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You’ve probably heard of NFTs by now.

It stands for non-fungible token, with the non-fungible bit meaning they’re unique and can’t be swapped out with a duplicate work.

Broadly speaking, they’re one-of-a-kind digital art. Unlike regular digital productions, though, they rely on cryptocurrencies and the blockchain to ensure they cannot be identically reproduced.

That’s NFTs in a nutshell. But, if you’re like many Aussie investors, you may not know how to go about valuing them. Or, indeed, why they have any value at all.

So, are NFTs a bubble awaiting a pin or the next big investment theme?

The answer could be a bit of both.

What was the first NFT?

To gain a broader insight into the risks and rewards of investing in NFTs, we turned to Ray Brown, market analyst at Australian crypto exchange CoinSpot.

First, we wanted to know how long they’ve actually been around.

Brown told the Motley Fool:

In 2012, Colored Coins hit the scene, and many still argue that they are the very first NFTs to exist. They’re made of small denominations of a bitcoin [Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC)], and can be as small as a single satoshi, the smallest unit of a bitcoin.

Colored Coins can be used to represent a multitude of assets and have multiple use cases including property, coupons, the ability to issue your own crypto, issue shares of a company, subscriptions, access tokens and digital collectables.

This was a big step for Bitcoin’s capabilities back then, which Brown said, “opened the door to further experimentation in applying blockchain technology for other purposes, laying much of the initial groundwork for NFTs”.

And Colored Coins look to have sparked a range of related work. According to Brown:

Closely after, a string of other similar projects followed, including the peer-to-peer financial platform Courterparty, Cryptopunks, Dapper Lab’s CryptoKitties, and Ethereum-based VR platform, Decentraland which lets players buy up empty parcels of 3D virtual space. Decentraland’s ICO [initial coin offering] raked in US$26 million in just half a minute.

The 2 highest valued non-fungible tokens to date

NFTs tend to get the most media attention, and pop up on ASX investors’ radars when they sell for mind boggling sums of money.

With that in mind, we asked Brown which 2 have fetched the highest selling prices to date.

His answer, “Everydays: The First 5000 Days by Beeple.”

The artwork from “veteran digital artist Beeple” was bought earlier this year by Bitcoin billionaire Vignesh Sundaresan (aka MetaKovan) for an extraordinary US$69.4 million.

Coming in at number 2, with a sale price of US$11.8 million, is CryptoPunk #7523 (aka Covid Alien) by Larva Labs, sold by Sotheby’s auction house in June 2021.

Are NFTs the 21st century version of Tulip Mania?

The chief concern among any would be investors in NFTs is whether they’ll hold their value. Or are they akin to soaring Dutch tulip prices in 1636, which promptly collapsed in 1637.

Brown told The Motley Fool:

Yes, some NFTs have built hype and excitement much like Tulip Mania. But it’s not always the case. And given we are often talking about art or tokens that provide utility, the value proposition is far more subjective.

NFTs are proving they are more than just a “craze”, and have many real life applications, beyond just digital art and collectibles.

He also drew the distinction that, unlike tulips, non-fungible tokens aren’t perishable. That gives investors a longer timeline to recoup any money, should they lose value. “As long as the collector doesn’t sell the unique NFT, the asset will retain value over time,” he said.

The potential risks

One of the most important factors to consider before making any investment is the risk involved.

And investing in NFTs, as you’d expect, comes with its own unique set of risks.

Among those, Brown pointed out that:

Most NFTs don’t protect collectors and investors from fraud and theft. There have been a few instances of fake websites, where NFTs hosted on the platform have disappeared and faced copyright and trade infringements.

On Nifty Gateway, a digital art online auction platform for NFTs, some user wallets were compromised and robbed of their entire NFT collection.

The potential rewards

Having touched upon the risk end of the scale, we moved onto the potential rewards on offer.

Brown broke those potential rewards down as follows.

First, the investor has true ownership of the non-fungible token they purchase:

NFTs create an ecosystem where artists can authenticate the actual ownership of their work by recording the metadata on-chain. Typically, most art pieces are physically sorted, which exposes them to the risk of being stolen or duplicated. NFTs eliminate these shortcomings by allowing artists to keep the records of the actual copy on the blockchain network.

