Tag: Motley Fool Australia

On Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was back on form and stormed higher.

A good number of shares were on the rise yesterday, with a handful even managing to hit record highs.

Three ASX 200 shares that have just reached this milestone are listed below. Here’s why they are flying high:

Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)

The Coles share price was on form again on Thursday and climbed to a record high of $18.54. Investors have been buying the supermarket giant’s shares in anticipation of the release of a strong full year result in August. Coles has experienced a strong increase in sales this year because of the pandemic. This appears to have positioned it to deliver a solid lift in its earnings and dividends. And given the recent outbreak in Victoria, FY 2021 could be equally as strong.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)

The Fortescue share price continued its positive run and hit a record high of $17.59 yesterday. The iron ore producer’s shares stormed higher after the release of its fourth quarter update. During the quarter, Fortescue shipped 47.3 mt of iron ore. This took its FY 2020 total shipments to 178.2mt, which was ahead of its guidance. This was achieved at a low C1 cost of US$12.94 per wet metric tonne, despite increased expenses relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. This compares to its average realised selling price of US$81 a dry metric tonne. In FY 2021, Fortescue is aiming to ship 175mt to 180mt with C1 costs of US$13.00 to US$13.50 per wet metric tonne.

JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH)

The JB Hi-Fi share price hit a record high of $46.30 on Thursday. Investors have been buying the retailer’s shares after its sales surged during the pandemic. This appears to have positioned JB Hi-Fi to deliver a very strong full year result next month. Goldman Sachs, for example, expects the company’s earnings before interest and tax to come in 34.8% higher in FY 2020. Though, it is worth noting, that after its strong share price gain, the broker rates JB Hi-Fi’s shares as neutral on valuation grounds.

More reading

• Coles and Wesfarmers share prices reach for new highs. Should you invest?
• 3 top ASX shares to buy for growth investors in August
• ASX 200 rises 0.75%, Fortescue impresses and Macquarie remains robust
• JB Hi-Fi share price hits record high: Is it good value ahead of earnings season?
• ASX 200 jumps 0.7%: Fortescue impresses, Macquarie’s tough Q1, big four banks rise

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of 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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The Cimic Group Ltd (ASX: CIM) share price is one to watch this morning after the group announced it is scrapping its interim dividend amid a drop in net profit after tax (NPAT).

What were the financial highlights?

Cimic reported that its half-year revenue fell $0.8 billion from 1H19 to $6.2 billion for the half-year ended 30 June 2020 (1H20).

The company’s $317 million NPAT result was achieved with a 5.1% NPAT margin. Cimic’s $534.6 million operating profit was achieved on a margin of 8.6%.

Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic weighed on the company’s result. That included delaying the award of new projects and a slowdown of domestic and offshore revenues.

Operating cash flow pre-factoring in the last 12 months was $1.3 billion, up $495 million year-on-year.

The Cimic share price will be worth watching as investors weigh up the underlying versus statutory result. 

Cimic reported strong liquidity with gross cash of $4.0 billion and just $264 million of debt repayments due in the next 12 months.

Net debt totalled $1.3 billion with work in hand of $38.1 billion as at 30 June 2020.

COVID-19 update

Cimic’s executive chair Macerlino Fernández Verdes said the outlook across Cimic’s core businesses “remains positive”. 

The announcement also highlighted that a strong mining market and government stimulus for the construction and services market is good news for the year ahead.

CEO Juan Santamaria said the company’s focus remains on “project delivery, cost efficiency measures, risk and working capital”.

However, Cimic will not pay an interim dividend to shareholders following the half-year result.

What about the company’s pipeline?

Cimic’s infrastructure business Ventia also completed its acquisition of Broadspectrum on 30 June 2020. The acquisition is expected to generate annual revenue in excess of $5 billion and helped boost Cimic’s work in hand by $3.1 billion.

Cimic also reported ~$70 billion of relevant tenders are expected to be bid and/or awarded for the remainder of the year.

There are also around $130 billion public-private partnership (PPP) opportunities identified for the remainder of 2020 and beyond.

