The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) finished today strongly, growing by 1.25% to 6,036 points after the release of yesterday’s Australian federal budget.

Scott Phillips shared his thoughts on the budget in this article.

Here are some of the highlights from the ASX today:

Shares react to the budget

Looking at the big ASX banks, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price went up more than 2%, the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price increased by over 2%, the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price grew by around 2% and the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) share price share price rose by more than 2%.

Other large ASX 200 shares also reacted positively, particularly large employers. The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price went up 2.5%, the Coles Group Limited (ASX: COL) share price rose by 1.6% and the Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price climbed by 2%.

The aged care operators have fallen today. The Estia Health Care Ltd (ASX: EHE) share price fell by 2%, the Japara Healthcare Ltd (ASX: JHC) share price dropped by 3.7% and the Regis Healthcare Ltd (ASX: REG) share price declined by 1.4%.

Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG)

Magellan announced today that its total funds under management (FUM) increased by $1.2 billion to $102 billion at the end of September 2020.

The fund manager said that in September it experienced net inflows of $1.2 billion which included net retail inflows of $239 million and net institutional inflows of $959 million. This largely appears to have helped its infrastructure equities grow by around $900 million.

In reaction to this update, the Magellan share price went up by more than 2%.

ARB Corporation Limited (ASX: ARB)

The ASX 200 vehicle accessories business provided a pleasing update to the market.

It said that it achieved sales growth of 17.7% for the first quarter of FY21 to 30 September 2020 compared to the previous corresponding period.

Based on its preliminary, unaudited management accounts, ARB’s profit before tax for the quarter was $29.7 million. This guidance excludes non-recurring government benefits of $9.7 million for the quarter.

ARB said that excellent growth was achieved in export markets, while domestic Australian sales growth was moderate and, as expected, OEM sales decreased compared to the same period last year.

The extended lockdown in Melbourne had a negative impact on local sales during the quarter. The level of outstanding orders remains high and work is being done to overcome logistical difficulties and to increase production to reduce the order bank and better service customers.

The ASX 200’s board thinks a substantial amount of the recent growth can be attributed to satisfying pent up demand created during the lockdown period. In addition, ARB’s leadership thinks an increased trend towards local touring in several countries has been helping and government support has provided spending stimulus to people and businesses. Unless something economically drastic happens, export sales are expected to remain strong and the OEM order book is growing.

While the shorter term looks positive for ARB, management said that the future economic environment remains very uncertain and no guidance could be given for the rest of the financial year. The company warned the first quarter’s performance shouldn’t be used as an indicator of the likely full year result as it’s too uncertain to predict.

As government and other COVID-19 related support reduces, the impact on economic activity will be monitored by management closely.

The ARB share price initially went up by more than 5% in early trading, but it finished the day higher by just over 2%.

More reading

• 2 top ASX 200 blue chip shares worth a spot in your portfolio
• Why I would buy these 3 ASX dividend shares for income today
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• ASX 200 up 0.4%: Big four banks push higher, Westpac upgraded, ARB impresses
• Why a2 Milk, Afterpay, ARB, & SEEK shares are pushing higher today

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ARB 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.

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If you don’t currently have the funds to build a truly diverse portfolio, then I think exchange traded funds (ETFs) could be just what you need.

This is because through a single investment, ETFs give investors exposure to whole indices, industries, or themes.

There are a growing number of ETFs out there for investors to choose from, but two of my favourites are named below. Here’s why I like them:

iShares Asia 50 ETF (ASX: IAA)

The first ETF to consider buying is the iShares Asia 50 ETF. According to BlackRock, as its name implies, this fund aims to provide investors with the performance of the S&P Asia 50 Index, before fees and expenses. This index is home to the 50 leading companies that are listed in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. As I’m bullish on the Asian economy over the next decade, I feel it could be a great place to invest some funds.

Included in the fund are companies such as AIA Group, China Mobile, Hyundai, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Tencent Holdings. The latter is the owner of the hugely successful WeChat app.