Second is access to decentralised finance (DeFi) NFT services:

Some NFT projects such as Hoard marketplace are providing DeFi services which allows users to buy, sell, loan or rent NFTs. The platform empowers developers with tools to integrate digital art, in-game items and domain names with the Ethereum (CRPTO:ETH)  blockchain.

Other potential benefits are growth prospects and value preservation:

The NFT market is growing by the day, which means most NFTs should only become more valuable and innovative as time goes on. The growth prospects of NFTs are significant and present more opportunities for creatives and investors to join the market.

And NFTs have created an ecosystem where artists can preserve their art and yield income for generations.

Then, according to Brown, there are the utility benefits:

NFTs enable businesses and individuals to acquire and protect value in real-world and virtual objects.

One NFT project by Gary Vaynerchuk called VeeFriends, is all about utility and access, meaning each NFT will have different levels of access and activities through the smart contract attached with each investment.

How can an investor value an NFT?

Now that we’d gained a better understanding of the potential risks and rewards, we asked Brown how an investor would go about valuing an NFT.

He told The Motley Fool that the value is generally calculated as, “Utility + Ownership History + Future Value + Liquidity Premium.”

Brown explained:

Depending on the asset that the NFT represents, value is weighted differently across these four components. This framework can be used by investors to evaluate if an NFT is worth investing in, and by NFTs developers to think of ways to increase the value of NFTs to attract users and investors.

The post Are NFTs a bubble awaiting a pin or the next big investment theme? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here’s what happened to the Ethereum price in September
• Here’s what happened to the Bitcoin price in September
• How these top 3 cryptos performed in the first quarter of FY22
• What’s driving the Bitcoin price surge?
• Why the Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) price is trouncing Bitcoin’s gains

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Are you looking for some top ASX dividend shares to add to your income portfolio?

If you are, you might want to look at the ones listed below. Here’s what you need to know about these highly rated dividend shares:

Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)

The first ASX dividend share to look at is Accent. It is a retail group with a collection of popular footwear-focused store brands including HYPEDC, Platypus, and The Athlete’s Foot.

Accent has been growing at a solid rate for a number of years thanks to the popularity of these brands and their expanding store network. This continued in FY 2021, with the company reporting a 19.9% increase in sales to $1.14 billion and a 38.6% jump in net profit after tax to $76.9 million.

Bell Potter was pleased with its result. And while the broker expects lockdowns to weigh on its performance in FY 2022, it remains very positive on the long term. As a result, the broker currently has a buy rating and $2.90 price target on its shares.

As for dividends, Bell Potter has pencilled in fully franked dividends per share of 9.3 cents in FY 2022 and 13.3 cents in FY 2023. Based on the latest Accent share price of $2.30, this represents yields of 4% and 5.8%, respectively.

Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT (ASX: CQE)

Another dividend share to look at is the Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT. It is a real estate investment trust with a focus on social infrastructure.

Among the properties the company invests in are bus depots, police and justice services facilities, and childcare centres. These are properties with specialist use, limited competition, and low substitution risk.

It was also on form in FY 2021, reporting a 13.5% increase in operating earnings to $58 million.

Pleasingly, the company’s outlook remains very positive. This is thanks to its weighted average lease expiry of 15.2 years and having 73.2% of its properties on fixed rent reviews. Combined with its 100% occupancy rate, this bodes well for its future growth.

Goldman Sachs is a fan of the company and has a conviction buy rating and $3.81 price target its shares.

The broker is forecasting dividends per share of 16.6 cents in FY 2022 and 17.3 cents in FY 2023. Based on the current Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT share price of $3.60, this will mean yields of 4.6% and 4.8%, respectively.

The post Analysts name 2 ASX dividend shares to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Accent Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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On Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was back on form and stormed higher. The benchmark index climbed 0.7% to 7,256.7 points.

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

ASX 200 expected to rise again

The Australian share market looks set to end the week on a positive note. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 44 points or 0.6% higher. This follows a strong night of trade on Wall Street, which late on sees the Dow Jones up 1.15%, the S&P 500 1% higher, and the Nasdaq up 1.3%.

EML Payments’ Ireland update

The EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) share price will be on watch on Friday after releasing a regulatory update on its PFS Card Services (Ireland) business. EML said: “The nature of these potential directions are more limited than those originally foreshadowed by the CBI [Central Bank of Ireland] in May 2021. However, as presently framed, EML considers that the direction could materially impact the European operations of the Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) business.”