The Cimic share price is down 40% since this time last year, and will be one to watch as investors evaluate the present results against future prospects.

More reading

• Why AP Eagers, CIMIC, NAB, & Virgin Money shares are charging higher
• Cimic share price dips despite $2.5 billion contract win

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall 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 Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW) share price sunk 5.26% to $3.78 yesterday after the shopping centre operator released its half-year results.

Unibail reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted its business. Authorities in many of the markets the company operates imposed restrictions on the opening of shopping centres. Many tenants were unable to trade, and not all retailers continued or restarted operations. 

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s operations 

Unibail operates shopping centres, convention centres, and office buildings in the United States (US) and Europe. With 86% of Unibail’s portfolio in retail assets, a large proportion of tenants were unable to trade during COVID-19 lockdowns. On average, Unibail’s shopping centres were closed for 67 days. The majority of centres have reopened but the ongoing economic downturn is likely to impact  tenants. 

The implementation of health and safety measures has been a key element of reopening, with additional cleaning, supplies, and communications required. Unibail reports footfall trends have been encouraging since reopenings and generally better than expected. June footfall for centres open throughout the month was 73.8% of June 2019. But the closures had a devastating impact on tenant sales, which fell 39.4% in Europe over the year to June 2020. June 2020 sales remained 19.7% lower than June 2019 in continental Europe. 

Financial impact 

The closure of centres meant Unibail has struggled to collect rent, although some governments have provided tenant support packages. Only 41% of rent and service charges were collected in Q2 2020, down from 96% in Q1 2020. Of Q2 2020 rent, 34% was deferred or discounted and 25% is overdue and to be recovered. Many tenant negotiations are ongoing, which may have affected the collection rate. Unibail is hoping to see this improve once negotiations are concluded. 

Unibail has identified 201.1 million euros in impacts from COVID-19, including rent reductions, increases in doubtful debtors, lower variable revenues and an increase in financial expenses due to liquidity measures taken during the crisis. This has caused a 1.45 euro reduction in earnings per share. Overall adjusted recurring earnings per share fell from 6.45 euros in 1H 2019 to 4.65 euros in 1H 2020.  

About the Unibail share price 

The Unibail share price is down 66.5% from its January high, and is actually trading lower than its March low. Like other shopping centre operators, it is struggling with lack of patronage in a post-COVID world. Encouragingly, sales have been impacted less than footfall, and categories such as home and technology have been performing well. 

More reading

• These shares were the ASX 200’s biggest losers last week
• Is the Vanguard Property ETF a good long-term investment?

Motley Fool contributor Kate O’Brien has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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I think diversification is important when investing in ASX shares.

You don’t want too many of your eggs in one basket in the current COVID-19 situation that the world is in.

It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen over the next 12 months. Vaccine success could send the share market higher. Shares could also fall if a healthcare solution isn’t produced, if COVID-19 infections spread or if the economic impacts are worse than expected.

With the above uncertainty, I think it’s a good idea to make sure your portfolio is diversified with good shares. There’s not much point diversifying just for the sake of it if your returns are hampered.

Here are three ASX share ideas to quickly add diversification:

BetaShares Global Quality Leaders ETF (ASX: QLTY)

This is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) which is offered by BetaShares, one of the biggest ETF providers in Australia.

There are some global ETFs that offer exposure to many hundreds or even thousands of businesses. This ETF offers diversification with investments in 150 global businesses ranked as high-quality companies.

They need to rank well with a high return on equity (ROE) and profitability, low leverage and earnings stability.

The largest positions only have a weighting of around 2%, so it’s not too exposed to any particular business. I think most Aussie investors need to get more exposure to global shares, not ASX shares. The ETF’s biggest positions are: Adobe, Accenture, Apple, Nvidia, Cisco Systems, Intuit, L’Oreal, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, UnitedHealth and Nike.

Quality tends to shine through difficult periods and over the long-term. Since inception in November 2018, the ETF has delivered an average return per annum of 19.76% per annum after fees.

The current annual cost is 0.35% per annum, which is pretty cheap.

