The Pacific Smiles Group Ltd (ASX: PSQ) share price rose by 3.23% yesterday. This was due to a management services agreement with HBF in Western Australia. 

Pacific Smiles Group operates dental clinics and provides all of the resources necessary to enable dentists to give optimal clinical services. The company has independent dentists who benefit from consistency of systems and standardised training for all staff. In addition, dentists practising from Pacific Smiles centres typically have preferred provider agreements in place. 

What moved the Pacific Smiles share price?

Yesterday the group announced it has signed an initial 10-year base term management services agreement (MSA) with HBF.

HBF is the leading health fund in Western Australia, where it has over 50% market share. It is Australia’s fifth largest health insurer and the country’s second largest not-for-profit health fund.

Under the MSA, HBF will build a minimum of 5 HBF Dental (HBFD) clinics in WA over the next 18 months. Additionally, Pacific Smiles will be the exclusive operator of these and any additional clinics in Western Australia for the term of the agreement.

Pacific Smiles will receive a percentage of revenue from the operations. In return, the company provides comprehensive operational support for the design, construction, and all aspects of the clinics’ day to day operations. Correspondingly, HBF will be responsible for funding capital expenditure and in-clinic operating costs.

Furthermore, the 2 organisations are working on extending HBF Member Plus to all dentists from Pacific Smiles clinics in the eastern states. 

Mr Phil McKenzie, Pacific Smiles’ Chief Executive Officer said:

This relationship consolidates Pacific Smiles’ position as the leading organic growth focused dental services organisation in Australia. We see this partnership as a compelling way to provide our services to an entirely new population of patients and dentists, and we are delighted that HBF has placed its trust in us to deliver a high quality dental care experience for their members.

How has Pacific Smiles performed recently?

The company’s share price rose by 3.23% yesterday to $1.60 per share, valuing Pacific Smiles at $245.62 million with a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73. At this price, the company has a trailing 12 month dividend yield of 3.69%.

The company has seen a decline in FY20 revenues against the prior year by approximately 0.7% due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, as restrictions have started to ease in May the company has seen steady growth in bookings.

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Motley Fool contributor Daryl Mather 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 Regional Express Holdings Ltd (ASX: REX) share price is on watch today after the company released an announcement following the close of trading on Tuesday. REX is Australia’s largest independent regional airline. The company originated in 2002 when investors purchased two small airlines owned by Ansett after it went into administration.

On 29 June this year, the company announced the board had approved a plan to begin domestic operations in Australia. Instead of only flying regional routes, this would mean flying between the major cities of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Accordingly, the Board approved an initiative to raise a minimum of $30 million to launch these domestic jet operations from March 2021.

Why is the REX share price on watch?

One of the ideas floated in the Board’s initial proposal was a leaseback arrangement. For instance, the company would sell its aircraft fleet, or a portion of it, to a buyer and then lease it back. 

The company announced yesterday it had received term sheets from three different lessors. All expressed interest in the sale-and-leaseback of about 15 aircraft for $30 million. 

The REX Board is still actively considering alternative funding avenues, including funding from equity partners. Consequently it will make its final decision on the source of funding and the amount to be raised before the end of July 2020.

The crowded skies

With the easing of lockdowns, Australians can already fly between several state capitals. Presumably, before long, this will extend to almost all states depending on how the new wave of COVID-19 infections in Victoria plays out. Today, our main carriers are Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) and Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (ASX: VAH), with the latter still operating while in administration. Moreover, the new owners of Virgin Australia appear to be moving towards a lower cost operation. 

Alliance Aviation Services Ltd (ASX: AQZ) has also embarked on an equity raising initiative to raise approximately $120 million in total. The company operates a diverse business model which includes charter flights and fly-in-fly-out services for resource companies. Alliance has targeted increasing its fleet to offer more services to existing clients, as well as new services for new clients. Additionally, the company specifically mentioned opportunities to expand its tourism operations.

This means REX will be going head to head with Qantas and a newly cost-conscious Virgin Australia, as well as likely facing new competition in its existing routes from Alliance Airlines and QantasLink. On 5 June, REX announced it would be increasing its flights in response to QantasLink having doubled its flights into ports in competition with REX.

The REX share price

The company’s share price has fallen by ~5% over the past week. It currently has a price to earnings ratio of 8.52. At this price the company has a trailing 12 month dividend yield of 10.62%.

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Motley Fool contributor Daryl Mather 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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Investment platform provider CommSec has just released data on the five most traded ASX shares on its platform from last week.

Among the five are some very familiar names, but also a couple which may take investors by surprise.

Here are the most traded ASX shares from last week:

Etherstack PLC (ASX: ESK)

Etherstack shares were in demand with investors last week and became the most traded on the ASX. It accounted for 3.8% of total trades on the CommSec platform. Over the period the UK based tech company’s shares rocketed an incredible 658% higher. Investors were buying Etherstack’s shares after it announced a global agreement with Samsung Electronics.