Oil prices rise

Energy producers including Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could have a strong finish to the week after oil prices charged higher. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 1.8% to US$78.84 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is up 1.7% to US$82.50 a barrel.

Dividends being paid

It is payday for the shareholders of a number of popular ASX 200 shares. Among the shares paying dividends are Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS), Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX: RWC), WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC), and Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW).

Gold price falls

Gold miners Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) could end the week in the red after the gold price dropped. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is down 0.3% to US$1,755.50 an ounce. Improving investor sentiment is weighing on demand for the safe haven asset.

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• EML Payments (ASX:EML) share price on watch with CBI update
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Here’s why ASX 200 tech shares are surging today
• Why A2 Milk, Magellan, Santos, & Whitehaven Coal shares are falling
• ASX 200 energy shares pull back as oil prices take a breather

Motley Fool contributor 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 has recommended EML Payments, Reliance Worldwide Corporation Limited, and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended EML Payments and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Reliance Worldwide Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) share price is going to be on watch on Friday after the company announced an update regarding the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI).

EML Payments’ CBI update

The payments business said that its Irish-regulated subsidiary, PFS Card Services (Ireland) Limited (PCSIL), has received more correspondence from the CBI about the regulatory concerns and potential directions regarding the remediation plan and material growth.

EML stated:

The nature of these potential directions are more limited than those originally foreshadowed by the CBI in May 2021. However, as presently framed, EML considers that the direction could materially impact the European operations of the Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) business.

The remediation program is currently underway and there are governance improvements with the PCSIL board. But, the CBI has advised that PCSIL’s proposed material growth policy is higher than what the CBI “would want to see”.

Additionally, the CBI has proposed that certain limits be applied to programs that, if implemented, could have a negative impact on the PCSIL business. EML said that, subject to endorsement by the PCSIL board, it is going to present to the CBI a “significant and detailed” analysis of limits applied across almost 27,000 programs in the next week along with a proposed recalibration of limits for certain programs.

Time will tell how the EML Payments share price reacts to this news.

CBI has invited PCSIL to provide it with submissions regarding the potential directions, which PCSIL intends to do by 28 October 2021.

There is an ongoing dialogue with CBI about the remediation plan, which EML said remains on track.

Does this affect the whole business?

No.

EML confirmed that these issues don’t relate to its Australian or North American operations, the UK subsidiary which is regulated in England, the other Irish regulated subsidiary (EML Money DAC), Sentenial and Nuapay, EML’s French regulated subsidiary.

The company looked to reassure investors by saying it’s subject to regular audits by various parties including central banks, payment schemes, external and internal auditors and other third parties.

EML said it takes regulatory compliance, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, risk management and governance very seriously, and is committed to ensuring its global operations meet the highest standards of risk and regulatory compliance.

The post EML Payments (ASX:EML) share price on watch with CBI update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• ASX 200 tech shares set to slide as Nasdaq plunges 2%
• How has the EML (ASX:EML) share price been performing compared to Tyro?
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• September hasn’t been a great month so far for the EML (ASX:EML) share price
• The EML (ASX: EML) share price is down 9% in recent days. What’s happening?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended EML Payments. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended EML Payments. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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There are some potentially impressive ASX shares that might be worth considering in October 2021.

Businesses that are growing quickly may be worthwhile looking at because of their long-term potential, if they are able to deliver on their plans.

Companies with international growth potential have much larger addressable markets, which may give them more profit potential.

Here are two ASX shares to consider:

Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL)

Redbubble owns and operates two global leading online marketplaces – Redbubble.com and TeePublic.com. It has a community of artists that have created designs that are printed on everyday products such as apparel, stationery, housewares, bags, wall art and so on.

Morgan Stanley currently rates the Redbubble share price as a buy with a target price of $6.50. That suggests the broker believes the company could see a rise of almost 50% of its share price over the next 12 months. Morgan Stanley is attracted to the Redbubble operating model and believes it could become much more profitable in the coming years.

In FY21, the e-commerce business achieved marketplace revenue of $553 million, an increase of 58%. In the next few years, it’s aiming to grow its gross transaction value (GTV) to $1.5 billion, which would lead to marketplace revenue of $1.25 billion per annum.