Future Generation Global Invstmnt Co Ltd (ASX: FGG)

I really like to buy shares for cheaper than they’re worth. Future Generation Global is a listed investment company (LIC). As the name suggests, it’s not invested in ASX shares – it invests in global shares.

But it doesn’t directly invest in shares, it’s invested in the funds of fund managers who invest in international shares. But those fund managers work for free so that Future Generation Global can donate 1% of its net assets per annum to youth mental health charities.

Some of the fund managers it has investments with include Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG), Cooper, Marsico, Caledonia and Munro Partners.

Looking at the gross investment portfolio performance of the LIC, it has outperformed the MSCI AC World Index (AUD) over the past six months, 12 months, three years and since inception in September 2015.

Aside from the outperformance and diversification, another reason to like the LIC is that’s trading at an attractive discount to its net tangible assets (NTA). At the end of June 2020 it had pre-tax NTA per share of almost $1.47. The current Future Generation Global share price is trading at a 17% discount to the June 2020 NTA.

Infratil Ltd (ASX: IFT)

Infratil is a New Zealand based business that is invested in a variety of sectors across Australia and New Zealand.

The ASX share owns 66% of Wellington Airport. Infratil owns almost half of a data centre business, it owns half of Vodafone New Zealand, it’s involved in various renewable energy projects, it owns a diverse commercial real estate portfolio, it owns half of RetireAustralia – which is the largest privately-held pure-play retirement operator in Australia – and it’s involved with Australian Social Infrastructure Partners.

Each of the above investments are long-term ideas which could produce solid total returns for Infratil.

I think Infratil is a good bet for the long-term growth of the economies in New Zealand and Australia.

At the current Infratil share price it offers a dividend yield of 3.4%.

More reading

• How to create a yearly income of $65,000 in dividends
• 4 ASX shares to buy and hold forever

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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If you’re looking for some generous dividends in 2021, then I think you ought to consider buying the two ASX dividend shares listed below.

Here’s why I think they would be good options for income investors:

Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ)

The first ASX dividend share to consider buying is ANZ Bank. The banking giant’s shares have been hammered this year because of the pandemic and are down materially from their 52-week high. And while this share price decline is not completely unjustified due to the probable increase in bad debts, I believe the selling has been overdone and created a buying opportunity.

Especially given the generous dividend yield on offer with the bank’s shares. According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts expect ANZ to pay a partially franked 116 cents per share dividend in FY 2021. Based on the latest ANZ share price, this represents a very attractive 6.3% FY 2021 yield.

Aventus Group (ASX: AVN)

Another dividend share to consider buying is Aventus. It is a retail property company which owns a portfolio of 20 large format retail parks across Australia. Although retail property is going through a difficult time right now because of the pandemic, I believe Aventus is better positioned that most to ride out the storm. This is because its rental income has a high weighting towards everyday needs, which have been largely unaffected by the crisis.

Goldman Sachs is very positive on the company and has forecast a sizeable ~17.3 cents per unit distribution in FY 2021. Based on the current Aventus share price, this equates to a very generous forward ~8.25% distribution yield. Overall, I think this could make Aventus one of the better dividend shares to buy right now.

More reading

• Is the ANZ share price a buy today?
• Here are the dividends this broker thinks CBA and the big four will pay in 2020
• ASX 200 drops 0.2%, APRA boosts big 4 ASX banks
• ASX big banks stocks outperform even as APRA caps dividends
• APRA eases dividend restrictions, ASX bank shares rally

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended AVENTUS RE UNIT. 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 Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) returned to form and stormed higher. The benchmark index jumped 0.7% to 6,051.1 points.

Will the market be able to build on this on Friday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 expected to slide.

The ASX 200 index looks set to drop lower on Friday after a mixed night of trade on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to fall 20 points or 0.3% at the open. On Wall Street the Dow Jones dropped 0.85%, the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, and the Nasdaq pushed 0.4% higher.

Tech shares on watch.

