The Cyclopharm Limited (ASX: CYC) share price has rocketed out of the gates this morning after the company announced another milestone in its quest to gain approval in the lucrative US market.

After jumping as much as 21.83% higher in early trade, Cyclopharm shares have pulled back somewhat to currently sit 9.16% higher at $1.55 per share. This takes its market capitalisation at the time of writing to around $121 million.

About Cyclopharm

Cyclopharm is a radiopharmaceutical company primarily involved in the field of nuclear medicine. It operates in the diagnostic imaging field, specialising in lung health.

The company’s core radiopharmaceutical product is Technegas, a structured ultra-fine dispersion of radioactive labelled carbon used in lung ventilation imaging.

Cyclopharm has a global presence, distributing its products in 57 countries throughout the world with more than 1,500 medicine departments utilising Technegas.

Why is the Cyclopharm share price rocketing?

This morning, Cyclopharm announced that it has been granted approval to file status for its new drug application (NDA) for Technegas. 

As a result, Technegas will now proceed to the next stage of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process – review. The review stage will involve a 10-month qualitative review where the FDA will assess “the safety and efficacy of Technegas as a nuclear medicine functional lung ventilation imaging agent”

The NDA approval announced today marks the 3rd milestone in the company’s 7-step pathway to achieving FDA approval for Technegas.

Commenting on today’s update, CEO James McBrayer said:

We are absolutely thrilled with the progress we are making in completing the steps to gain approval to market Technegas in the USA. This Approval to File follows our successful lodgment in March and a full USD $2.9m Fee Waiver designation in April. Today’s notification confirms that we are on track for Technegas to be approved early next year.

As for Cyclopharm’s total addressable market opportunity, Mr McBrayer stated:

The United States is the largest nuclear medicine market in the world. We estimate the size of the US market for Technegas in diagnosing the presence of Pulmonary Embolism (PE) is approximately US$90 million in sales per annum. Following USFDA approval to sell into that market, we will be targeting a 50% share of this market in the first 2 to 3 years, rising to 80% over 5 to 7 years.

The company also has plans to expand Technegas beyond PE into new applications, such as the diagnosis and monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and other respiratory diseases.

More reading

• Is Wesfarmers in the buy zone?
• Why the NAB share price is surging higher today
• 2 ASX growth stocks that could become 10-baggers in the next decade
• Why Afterpay, CSL, Fortescue, & Newcrest shares are dropping lower
• Why ALS, Metcash, NAB, & Pointsbet shares are racing higher

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.

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In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) looks set to end its positive run. Although it is off its lows, the benchmark index is still down 0.35% to 5,761.4 points.

Four shares that have fallen more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are dropping lower:

The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is down 5% to $46.61. Investors appear to be taking profit off the table after some stellar gains over the last few weeks. On Tuesday the Afterpay share price broke through the $50.00 mark for the first time. This strong gain has been driven largely by its impressive sales and customer growth and the arrival of Tencent Holdings as a substantial shareholder. Tencent is the ~US$500 billion company behind the massive WeChat app.

The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price has dropped 4.5% to $293.21. This is despite there being no news out of the biotherapeutics company. I suspect that investors are taking profit after its shares stormed higher in 2020. Prior to today, they were up approximately 12% year to date.

The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price has fallen over 3.5% to $13.26. Investors have been selling Fortescue’s shares today after a pullback in the iron ore price overnight. According to CommSec, iron ore fell by US$2.25 or 2.3% to US$94.60 a tonne after data showed that global steel production fell 13% in April.

The Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) share price is sinking 4.5% lower to $30.42. Investors have been selling Newcrest and the rest of the gold miners after a pullback in the price of the precious metal. Overnight the spot gold price fell by almost 2% after demand for safe haven assets reduced. At the time of writing the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index is down a sizeable 5.4%.

More reading

• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• 3 quality ASX 200 blue chip shares to buy right now
• Why these 3 ASX 200 tech shares offer great value
• 3 timeless investing lessons from 2020 (so far!)

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 CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. 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 morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to give back some of yesterday’s gains. At the time of writing the benchmark index is down 0.45% to 5,754.3 points.

Four shares that have not let that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are racing higher:

The ALS Ltd (ASX: ALQ) share price is up almost 2.5% to $7.21 after the release of its full year results. This morning the testing services company reported a 10% increase in revenue to $1,831.9 million and a 4.3% lift in underlying net profit to $188.8 million (both from continuing operations). The latter was in line with its guidance range. ALS was confident enough in its outlook and balance sheet to declare a final dividend of 6.1 cents per share.

The Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) share price is up 2% to $2.69. This appears to have been driven by a broker note out of UBS this morning. According to the note, the broker has upgraded Metcash’s shares to a buy rating with a $2.85 price target. It likes Metcash because of the strength of the grocery channel and the improving outlook for the hardware channel.

The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price has jumped a further 5% to $17.47. The big four banks are on fire again on Wednesday. Investors continue to pile in on the belief that they were oversold during the pandemic. Especially given Australia’s quicker than expected reopening, which looks set to lessen the economic damage.

The Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price has stormed 8% higher to $5.48. Investors have been buying the sports betting company’s shares after the release of a trading update. That update revealed that its Australian business has achieved a net win of $18.2 million for the period 1 April to 25 May. This has been driven by a shift in gambling online following the closure of retail venues.

More reading

• Why the NAB share price is surging higher today
• Why the PointsBet share price is on a winning streak this morning
• How much money should you have in your emergency fund going forwards?
• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday

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 Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. 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 I had $10,000 to put into S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares today, it wouldn’t be an easy decision. Since the lows we saw in March, the ASX 200 has rallied considerably – rising over 27% on yesterday’s close. That means that ASX 200 shares that I might have considered cheap back then are less so today.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean there are no good opportunities out there. So here are 2 ASX 200 shares that I would invest $10,000 in today.

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

Altium is one of those companies that have rebounded exceptionally well over the last 2 months – rising over 50% from a March low of $23.11 to yesterday’s closing price of $37.15.

Even though it would have been far better to nab Altium shares at March prices, I think this company still has a considerable upside on current prices if one has a long-term mindset.

The printed circuit board software that Altium sells is wildly popular in the electrical engineering space and has plenty of fertile ground to till. Almost every single moderately complex electronic device you can think of has some form of a printed circuit board within it, and these need to be individually designed to fit each application. 

With technology constantly evolving and new applications for electronics ever-growing, I envision this industry being far larger in a decade’s time. I also think Altium will continue to be a market leader, making this a great investment for $10,000 today, in my view.

MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF)

MFF is a listed investment company (LIC) that employs a Warren Buffett-esque long-term, buy-and-hold investing philosophy. It primarily invests in top-quality US companies, including Mastercard, Visa, and Home Depot, as well as Wells Fargo, Microsoft, and JP Morgan Chase, which it has owned for many years. Its portfolio manager is Chris Mackay, one of the co-founders of Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) and one of the most respected fund managers in the country

The fact that MFF is currently holding a considerable cash position (38% as of 30 April) also gives me a lot of confidence that the company will be ready to put cash to work if the markets take a turn for the worse.

The MFF share price has recently come off the boil and is going for $2.80 as of yesterday’s close – a long way away from the highs of $3.88 we saw in February. As such, I think this is a good buying opportunity with $10,000 today, particularly for those investors who might be looking for an easy way to increase US exposure.

More reading

• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• Where will the Coles share price be in 1 year?
• Tax planning for ASX 200 investors
• Is the BHP share price a buy?

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Magellan Flagship Fund Ltd, JP Morgan Chase, Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Mastercard and Visa. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Altium. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Mastercard. 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 Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price has taken off in early trade, up 9.09% at the time of writing while many other ASX growth shares are in the red.

Why is the PointsBet share price spiking?

This morning, the company announced it had signed an agreement in Australia to become the exclusive wagering partner for Fox Sports AFL (Fox Footy) during the 2020 season. According to PointsBet, this highlights management’s continued deliberate approach to targeting media assets to deliver efficient client acquisition and increased betting volumes.

Additionally, the company also provided a net win trading update for the fourth quarter of FY20. As previously announced in its third-quarter update, PointsBet’s Australian trading business achieved a record net win month in February 2020, and again in March 2020.

PointsBet considers net win as the dollar amount received from clients who placed losing bets less the dollar amount paid to clients who placed winning bets, less client promotional costs such as money-back offers and bonus bets. So in other words, gross profit.

PointsBet revealed this positive trend is continuing in Q4, with the Australian trading business achieving net win of $18.2 million for the period from 1 April to 25 May 2020 (unaudited). And despite the closure of the major sporting leagues, the United States business recorded net win of $0.3 million for the same period.

Group year-to-date net win from 1 July 2019 to 25 May 2020 came in at $67.2 million (unaudited). For context, PointsBet achieved full-year net win of $28.9 million in FY19, up 181% on the prior corresponding period of FY18.

