of Kazakhstan, central Asia’s largest energy producer, took a double hit from the coronavirus-related lockdown and the collapse in oil prices. Naubet Bisenov reports on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.”
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed which industries (and ASX shares) could see a bounce after COVID-19.
According to The Guardian reporting, the ABS is looking at Aussie spending habits during the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest survey, conducted in mid-June, is about what Australians are going to spend money on once restrictions are loosened again.
The Guardian quoted ABS head of Household Surveys, Michelle Marquardt, talking about people’s spending intentions: “a majority expected to increase their spending on recreational activities (74%), eating out (74%), private transport (73%), personal care (70%), childcare (66%) and public transport (55%).”
Well it’s good to see that people do plan to spend more money when restrictions allow. It is spending that makes the economy tick.
Recreational activities could mean a lot of different things. There are plenty of shares this could be applicable to such as: Ardent Leisure Group Ltd (ASX: ALG), Experience Co Ltd (ASX: EXP), Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN), Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd (ASX: EVT), Ingenia Communities Group (ASX: INA), Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR), Sealink Travel Group Ltd (ASX: SLK) and Village Roadshow Ltd (ASX: VRL).
Eating out would probably benefit the food shares listed on the ASX like Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd. (ASX: DMP), Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF), Retail Food Group Limited (ASX: RFG) and Redcape Hotel Group Pty Ltd (ASX: RDC).
You’d think that private transport would be good for shares like Ampol Ltd (ASX: AMP), Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX: VEA) and Waypoint REIT Ltd (ASX: WPR).
Increased spending on personal care would be good for shares like BWX Ltd (ASX: BWX), McPherson’s Ltd (ASX: MCP), Sigma Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SIG) and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).
It also looks like it would be good news for childcare related shares like G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM), Think Childcare Ltd (ASX: TNK) and Arena REIT No 1 (ASX: ARF).
People are also asked about their travel intentions. The ABS survey revealed that 55% were planning to go on a domestic holiday while less than a third were planning an international holiday.
Of the people planning to take a domestic holiday, 20% intended to go within the following month and another 68% planned to go within the following six months. Most people aren’t thinking about an international holiday in the short-term. Of people thinking about an overseas holiday, 44% were thinking about doing it within six to 12 months and 31% were thinking about taking the holiday more than a year in the future.
Shares like Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB), Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT), Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) and Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) are obviously being disrupted by COVID-19 right now, but it’ll be pleasing for them that people are thinking about taking domestic holidays.
I think there’s a case for many of the shares hit by COVID-19 if you think about the long-term. Shares should be long-term investments. What happens over the next 12 months shouldn’t change your long-term thinking about a business too much, unless it could go bust. I’m not sure about travel shares at today’s prices. The rising case numbers in Melbourne have hurt the prospect of the country being completely COVID-19 free this year, and may limit travel between Melbourne and the rest of the country for a bit longer.
I do believe that shares like BWX, McPherson’s, API and Ingenia could be ones to watch over the next couple of years. I’m quite excited by the prospect of the continuing international earnings growth for BWX and McPherson’s.
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 Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BWX Limited and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of EXPERNCECO FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Collins Foods Limited, Crown Resorts Limited, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited, and Flight Centre Travel Group Limited. 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.
The post ABS reveals which industries (and ASX shares) may rebound hard after COVID-19 appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
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At the small end of the Australian share market, I believe there are a good number of shares with the potential to grow into much larger entities in the future.
Three which I think ought to be on your watchlist right now are listed below. Here’s why I think they have very promising futures:
The first small cap to watch is Clover. It is a producer of ingredients such as omega-3 oils that go into infant formula, supplements, and baby food. Clover has been growing at a strong rate over the last few years thanks largely to increasing demand for ingredients from infant formula manufacturers. Pleasingly, I’m confident that its strong growth can continue over the coming years. Especially given favourable changes to ingredient requirements in a number of key markets.
Another small cap share to add to your watchlist is Mach7. It is a medical imaging data management solutions provider which offers software that helps inform diagnosis, reduce care delivery delays and costs, and improve patient outcomes. Demand for its offering has been growing strongly, leading to Mach7 reporting a 158% increase in first half revenue to $9.1 million. Since then the company has announced the acquisition of Client Outlook. It is a leading provider of an enterprise image viewing technology and increases Mach7’s total addressable market from US$0.75 billion to US$2.75 billion.
A final small cap to watch is MNF Group. It specialises in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, which is used to convert analogue audio signals into digital data that can be sent over the internet. Demand for VoIP services has been growing very strongly this year because of the pandemic and the work from home initiative. So much so, in April MNF Group was able to reaffirm its full-year guidance for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of between $36 million and $39 million.
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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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 Clover Limited, MACH7 FPO, and MNF Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MACH7 FPO and MNF Group Limited. 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.
The post 3 exciting small cap ASX shares to add to your watchlist appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
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One advantage of investing in your 20s is that you can afford to take higher risks.
This doesn’t mean you should start day trading your savings away, it just means you can invest in companies which might not be suitable for investors approaching retirement.
This is because if you’re in your 20s, you have a lot of time to recover your losses if things don’t go to plan.