VanEck Vectors S&P/ASX MidCap ETF (ASX: MVE)

If you want to add some exposure to growth shares, then the VanEck Vectors S&P/ASX MidCap ETF could be a great way to do it. This ETF invests in a diversified portfolio of ASX-listed shares with the aim of providing investment returns that closely track those of the S&P/ASX Midcap 50 Index.

VanEck notes that Australian mid cap shares are the sweet spot of the Australian equity universe and represent companies with the spirit of small companies combined with the maturity of large companies. Among its holdings you’ll find the likes of Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP), Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT), and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO). Given the quality on offer in the fund, I believe it has the potential to outperform the benchmark ASX 200 index over the coming years.

More reading

• Is it still safe to invest in China?
• Is the ResMed (ASX:RMD) share price a strong buy today?
• One ASX share every patient investor should own
• 2 top ASX 200 blue chip shares worth a spot in your portfolio
• 3 reasons the Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price is a buy

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 Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended 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.

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China is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, and as such, has proven to be a lucrative market to invest in for many years now. Chinese e-commerce companies like Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), JD.com Inc (NASDAQ: JD), Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) and Tencent Holdings (OTCMKTS: TCEHY) have exploded in value over just the past 5 years. And with China reportedly leading the world in post-COVID-19 economic recovery, things look set to continue on this path for investors looking to China.

However, China has also increasingly provoked the ire of other countries in recent years, particularly the United States, but also Australia. We won’t go into the political sphere too much here, but I think it’s fairly safe to say that China’s handling of a number of issues, not least of which involving Hong Kong, have been controversial. As have the moves from China to impose export restrictions on a number of Australian industries, such as wine and barley.

All of this matters because we could be seeing a de-coupling of trading norms between China and both Australia and the US. The rhetoric stemming out of the US in 2020, in particular, has been alarming for anyone with investments in China or Chinese companies. It was only last year that the Trump administration was threatening to force Chinese companies like Alibaba and Tencent to de-list from US stock exchanges. And then there’s also the regulatory issues stemming from the oblique American Deposit Receipts (ADR) structures that most Chinese companies list through.

So is China still a safe place to invest?

Is China worth a look in 2020?

I think there are still sufficient reasons to consider investing in top Chinese companies today. This is still a massive growth market, and also one that is relatively uncorrelated to other share markets like the US and Australia. This can be great from a diversification standpoint. However, I do also acknowledge that some of the concerns listed above remain pertinent. We have a highly anticipated US presidential election coming up. If President Trump is reelected, we could see a resumption in the trade wars that dominated Sino-US trade relations prior to 2020. This could well lead to further deterioration between the two countries, which could end up at a point where Chinese shares are indeed ejected from the US capital markets.

Considering all of these factors, I still think investing in China or Chinese companies is a good idea. But I personally would only recommend a small allocation in a portfolio to Chinese companies, to account for the significant risks remaining. I would also stick to the ‘big names’ like Tencent and Alibaba, or otherwise with exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like the BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASX: ASIA) or the VanEck Vectors China New Economy ETF (ASX: CNEW).

More reading

• 2 top ETFs that would be good investments in any portfolio
• Here are 2 of the best ETFs you can buy today
• Where to invest $20,000 into ASX shares immediately
• iCandy (ASX:ICI) share price soaring on partnership with Alibaba
• Where to invest $10,000 into ASX shares right now

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Baidu. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF. 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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In afternoon trade on Wednesday the ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD) share price is pushing higher with the market.

At the time of writing, the medical device company’s shares are up 1% to $23.83.

Despite this gain, the ResMed share price is down almost 19% from the 52-week high it reached in July.

Is this a buying opportunity?

I think the recent pullback in the ResMed share price is a buying opportunity for long term focused investors.

While its shares are still not cheap, even after this decline, I believe they offer a lot of value for investors that plan to make a buy and hold investment.

This is due to its focus on the lucrative sleep treatment market.