The company attributed the continued strong performance of the Australian trading business to 3 primary factors:

• The shift of gambling spend online due to retail venue closures;
• PointsBet’s year-over-year racing turnover growth outperforming other wagering service platforms – according to Racing Victoria’s 4-week average ending 10 May 2020; and
• The improvement in PointsBet’s overall product offering, leading to a greater share of wallet from existing clients.

What now?

As has already been announced, 2 of the major Australian sporting codes will soon be resuming their respective 2020 seasons – NRL on Thursday, 28 May and AFL on Thursday, 11 June. The resumption of both the NRL and AFL seasons expands PointsBet’s product offerings and is certainly welcome news for the revenue and growth of its Australian business.

As for the US, timing still remains unclear as to the start of the major sporting leagues. However, both the NBA (basketball) and MLB (baseball) are looking to resume their seasons in July. Meanwhile, the PGA (golf) has already announced the commencement of the PGA Tour on 11 June 2020.

According to PointsBet, its US business has continued to keep clients engaged during the shutdown period with the offering of additional wagering contingencies that are not impacted by COVID-19, along with its free to play offering.

In the meantime, the company reported a cash position of $149.4 million and no debt as of 31 March 2020, putting it in a strong position to continue to weather the COVID-19 storm.

More reading

• 5 dark horse ASX shares that have tripled in the last 2 months
• Is the Pointsbet share price poised for future growth?
• ASX gambling shares on watch as sporting codes make plans to resume
• 3 ASX shares I should have bought last month
• Are ASX shares about to surge higher in 2020?

Cathryn Goh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pointsbet Holdings Ltd. 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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How much money should you have in your emergency fund going forwards?

The typical advice for an emergency fund is to have three to six months of living expenses in a high interest savings account. If you’ve followed that advice then your emergency fund may be coming to your assistance right now if you’ve lost your main source of income due to coronavirus impacts.

An emergency fund equating to six months of expenses would still have plenty of room left.

But is that going to be enough in the future? It’s very hard to say how safe your finances need to be. Someone still employed in a government role has a different level of income security compared to someone in a cyclical industry or say a hospitality job.

Maybe the new normal will be six to nine months of expenses?

A life-changing event like this can completely change people’s outlook on money and risk.

Where should your emergency fund be placed?

My emergency fund is in a high interest savings account in a separate financial institution. For example your transaction account may be with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and then your savings account could be with one of the subsidiaries of Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) or National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB). Most other sizeable banks are good options too. 

I think it’s good to keep your money in separate institutions in-case there’s a technical (or worse) problem with one of the institutions.

By the way, your share portfolio isn’t an emergency fund. You may need to sell shares in a market crash just when you need the cash.

At the moment my household has six months of ‘ramen noodle’ life expenses. In other words, half a year of ultra-low-cost living. In light of the current crisis, I think we’ll aim to increase that to nine months once we’ve bought a house.

The stronger you make your financial foundations with a good emergency fund, the more you can put to investing in difficult times when it comes.

More reading

• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• 3 top ASX dividend shares I would buy for income right now
• ASX 200 rallies hard, no longer in bear territory
• Latest spending data could drive the ASX retail sector higher
• Why ANZ, CBA, NAB, and Westpac shares are storming higher today

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. 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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When it comes to the share market there are two ways you can take part. You can invest or you can trade.

While day trading can generate great returns, it is worth remembering that statistically it creates far more losers than winners.

According to Cory Michael from Vantage Point Trading, the majority of people that day trade lose money. And those that succeed, only a very small portion are winning enough to make it worthwhile.

He told Forbes: “The success rate for day traders is estimated to be around only 10%, so …90% are losing money. Only 1% of [day] traders really make money.”

In light of this, I think readers interested in building their wealth should forget day trading and focus on investing with a long term view.

With that in mind, here are three ASX shares that I believe investors should consider:

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

Appen is a leading developer of high-quality, human annotated datasets for the machine learning and artificial intelligence markets. Thanks to the explosive growth of these markets, I expect demand for its services to continue to grow in the coming years and support strong earnings growth. This could make it a great buy and hold option.

Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA)

Nearmap is a leading aerial imagery technology and location data company. While FY 2020 looks set to be a tricky year for the company, I believe its long term outlook remains extremely positive. This year the company is aiming to deliver annualised contract value of $102 million to $110 million. This is only a fraction of the global aerial imagery market which is estimated to be worth US$10.1 billion in 2020.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

A final option to consider is Xero. It is a leading cloud-based business and accounting software provider. I think it is a great option due to the quality of its product and the continued shift to online accounting. At the end of FY 2020 the company had ~2.3 million subscribers. This is still only a small portion of a massive global market opportunity. 