Tech shares such as Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) could be on the rise on Friday after their U.S. counterparts drove the Nasdaq index higher. In addition to this, after the market close on Thursday, both Amazon and Facebook have released strong quarterly results and have seen their shares surge higher in after hours trade.

Oil prices tumble.

Energy shares including Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) could come under pressure today after oil prices pulled back. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 2.1% to US$40.42 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has fallen 0.8% to US$43.39 a barrel. Oil was sold off after the release of weak U.S. economic data.

Gold price weakens.

Gold miners such as Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR) could finish the week in a subdued fashion after the gold price weakened. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is down 0.35% to US$1,946.70 an ounce. This appears to have been driven by profit taking after some very strong gains by the precious metal this month.

Commonwealth Bank given sell rating.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price is overvalued according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. This morning the broker retained its sell rating and $65.25 price target on the banking giant’s shares. This follows the announcement of $300 million of pre-tax customer remediation provisions relating to its advice businesses.

More reading

• Coles and Wesfarmers share prices reach for new highs. Should you invest?
• ASX 200 rises 0.75%, Fortescue impresses and Macquarie remains robust
• 3 underperforming ASX 200 stocks that could beat earnings expectations
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• A dirt-cheap ASX dividend share to add to your portfolio today

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 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 share prices of 2 prominent members of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) have topped, or come close to, fresh highs in today’s trading.

Shares in Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) rose by 1.98% to reach an all-time high of $18.54 before falling back to $18.46 at the close. Meanwhile, Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) surged as high as $47.31, just shy of its high, before falling back to $47.12 at the close. It’s also worth noting that Wesfarmers is still a shareholder in Coles Group, holding approximately 4.9% of total shares in the company.

Despite no announcement coming from either company to spark this morning’s upward price movement, both have been strong performers throughout 2020.

So, can the Coles and Wesfarmers share prices continue to outperform moving forward, or is this likely the peak?

Why both are pushing higher

Coles has undoubtedly benefitted from the panic-buying of groceries facilitated by COVID-19 lockdowns. According to the company’s latest trading update in April, the supermarket juggernaut improved its overall third-quarter sales by 12.9% to $9.2 billion.

This overall revenue figure included a 13% improvement in its supermarkets business, which had its 50th consecutive quarter of sales growth.

While the market is waiting in anticipation for Coles to report its full-year earnings next month on 18 August, today’s record share price is an indication that the company will showcase further revenue improvements in Q4. General second-wave fears and further lockdowns for Victoria over the past month will likely translate to further over-consumption at the checkout, and these macro trends are pushing the Coles share price higher.

Wesfarmers has similarly seen sales rocket from its brands Bunnings Warehouse, Kmart, Target, and Officeworks, as consumers have opted to make home improvements and update their working from home setups.

In a June trading update, Wesfarmers revealed second-half FY20 sales growth of 19.2% for Bunnings, 27.8% for Officeworks, and 68.7% for Catch.com.au. This saw the group’s retail businesses deliver total online sales growth of 89% in the first half of the 2020 calendar year.

Wesfarmers will report full-year earnings on 20 August, but its red-hot share price arguably suggests the market is confident of further improvements in revenues for Q4 FY20.

Should you invest?

The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is a much-loved metric for ascertaining the overall expensiveness of a particular share and one of the first things I look at when researching a company.

Coles is currently situated on a P/E ratio of 20.77. This is neck and neck with competitor, Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), which currently trades on a P/E of 19.57. It is, however, much lower than Wesfarmers’ P/E of 24.44. On this basis alone, Coles may be less expensive than Wesfarmers and therefore a better current buy for investors.

However, I really like the diversity of businesses that Wesfarmers holds, particularly Bunnings, Officeworks and Catch. I think Officeworks will perform particularly well in Q4 due to many of its items being tax-deductible, and plenty of companies recently informing their employees that they will be working from home for the remainder of 2020. Its Catch eCommerce platform has also been a key beneficiary of COVID-19, offering discounted goods in a similar vein to Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN). And Bunnings is a timeless household Aussie name that almost always performs.