ResMed designs, develops, and manufactures masks to treat sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea. It also has a growing software business which provides solutions that support sufferers of sleep disorders.

Management estimates that there are currently 936 million people with sleep apnoea globally. There are also over 380 million people who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and more than 340 million people living with asthma.

Due to its industry-leading products and wide distribution network, I believe ResMed can win a growing slice of this market over the next decade.

Management certainly believes this to be the case. It is aiming to improve a total of 250 million lives by 2025. This compares to the 16 million lives it improved in FY 2020 by providing them with a device or complete mask system to help them breathe.

Another part of the company which I’m positive on is its software solutions business. At the end of FY 2020, ResMed’s digital health ecosystem had grown to over 12 million cloud connectable medical devices. It also had ~14 million patients enrolled in the AirView software solution.

This gives ResMed a significant amount of high quality data to perform sophisticated analytics and drive actionable insights.

Foolish Takeaway.

ResMed shares have been market beaters over the last 10 years and I believe the stage is set for them to repeat these heroics over the next decade. This could make the company one of the best buy and hold options on the ASX today.

More reading

• You could become very wealthy by investing $1,000 into these ASX shares
• Potential ASX winners from government’s $1.5bn manufacturing blueprint
• 2 must-buy ASX 200 shares I rate highly
• 3 of the best ASX healthcare shares to buy and hold
• 10 fantastic ASX shares to buy in October

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ResMed Inc. 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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Share prices are edging higher today, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) up 0.9% in afternoon trading.

This comes despite bearish forecasts that Australian shares would follow United States’ share markets lower after President Donald Trump torpedoed ongoing negotiations for the next big US stimulus package. These forecasts saw the ASX 200 fall 0.3% in the first 20 minutes of trading.

But the Morrison government’s own huge stimulatory budget, released last night, clearly trumps Trump’s tweet that US stimulus will have to wait until after ‘he wins’ the presidential election on 3 November.

The ASX shares not making budget related headlines

The budget Treasurer Josh Frydenberg unveiled last night is chock full of personal and business tax breaks, and numerous multi-billion-dollar spending programs targeting the manufacturing and energy sectors, among others.

The aim is to put money back into people’s and companies’ pockets and to create jobs.

Little wonder then that many analysts are citing potential share price gains in energy, financial, infrastructure and retail (particularly online retail) shares.

What you won’t see much of during these early budget analysis days is the long-term gains still offered by beaten down shares in the hospitality and travel space. That’s because no amount of fiscal stimulus is going to fully revitalise these industries until the coronavirus is truly contained.

For investors to reap the potential large gains on offer, they’ll need to be patient.

Air travel gutted

One area that’s been particularly hard hit is air travel.

The International Air Transport Association forecasts that global air traffic in 2020 will be 66% less than it was in 2019. Worse, the Association reported that domestic traffic in Australia was down 91.5% in August.

Ouch.

With those statistics in mind, the Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) share price has actually fared pretty well. After losing 48% in the February and March share market panic, the Sydney Airport share price has rebounded 31% to date.

That still leaves the share price down 32% from the 17 January peak.

And therein lies the longer-term opportunity.

For the Sydney Airport share price to return to its January levels, it will need to gain 47% from today’s price of $5.97 per share.

Now it’s not going to do that before domestic and international travel returns to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, the share price is down 0.3% today despite the broader market gains.

But if you believe, as I do, that COVID will be beaten within the next year and air traffic will return, or exceed, 2019 levels with 2 to 3 years, then Sydney Airport shares today look like an enticing bargain.

More reading

• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) share price tipped to ascend 20% from here
• How to generate a passive income of $50,000 with ASX shares
• Beat the RBA rate cuts with these ASX dividend shares
• Advantage Australia — Why Morgan Stanley upgraded ASX shares to overweight

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. 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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I think that some of the best ASX shares are within the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), and they’re worth a spot in your portfolio.