Another advantage of investing in your 20s is the ability to benefit greatly from compounding.
For example, a single $10,000 invested in the share market and earning a 9% return would grow to be worth ~$23,700 in 10 years. Whereas in 40 years it would be worth a massive ~$315,000.
If you can then afford to invest $5,000 into the share market each year after year one (and earn the same return), you’ll have amassed a fortune of $2.15 million at the end of year 40.
That certainly is a nice nest egg to retire on, with only a very limited outlay each year.
With that in mind, here are three top ASX shares I think could be good options for investors in their 20s:
The first share that I think investors in their 20s ought to consider buying is this payments company. I believe it is well-positioned for growth over the next decade thanks to the growing popularity of buy now pay later with consumers and retailers and its international expansion opportunity.
Another option to consider is Bubs. It is a goat’s milk-focused infant formula and baby food company which has been growing its top line at a rapid rate over the last couple of years. Pleasingly, I believe it still has a long runway for growth. Especially given its growing distribution footprint online in China and offline in Australian supermarkets.
A final option to consider is Pushpay. It is a provider of a donor management system, including donor tools, finance tools, and a custom community app to the faith sector. It has been growing at a rapid rate thanks to its leadership in a niche but lucrative market. I believe can continue its growth over the coming years thanks to its sticky product, the shift to a cashless society, and its industry-leading software.
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!
*Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
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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 and PUSHPAY FPO NZX. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BUBS AUST FPO and PUSHPAY FPO NZX. 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.
The post Are you in your 20s? Here’s why I would buy these quality ASX shares appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
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I follow a few investing groups on Facebook was recently asked on one why I owned shares in fast-growing payments company Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH).
It was a great question. The Pushpay share price has been rocketing this year, leaving some investors scratching their heads. Everyone invests for different reasons and for me Pushpay has the makings of a great long-term growth story.
These are my 3 reasons why I think Pushpay is a winner:
Pushpay’s software allows church attendees to make donations through mobile payments. The company was one of the first in the contactless payments space and in transforming the way people give money. Growth exploded and there were signs early on that Pushpay was becoming a dominant player in the niche.
Becoming a ‘top dog’ has proven invaluable in 2020. The on-set of COVID-19 has made in-person church gatherings difficult. It has forced churches to find alternative ways to keep congregations connected, informed and the church funded. Pushpay’s perfect positioning helps to meet that need.
I want to own companies with strong economic moats and Pushpay, to me, is an example of a company with high switching costs.
It becomes a time-consuming and disruptive process to change to a competing product once customers and the congregation are set up with the software and app. I think this sustainable advantage will help Pushpay retain customers and produce high rates of return over a long period.
One of my initial arguments for owning Pushpay shares was that it was led by Co-founder and CEO, Chris Heaslip. A visionary leader, Heaslip had a history of delivering on the aggressive goals set for the company. Imagine my nervousness when both Chris Heaslip and fellow co-founder, Eliot Crowther exited the business in short order, selling down significant proportions of their shareholdings!
Yet, even in the face of such massive management upheavals, the business has continued to thrive. To me, this is evidence of an extremely robust business model.
Peter Lynch has a quote that says “Go for a business that any idiot can run – because sooner or later any idiot probably is going to be running it.” Pushpay is certainly not being run by idiots, but having a highly effective business model means the company has escaped the ‘key person risk’ which can be common to start-ups.
My thesis for owning Pushpay shares centred around it being an early mover in an important, emerging industry with a strong economic moat. But the business model has proven to be incredibly robust and sturdy enough to endure a storm of management changes. In my view, these are markers of a great business and the type of companies I want to own in my portfolio.
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!
*Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
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Regan Pearson owns shares of PUSHPAY FPO NZX. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of PUSHPAY FPO NZX. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended PUSHPAY FPO NZX. 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.
The post These are the 3 reasons I own Pushpay shares appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
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The Auteco Minerals Ltd (ASX: AUT) share price is flying today after the gold explorer released its maiden JORC Resource for its flagship project.
At the time of writing, Auteco Minerals shares have skyrocketed 100% to 16 cents apiece.
Auteco Minerals is an emerging mineral exploration company focused on advancing high-grade gold resources at the Pickle Crow Gold Project.
The Pickle Crow project is located in the Uchi sub-province of Ontaria, Canada. The province hosts major projects such as Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)’s 25-million ounce Red Lake gold complex, Newmont’s Musselwhite gold mine (5.7 million ounces), and First Mining’s Springpole project (4.7 million ounces).
The Pickle Crow deposit was originally discovered in the early 1930s and commenced commercial production in 1935. Operating until 1966, the mine produced 1.5 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 16 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
This morning, Auteco announced a maiden JORC 2012-compliant inferred resource of 830,000 ounces of gold at 11.6g/t gold for its Pickle Crow project.
The resource is based on a review of the existing data at the project, including previous non-JORC estimates, and runs from the surface immediately adjacent to existing underground and surface infrastructure.
The company noted that mineralisation remains open on all lodes along strike and at depth.