More reading

• 3 easy rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio
• Why Appen and these ASX shares just hit record highs
• Why these 3 ASX 200 tech shares offer great value
• 3 timeless investing lessons from 2020 (so far!)
• Up over 100% in 2 months. Are Nearmap shares still a buy at current prices?

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 and has recommended Nearmap Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Appen Ltd. 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 Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) share price won’t be going anywhere on Wednesday.

This morning the health supplements company requested that its shares be placed into a trading halt.

Why are Blackmores’ shares in a trading halt?

Blackmores requested a trading halt this morning while it undertakes a capital raising which aims to raise up to $127 million.

According to the release, Blackmores’ capital raising comprises a fully underwritten $92 million institutional placement and non-underwritten share purchase plan of up to $25 million.

Blackmores Chief Executive Officer, Alastair Symington, expects the capital raising to support its activities in the Asia market.

He explained: “The Equity Raise will strengthen Blackmores’ balance sheet and liquidity position and provide the flexibility to pursue our key strategic priorities. It will enable us to accelerate our growth initiatives in Asia and invest in our efficiency program which will help us to achieve our objective of returning Blackmores to sustainable, profitable growth.”

Trading update.

The company also provided the market with an update on how it is performing during the pandemic.

Blackmores advised that it has experienced a material increase in demand for its immunity products. However, as immunity products constitute only a small part of its portfolio, it isn’t having a major impact on its performance.

Furthermore, any of the benefits it is experiencing from the surge in demand for immunity products, is being offset elsewhere in the business.

Management notes that there has been a lag in non-immunity products, which has been partly driven by lower shopping traffic.

Also weighing on its performance has been issues gaining access to some overseas sourced materials and capacity constraints at some contract manufacturers. These have prevented the company from being able to fully meet demand in some products.

In light of this, the company expects to deliver underlying net profit after tax of $17 million to $21 million in FY 2020. This is in-line with the guidance it provided with its first half results in February.

More reading

• 2 quality ASX shares to buy for long-term growth
• ASX shares and investing trends that could boom post COVID-19
• Will coronavirus make Blackmores a market darling again?
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX starts May with a slide

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Blackmores 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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Building a massive portfolio of ASX shares from scratch is no easy feat. Creating real wealth through the share market takes time, dedication and discipline. But it can be done, nonetheless. One thing I’ve learned over time is that sometimes it’s simple rules executed consistently that can really give your returns a boost. So, with that in mind, here are 3 rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio.

1) Set aside money for regular investing

I often hear would-be investors say something like ‘I want to invest, but there’s never any money left over from my pay packet’. Our brains have a funny ability to work with the cash we think is available. Whether you have $100 or $500 sitting in your account, there’s a high chance it will be gone by the time your next pay cheque comes in.

That’s why setting aside your investing cash when you get paid is vital for building wealth with ASX shares. If you make this a habit every time you get paid, and invest the money regularly, your chances of building a massive ASX share portfolio will balloon.

2) Don’t just buy ASX blue chips

There’s nothing wrong with having an ASX portfolio consisting of the big 4 banks, Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS). But these companies are likely to give you a nice stream of dividend income and little else over the coming years. If you really want to make your ASX share portfolio massive, you’ll need some help from your shares too.

That’s why I think investors in the ‘wealth accumulation’ phase should mix blue chips with at least some growth shares. Whether it’s Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), Xero Limited (ASX: XRO), Polynovo Ltd (ASX: PNV) or any other growth share, you want to have at least some portion of your portfolio dedicated to companies that have long runways in front of them.

3) Don’t act with emotion

Keeping a cool head is one of the best ways you can outperform the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over time. Most investors who underperform the index do so because they make silly decisions based on what ‘the crowd’ is doing.

This might involve buying an overvalued company in the hope it will make you a quick buck, or otherwise selling a perfectly good company at a terrible price because the market is crashing. Both of these decisions are emotional and have no place in the creation of a massive ASX share portfolio. The best investors in the world buy businesses, not ticker symbols, and any ambitious disciple would do well to follow by example.

More reading

• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• Where will the Coles share price be in 1 year?
• Tax planning for ASX 200 investors
• Is the BHP share price a buy?
• 3 top ASX dividend shares I would buy for income right now

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO, Altium, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths 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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