ASX 200 blue chip shares are strong enough to be able to get through difficult periods like COVID-19. But many of the shares outside of the ASX 20 still have very good growth potential.

Here are two of the most promising ideas at the current prices in my opinion:

EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML)

EML Payments provides payments in different ways. The ASX 200 share be used by clients for rewards, gifts, incentives and to disburse payouts. It has attractive diversification in how to reach the customer.

Before COVID-19 came along, physical gift cards were a big part of the company’s growth prospects. Obviously social distancing, store closures, consumer cautiousness and a rise of online spending has seen the demand for physical gift cards decline.

So I think this company could be a good way to invest on a shift back to normal life if COVID-19 can be eliminated in Australia or an effective vaccine is produced.

Total revenue increased by 25% to $121.6 million and group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 10% to $32.5 million.

But even if retail shopping doesn’t quite return, I still think EML Payments is a solid ASX 200 share option. The EML Payments share price is down 23% since 10 June 2020 – to me it’s a much better price. That’s despite management saying June and July trading was encouraging.

Also, the business offers things like online gift cards – this could see a significant boost coming up to Christmas, particularly in the northern hemisphere.

A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

In my opinion, A2 Milk is one of the highest-quality ASX 200 shares. Selloff opportunities are a great time to buy shares of great businesses. Investing should be about multiple year timeframes, not just a single half-year or even 12-month period.

Long-term investors are being presented with an A2 Milk share price which is down 16.5% since 25 September 2020 and down 28% since 30 July 2020.

I understand why investors decided to sell. The local daigou sales channel is being heavily disrupted by COVID-19 impacts with the heavy lockdown in Victoria and the broader limit on international students and tourists caused by Australia’s border closures.

But A2 Milk can make up for this short-term disruption by continuing to build its China-based business and sell more products locally. The ASX 200 share is seeing success from its heavy investment in marketing in China. It’s gaining market share in the important mother and baby store market across China, with distribution increasing to more stores each month.

Things are also going well in the US. In its most recent trading update, the company said that its performance of the liquid milk business in America was strong. In FY20 it saw USA milk revenue growth of 91.2% with distribution expanded to 20,300 stores.

A2 Milk continues to target an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of at least 30% for the longer-term which is an attractive mix of profitability and investing for growth.

Don’t forget, the company is actually still guiding for growth in FY21.  It’s expecting revenue to be between NZ$1.8 billion to NZ$1.9 billion. That would represent growth of between 4% to 10%, up from NZ$1.73 billion in FY20.

But it’s the growth beyond FY21 that makes me think it’s a long-term buy today, particularly with the North American growth. The A2 Milk share price is currently trading at 22x FY23’s estimated earnings.

More reading

• ASX 200 up 0.4%: Big four banks push higher, Westpac upgraded, ARB impresses
• Why a2 Milk, Afterpay, ARB, & SEEK shares are pushing higher today
• Could this ASX growth share be in for a turnaround in 2021?
• Why you may not need ASX REITs for dividends
• How the federal budget will impact on your ASX stock portfolio

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended A2 Milk and Emerchants 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.

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It certainly has been a disappointing year for the Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price.

Despite the telco giant hitting its guidance in FY 2020, its shares are down a sizeable 22% since the start of the year.

Here are three reasons I think the Telstra share price weakness is a buying opportunity.

Valuation.

At the current level, I estimate that Telstra’s shares are changing hands at approximately 20x FY 2021 earnings. I think this is good value for a blue chip company which has a strong market position and defensive qualities. Furthermore, it looks good value in comparison to some of its peers. For example, at present the TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG) share price is trading at 40x forward earnings and the Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC) share price is commanding 23x forward earnings.

Attractive dividend yield.