The Wesfarmers dividend yield of 3.25% also edges out Coles’ yield of 2.28%, so if I had to pick one of these 2 blue-chip companies, I’m going with Wesfarmers. I like its diversity of businesses and, after all, it is still a shareholder in Coles, so I get the best of both worlds!

More reading

• 3 top ASX shares to buy for growth investors in August
• ASX 200 rises 0.75%, Fortescue impresses and Macquarie remains robust
• 3 underperforming ASX 200 stocks that could beat earnings expectations
• A dirt-cheap ASX dividend share to add to your portfolio today
• Why the Sandfire share price is the worst performer on the ASX 200 today

Toby Thomas has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Kogan.com 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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Reporting season is starting. It’s like Christmas but for share investors. There may be some lumps of coal in some reports this year. But I think there are some ASX shares that are worth buying for growth investor portfolios in August 2020.

Here are my three ASX share picks:

Share 1: Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH)

Pushpay is one of my preferred ASX growth share ideas at the moment.

I think it could be unwise to try to guess when some growth shares in COVID-19-affected industries will return to fast growth. At this stage I’d prefer to go for businesses that are seeing uninterrupted growth or faster growth through this difficult time.

Pushpay is one of those ASX shares that I think are seeing faster growth. It’s an electronic donation business which facilitates digital giving to large and medium US churches. But it’s not just a simple payments business. It offers churches a number of useful management tools – that’s why the Church Community Builder acquisition was a good move. One of the services Pushpay can offer is livestreaming the service. That’s very useful in the current world.

In FY20 the company achieved a higher gross margin and a higher earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and foreign currency (EBITDAF) margin. It will be even more profitable as it grows its revenue.

In FY21 the company is aiming to at least double its EBITDAF. Over the long-term it’s aiming for US$1 billion of annual revenue just from the US church sector.

At the current Pushpay share price it’s trading at 29x FY23’s estimated earnings.

Share 2: WAM Microcap Limited (ASX: WMI)

WAM Microcap is a listed investment company (LIC) which targets small cap ASX growth shares. It normally does quite well during reporting season with its investment picks.

It can be hard to know which growth shares to go for yourself. I think Wilson Asset Management is one of the best investing teams at picking the right shares. Over the past 12 months its portfolio has returned 11.8% before expenses, fees and taxes. I think that’s a solid return during a year which included the COVID-19 selloff.

The LIC is building a reputation as a good ASX dividend share as well. It’s quite important for WAM Microcap to keep paying a dividend so that it doesn’t become too large, otherwise its performance may be affected.

At the current WAM Microcap share price it offers a grossed-up dividend yield of 6.2%.

Share 3: Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB)

I believe that Bubs is one of the most promising ASX shares with a market cap under $1 billion. Over the next decade I believe it could become one the ASX’s smaller blue chips.

Bubs sells a variety of products including infant formula, baby food and products for adults. It also owns its own Chinese-approved manufacturing facilities called Deloraine. Having a high level of control over your supply chain could be important to Bubs for exporting to China and to ensure product supply during the current difficult COVID-19 conditions.

I think there’s a lot to like about Bubs. It boasts of a steadily-rising gross profit margin. Infant formula has a margin of around 40%, so the more of total revenue that infant formula represents, the more profitable that Bubs will be.

In FY20 Bubs saw infant formula revenue increase by 69% during the year. The company is growing rapidly overseas, particularly in countries with large populations like China and Vietnam – I think Asia is a long growth runway for Bubs.

The ASX growth share also has a good revenue trajectory. It recently expanded its distribution network in Australia, adding Bubs products to hundreds of Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Coles Group Limited (ASX: COL) and Baby Bunting Group Ltd (ASX: BBN) stores.

Foolish takeaway

I think each of these shares will produce very good total returns over the next five to ten years. At the current prices I think I’m drawn to Bubs and Pushpay the most, but WAM Microcap could be an excellent dividend share over the long-term. 