“This maiden JORC Resource, which has been independently calculated, confirms Pickle Crow is a significant, high-grade deposit with immense growth potential,” said executive chair Ray Shorrocks.
Auteco started its maiden drilling program at Pickle Crow last month. Since then, nine holes for 2,079 metres have been completed, with all assays pending analysis.
Based on visually-encouraging observations from the first few drill holes, Auteco has added a second drill rig and increased the initial drill program from 5,000 metres to 10,000 metres.
“This is just the beginning of work at Pickle Crow,” said Mr Shorrocks.
Looking forward, Mr Shorrocks said the company’s active exploration has three goals:
Auteco Minerals shares last traded at 16 cents apiece, which gives the company a current market capitalisation of around $210 million.
3 “Double Down” Stocks To Ride The Bull Market
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.
*Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
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Motley Fool contributor Cathryn Goh 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.
The post Why the Auteco Minerals share price has doubled today appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
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Jun.28 — James Zhao, co-founder and managing partner at LYFE Capital, discusses the healthcare sector, Hong Kong’s IPO market and Kangji Medical’s Hong Kong IPO. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: China Open.”
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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is home to 200 of the biggest and brightest companies that Australia has to offer.
But with so many options to choose from, it can be hard to decide which ones to buy. In order to narrow things down, I have picked out three top ASX 200 shares that I believe might appeal to certain investors.
They are as follows:
If you’re a growth investor, then you might want to consider an investment in Appen. It is a tech company that prepares the data to go into artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning models. This is a vital part of the process in creating successful models and is likely to mean that its services remain in demand for many years to come. Especially given how important these models are becoming for businesses and the high level of investment being made in them. Overall, I expect this strong demand to underpin above-average earnings growth for many years to come.
Income investors that are on the lookout for dividend shares might want to consider this supermarket operator. I believe Coles is well-placed to deliver solid earnings growth over the next decade thanks to its refreshed strategy, defensive business, and expansion opportunities. And with the company planning to pay out upwards of 90% of its earnings to shareholders, I feel this bodes well for its dividends in the future. At present I estimate that its shares offer a fully franked 3.9% FY 2021 dividend.
Finally, I think that Telstra would be a good option for value investors. At present the telco giant’s shares are changing hands for an estimated 19x full year earnings. I think this is great value given its increasingly positive outlook. After several very tough years, I believe a return to growth is on the cards in the coming years. This is thanks to rational competition, the easing of the NBN headwind, its material cost reductions, and the arrival of 5G internet. In addition to this, I’m confident its dividend cuts are over and that 16 cents per share will be sustainable from its cash flows for the foreseeable future.
3 “Double Down” Stocks To Ride The Bull Market
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.
*Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Appen Ltd and COLESGROUP DEF SET. 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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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.
Shortly after giving up on live-streaming, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is doing likewise with retail. The company announced last week that it would be permanently closing all physical retail stores in a major strategic shift, thus ending a decade-long experiment in replicating Apple‘s (NASDAQ: AAPL) success in retail. The first Microsoft Store opened in October 2009, nearly 11 years ago.
Here’s why the software giant is pulling the plug on its stores.
Like many retailers, Microsoft stores have been crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Locations have been closed since March as a result of various virus-related lockdown orders, and none have reopened even as some local restrictions have eased. Employees have still been able to assist customers, including average consumers and enterprise customers, remotely with virtual training and support calls.
Only four locations in London; New York City; Redmond, Washington; and Sydney will remain open, but they will be repurposed as Microsoft Experience Centers instead of traditional retail stores. Microsoft expects to eat a pre-tax charge of approximately $450 million, or $0.05 per share, in the second quarter.
Microsoft told The Verge that it would not be laying off any employees as a result of the decision. Instead, those workers will transition to other corporate offices where they will remotely work on sales, training, and support. Accordingly, the aforementioned pre-tax charge should relate primarily to things like lease terminations and other associated costs instead of severance or termination benefits.
Meanwhile, the enterprise software tech behemoth will invest heavily in its digital storefronts — which Microsoft says collectively have 1.2 billion monthly visitors — to facilitate virtual interactions.
“Our sales have grown online as our product portfolio has evolved to largely digital offerings, and our talented team has proven success serving customers beyond any physical location,” Microsoft exec David Porter said in a statement. “We are grateful to our Microsoft Store customers and we look forward to continuing to serve them online and with our retail sales team at Microsoft corporate locations.”
It was always clear that Microsoft was hoping to emulate Apple. The stores were designed to look almost identical to Apple stores, including the use of minimal aesthetics and overall layout. Microsoft often positioned them in close proximity to Apple stores. But Microsoft was never able to achieve the same level of success. Foot traffic was always uninspiring, and the company has never provided much financial detail around the segment.
Apple, on the other hand, often tops retail rankings for sales per square foot. Apple is trying to reopen its stores as local conditions permit, but the Mac maker has had to reclose stores in certain states where coronavirus cases are spiking.
This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
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!
*Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
More reading
Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Apple and Microsoft and recommends the following options: long January 2021 $85 calls on Microsoft and short January 2021 $115 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple. 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.
The post Microsoft is giving up on retail appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
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