The market appears incredibly divided on what dividend Telstra will pay in FY 2021. This is due to its guidance for the year ahead, which was softer than expected due to weaker roaming revenues. Based on its guidance, a dividend cut to somewhere in the region of 12 cents per share would be necessary given its current policy. However, it is worth noting that Telstra’s free cash flows are now greater than its accounting earnings. As a result, a shift to a free cash flow-based dividend policy would give it sufficient funds to maintain its 16 cents per share dividend. I’m optimistic that this shift will take place this year. If this happens, based on the current Telstra share price, it will provide investors with a fully franked 5.7% dividend yield.

5G internet.

Another reason I’m positive on Telstra is the arrival of 5G internet. Although it has been here for a little while, it hasn’t yet truly taken off. However, next week Apple will be holding its iPhone event and has hinted that its new phone will be 5G compatible. I believe this launch will be the catalyst for 5G to go mainstream in Australia, which should underpin improving mobile revenues in the coming years. Combined with the easing NBN headwind and its rampant cost cutting, I believe a return to earnings and dividend growth won’t be too far away for the company. This could make now an opportune time to make a patient investment.

More reading

• 2 quality ASX dividend shares to buy before the RBA meeting
• How to generate a passive income of $50,000 with ASX shares
• Meet the ASX 200 stock with a dividend yield that’ll hit ~14% in FY22
• The Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price is at a new 52-week low
• 2 high yield ASX dividend shares to solve your income needs

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. 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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Buying ASX dividend shares for income used to be a lot easier than it is today. With the coronavirus pandemic still ongoing, it’s been an especially challenging year for many ASX dividend shares to cough up their usual streams of income. Luckily, this hasn’t affected every dividend payer on the ASX, so here are 3 ASX dividend shares that I would happily buy today for income:

Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)

Coles is my first income pick. It’s a business we’d probably all be familiar with as Australia’s second-largest grocer and supermarket. I particularly like Coles’ defensive nature in this light – as we all saw back in March, companies that sell household essentials do just fine in all kinds of economic weather. That in turn lends great stability and reliability to Coles’ dividend in my view. Although it’s not the largest yield you can get on the ASX today, Coles’ fully franked, trailing yield of 3.26% on current prices isn’t a bad deal. Especially if you consider that interest rates are at virtually zero.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)

Fortescue is another dividend payer that I think is worthy of consideration today. Iron ore miners like Fortescue (in contrast to Coles) are not normally the steadiest dividend payers due to the cyclicality of the iron price over time. Even so, I think Fortescue runs so tight a ship that it is able to pay out generous dividends under most pricing scenarios.

And since iron ore has been relatively expensive in 2020 so far (holding well over US$100 a tonne for most of the year), Fortescue shares aren’t a bad option today, even at their relatively high price. On current pricing, Fortescue is offering up a whopping trailing dividend yield of 10.51%, which also comes fully franked. Even if Fortescue cuts this dividend in half next year, it’s still a worthwhile income stock. As such, I think this company is a buy today for income investors.

Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (ASX: VHY)

Our final dividend share today is actually an exchange-traded fund (ETF). VHY aims to hold a basket of the ASX’s best and most robust dividend-paying shares. You’ll find BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and the big four banks in its top holdings, as well as Coles and Fortescue incidentally. What’s great about an ETF like VHY is that it periodically rebalances its holdings to reflect the dividend environment of the time.

As such, you can easily buy this ETF and ‘put it in the bottom drawer’, knowing that it will automatically weed out dividend underperformers. VHY offers a trailing dividend yield of 5% on current prices. Unlike most ASX shares, it also pays out its distributions quarterly – an attractive quality for many investors.

More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Why you may not need ASX REITs for dividends
• Buy Fortescue (ASX:FMG) and this ASX dividend share for income
• My 3 favourite ASX dividend shares to buy this year
• Why the Coles Group (ASX:COL) share price just got upgraded to “buy”

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield Etf. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET and Wesfarmers 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.

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With interest rates at record lows and potentially still going lower in November, I continue to believe that investors would be better off putting any excess funds into the share market rather than leaving them to gather only paltry interest in a savings account.