More reading

• Coles and Wesfarmers share prices reach for new highs. Should you invest?
• Why these ASX mid cap shares could smash the market over the next 5 years
• 2 ASX shares I’d buy in a heartbeat
• 3 top small cap ASX shares to buy now
• Buy Coles and this safe ASX dividend share for income in August

Tristan Harrison owns shares of WAM MICRO FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of PUSHPAY FPO NZX. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BUBS AUST FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET. 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 FirstWave Cloud Technology Ltd (ASX: FCT) share price jumped 28% today after the appointment of a new specialist adviser.

What does FirstWave Cloud do?

FirstWave is a global cybersecurity company established in 2004. The company provides security-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to tier 1 telcos and service providers around the world.

FirstWave has deployed 11 cloud content security platforms across North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

Why is the FirstWave Cloud share price surging?

Earlier today, the Aussie technology company announced a new advisory committee to drive sales and product maturity.

The new Technology and Markets Board Committee (TMC) will be headed by FirstWave founder Scott Lidgett, alongside the company’s existing executive chair, chief operating officer, chief technology officer (CTO) and strategy director.

Former Cisco Systems ANZ CTO Kevin Bloch was also appointed as an adviser. Mr Bloch left Cisco at the end of June to launch his own advisory firm, Bloch Advisory.

TMC’s first order of business will be to review FirstWave’s current product and commercialisation strategy and help the company deliver on its FY21 plan. Mr Bloch and the TMC will also work to position the company for long-term, sustained success.

The news was well-received by shareholders with the FirstWave share price rocketing up 28%. 

FirstWave executive chair John Grant welcomed the specialist appointment, describing Mr Bloch’s move as a “significant coup” for the company.

What else has been happening for FirstWave?

The FirstWave share price is up 28% today following a 19.0% increase in yesterday’s trade.

That came ahead of the company’s extraordinary general meeting and the release of the chair’s address.

Shareholders voted to approve the service rights proposal to issue shares to executives. Notably, part of Mr Bloch’s fees will be paid as service rights under the recently-approved rights plan.

More reading

• These could be outstanding buy and hold options for ASX investors
• Ava Risk Group share price rockets 45% on quarterly report
• ASX 200 rises 0.75%, Fortescue impresses and Macquarie remains robust
• 3 underperforming ASX 200 stocks that could beat earnings expectations
• Elsight share price soars 65% on news of significant US order

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall 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 believe that one of the best ways to grow your wealth is to invest consistently and with a long term view.

After all, investors that buy and hold quality shares are able to maximise their returns through the power of compounding.

But which ASX shares would be good buy and hold options? These ASX shares tick a lot of boxes for me:

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

I think this electronic design software platform provider could be one of the best buy and hold options on the ASX. I’m a big fan of Altium due to its exposure to the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) markets. The rapidly growing IoT and AI markets have been driving strong demand for its design software in recent years. This is because these markets are supporting the proliferation of electronic devices, which require software like Altium Designer and Altium 365 during the design process.

Management appears confident in its outlook and is aiming for 100,000 subscriptions by FY 2025. This compares to the ~50,000 subscriptions it is achieved in FY 2020. It expects this to be the key to market domination and helping it achieve its US$500 million revenue target in five years. This compares to revenue of ~US$189 million in FY 2020. If it achieves this, which I believe it will, then the Altium share price is likely to be materially higher than where it trades today.

BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)

I think the BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF would be a great long term option for investors. It is my favourite exchange traded fund on the ASX and for a very good reason. The BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF gives investors exposure to the 100 largest non-financial shares on the world-famous NASDAQ index.

This means that through a single investment, you’ll be buying a piece of tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google parent, Alphabet. Given the very positive long term outlooks of these companies, I believe the Nasdaq 100 index is likely to outperform most markets over the next decade. This could make it a great buy and hold option.

More reading

• 2 ASX shares to buy and 2 to avoid as deflation bites
• These ASX ETFs could generate strong long term returns
• WAAAX or FAANG? Which ASX tech shares to buy in 2020
• 3 of the best ASX tech shares to buy and hold until 2030
• WAAAX shares see mixed recovery from COVID-19

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 Altium. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of BETANASDAQ ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BETANASDAQ ETF UNITS. 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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