Alterity Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: ATH)

The next most traded share was Alterity Therapeutics, which accounted for 2.7% of total trades. Alterity Therapeutics is a developer of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of a number of neurological disorders. Last week the U.S. FDA provided it with a development pathway for its ATH434 candidate. ATH434 is the company’s lead compound for the treatment of Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), a Parkinsonian disorder. The buying was so strong it drove the Alterity Therapeutics share price as high as 41 cents. The excitement appears to have worn off now. Its shares have fallen back to a lowly 4 cents.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) 

This buy now pay later company’s shares weren’t far behind and accounted for 2.1% of total ASX trades on the CommSec platform. Over the period the company’s shares climbed a decent 5.3%. This was despite there being no news out of Zip Co last week. However, with the pandemic accelerating the shift to online shopping, investors appear confident that the buy now pay later sector is well-placed to profit.

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) 

This fellow buy now pay later provider was just a touch behind Zip Co and accounted for 2% of all trades on the platform. Afterpay’s shares were very strong performers during the week and recorded an impressive 18% gain. This took the payments company’s shares to a new record high. It looks set to be another eventful week for its shares. On Tuesday Afterpay announced an $800 million capital raising and released a very strong trading update.

Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) 

Finally, this travel agent giant was the fifth most traded stock over the week, accounting for 1.9% of total trades. Last week Flight Centre announced that it secured a debt facility of up to £65 million in the UK to help it navigate the tough trading conditions. While this was a positive, a spike in coronavirus cases in Victoria offset this news and weighed on its shares.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
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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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended 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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At the small end of the Australian share market I believe there are a number of companies with the potential to grow materially in the future.

Five that I think are standouts are listed below. Here’s why I think they should be on your watchlist:

Alcidion Group Ltd (ASX: ALC)

The first small cap share to watch is Alcidion. It is an informatics solutions company providing software which has been designed to improve the efficacy and cost of delivering services to patients and reduce hospital-acquired complications. I believe it is well-positioned for growth because of the shift to a paperless environment in the healthcare sector.

Bigtincan Holdings Ltd (ASX: BTH)

Bigtincan is a provider of enterprise mobility software. This software allows sales and service organisations to increase sales win rates, reduce expenditures, and improve customer satisfaction through improved mobile worker productivity. It has a large number of blue chips using its platform. This includes banking giant Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ).

ELMO Software Ltd (ASX: ELO)

ELMO is a cloud-based human resources and payroll software company which provides a unified platform to streamline processes for employee administration, recruitment, on-boarding, learning, performance, remuneration, compliance training and payroll. It has a massive opportunity in the ANZ market and the option to expand internationally in the future.

Mach7 Technologies Ltd (ASX: M7T)

Mach7 is a medical imaging data management solutions provider to watch. It uses software to create a clear and complete view of the patient. This software helps to inform diagnosis, reduce care delivery delays and costs, and improve patient outcomes. Mach7’s total addressable market is estimated to be US$2.75 billion.

Whispir (ASX: WSP)

Whispir is a software-as-a-service communications workflow platform provider. It provides an industry-leading software platform that allows governments and organisations to deliver actionable two-way interactions at scale using automated multi-channel communication workflows. Its platform has been experiencing incredible demand during the pandemic and appears to have positioned Whispir perfectly to deliver a very strong full year result in August.

More reading

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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 and recommends Elmo Software. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Alcidion Group Ltd, BIGTINCAN FPO, MACH7 FPO, and Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alcidion Group Ltd, BIGTINCAN FPO, Elmo Software, MACH7 FPO, and Whispir 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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On Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gave back some strong gains to end the day roughly flat at 6,012.9 points.

Will the market be able to better this on Wednesday? Here are five things to watch

ASX 200 expected to drop lower.

The ASX 200 looks set to drop lower on Wednesday after a disappointing night on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to open the day 28 points or 0.5% lower this morning. On Wall Street the Dow Jones fell 1.55%, the S&P 500 dropped 1.1%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 0.85%. This follows news that Texas has reported over 10,000 new coronavirus cases.

Afterpay to return.

The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is expected to return from its trading halt on Wednesday. The payments company requested the halt on Tuesday while it sought to raise $800 million from investors. This capital raising comprises a $650 million fully underwritten placement to institutional investors and a $150 million share purchase plan. Afterpay intends to raise the funds at $61.75 per new share, which represents a 9.2% discount to its last close price. The company also released a very strong trading update.

Oil prices slide.

Energy producers including Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) could come under pressure today after a weak night of trade for oil prices. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 0.55% to US$40.41 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is down 0.5% to US$42.87 a barrel. Rising coronavirus cases has sparked concerns that demand could soften.

Gold price jumps.

Gold miners including Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) could push higher today after the gold price jumped overnight. According to CNBC, the spot gold price stormed 0.8% to US$1,807.70 an ounce after a spike in coronavirus cases spooked markets.

Rio Tinto downgraded.

The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price will be on watch on Wednesday after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the mining giant to a neutral rating with a $95.10 price target. According to the note, the broker believes Rio Tinto’s shares are fully valued at the current level. In addition to this, it believes the iron ore price could fall to US$80 to US$85 per tonne during the second half of the year.   

More reading

• Why Etherstack and these shares were the most traded on the ASX last week
• ASX 200 drops on return of lockdown in Melbourne
• These ASX shares are swept up by the new Victorian COVID-19 lockdown
• Why brokers have just downgraded BHP and these ASX stocks today
• These 2 ASX medical shares are on the rise after major announcements

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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