But where should you invest these funds? Here are two unstoppable ASX shares I would invest $5,000 into right now:

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

The first option for investors to consider investing $5,000 into is Appen. I’m a big fan of the company because of its position as the global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Appen has achieved this thanks to its global crowd of more than 1 million skilled contractors, an expertise in more than 180 languages, and the industry’s most advanced AI-assisted data annotation platform.

With such a strong pedigree, it is no surprise that Appen provides solutions to the many of the global leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, manufacturing, and government. The good news is that spending on machine learning and AI is expected to increase materially over the next decade, putting Appen in a perfect position to continue growing its earnings at a strong rate for many years to come.

Pushpay Holdings Group Ltd (ASX: PPH)

Another option to consider for that $5,000 investment is Pushpay. It is a donor management and community engagement platform provider with a focus on the church market. Pushpay has been a very strong performer in recent years and has carved out a big slice of the lucrative U.S. market. This has underpinned very strong revenue growth and, thanks to the benefits of scale, even stronger operating earnings growth.

Pleasingly, Pushpay appears well-positioned to gain further market share in the coming years thanks to the quality of its platform, the shift to a cashless society, and the digitisation of the church. Another positive is last year’s US$87.5 million acquisition of church management system provider Church Community Builder. This acquisition has strengthened its offering significantly and is expected to support further margin expansion. Overall, I believe Pushpay can be a market-beater over the 2020s, making it a great place to invest today.

More reading

• 3 ASX shares to buy in a US election selloff
• The Appen (ASX:APX) share price is up 55% in 2020: Too late to buy?
• Why this ASX tech share could be better than BNPL stocks 
• You could become very wealthy by investing $1,000 into these ASX shares
• 4 stellar ASX growth shares to buy right now

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 PUSHPAY FPO NZX. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Appen Ltd. 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.

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The Weebit Nano Ltd (ASX: WBT) share price has rocketed following the release of a company update. The share price surged 17% to 88 cents this morning before falling back to 84 cents at the time of writing.

Let’s take a look at the company does and see why the Weebit Nano share price is soaring higher today.

What does Weebit Nano do?

Weebit Nano develops next generation computer memory technology. The Israeli company addresses the growing need for data storage through its resistive random-access-memory (ReRAM) technology. Weebit states that ReRAM is more than 1000 faster and uses 1000 times less power than traditional storage options like flash.

Milestone achievement

Weebit announced it had successfully completed the technology stabilisation process for its ReRAM product. The final stabilisation stage was completed with Leti, a research and development institute that specialises in nanotechnologies.

The stabilisation process saw reduced cell-to-cell and die-to-die non-uniformity, thus increasing the level of functional cells and batch-to-batch repeatability. Weebit noted the improvements to its silicon oxide ReRAM technology as an important milestone on the path to commercialisation.

The company advised the next phase will see the transfer of its technology to a semiconductor fabrication plant. In addition, Weebit is working towards a module IP design for the embedded market, standalone memory for mass storage, and production in a foundry.

What did the CEO say?

Chief executive officer Coby Hanoch validated the hard work done by the company. He said:

The successful completion of the stabilisation process follows four years of extensive research and development by the joint Weebit and Leti engineering teams, which has created a unique and highly competitive ReRAM technology.

Our close collaboration with Leti will continue, as we constantly strive to improve and further optimise the technical parameters of our silicon oxide ReRAM.

Hanock went on to say:

In parallel to completing the stabilisation process which has reinforced the capabilities of our technology, we are moving closer to commercialisation, engaging in discussions with a production partner and working towards transferring our IP and achieving technology qualification in the partner’s fab.

About the Weebit share price

Weebit shares were almost static before strongly performing since late August. A major catalyst for this could be from the investor hype in the sector. Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) and 4DS Memory Ltd (ASX: 4DS) have both seen their share price rise to astronomical levels.

The Weebit share price was trading around 30 cents region, until it reached a 52-week high of $1.04 in September. Sitting 16% below, the Weebit share price is in reach of creating new multi-year high.

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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. 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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