In the shorter-term, the ASX share is going to invest heavily to achieve growth. Over the longer-term, the increase in users, order rate, average order value and repeat order rate is expected to help improve the profit margins of the business.

In FY22, the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin is expected to be in the mid-single digit range and improve in subsequent years with its top line growth.

The company expects to deliver a trading update on 14 October 2021.

Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP)

Bapcor already calls itself the largest auto parts in Australasia, but it has plans to become a larger business. COVID-19 is currently impacting the expansion business, but it has outlined plans to extend its market leadership.

The company operates a number of different businesses including Burson, Autobarn and specialist wholesale (such as electrical and commercial vehicles).

At the end of FY21, it had around 1,100 locations and the 5-year target is to increase that to more than 1,500 locations with a large increase in its retail division and creating a material presence in Asia.

The ASX share sees a sizeable opportunity in Asia. It aims to be the most prominent vehicle parts distributor in the Asia Pacific region, with six locations in Thailand and a 25% stake of the Singapore-listed Tye Soon. The Tye Soon business has 60 locations across Asia, notably in South Korea and Malaysia. Burson Thailand will open its seventh location (and more) once COVID restrictions reduce.

There are four areas that Bapcor is investing in to grow the business – driving expansion of its network (including online), supplementing market-leading brands with Bapcor’s own brand products (with higher margins), realising benefits and efficiencies across Bapcor, and investing in its team members.

In FY21, Bapcor grew its revenue by 20.4% and increased the net profit by 46.5% to $130 million. Management attributed the result to improved operating and financial performance across all business segments.

The post 2 impressive ASX shares that could be buys in October 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Redbubble (ASX:RBL) share price surges 7% following broker upgrade
• Why De Grey Mining, Gold Road, Nick Scali, & Redbubble shares are racing higher
• 2 growing ASX dividend shares to buy
• 3 reasons why the Bapcor (ASX:BAP) share price could be a buy

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Bapcor. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Imdex Limited (ASX: IMD) share price has finished the day 7.35% higher. It closed the session at $2.63 having earlier hit an intraday high of $2.80.

Imdex shares were on the move after the mining technology company released the presentation of today’s 2021 annual general meeting (AGM), which contained several key updates.

Here are the details.

Promising outlook for FY22

In its AGM, the company detailed several investment highlights that covered its FY21 performance. It also voted on standard resolutions regarding executive renumeration and election of board members.

The company had already covered its performance for the year in its FY21 earnings report released in August, where it also gave some colour on FY22 guidance.

In that report the company noted it had a positive start to FY22, with “strong demand for the company’s IMDEXHUB-IQ technologies”.

It stated that as of 13 August, sensors in use were up 13% from the year ended 30 June 2021. The Imdex share price gained 11% the day of the company’s earnings release.

Today the company provided additional colour on its current progress and FY22 earnings outlook.

The presentation notes Q1 FY22 revenue is up 41% year-on-year from 2021, and revenues have also increased 13% from the prior quarter.

This represents the company’s highest first-quarter result since at least 2018, per the presentation.

Aside from this, the company also covered the impacts of COVID-19 on its end-markets, and concluded there has been a net positive effect from the pandemic on the “demand for IMDEXHUB-IQ cloud-based technologies and software”.

Today’s gains means the Imdex share price has climbed 11% in the past week and 13% over the past month.

Imdex share price snapshot

The Imdex share price has soared 52% this year to date, and 95% in the past 12 months.

At the time of writing, Imdex has a market capitalisation of $971 million.

Its share price return over the past year has also outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)’s gain of around 25%.

The post The Imdex (ASX:IMD) share price leaps 7% following AGM appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the GQG Partners IPO is putting the Pacific (ASX:PAC) share price in focus
• The Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) share price has dropped 12% in a month. What’s happening?
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• These were the 3 best performing ASX energy shares in September
• Why is the Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) share price jumping 4% today?

The author Zach Bristow has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Imdex Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Pacific Current Group Ltd (ASX: PAC) share price is under the spotlight as the fund manager GQG Partners gets closer to listing.

What are these two businesses?

GQG Partners is a large, global fund manager that is looking to list into the ASX. It operates a number of different strategies including global shares, dividend shares, US shares and emerging markets shares.

Pacific Current is an investment business that partners with asset managers across the world that invest in various asset classes. It’s invested in a number of fund managers across the world including GQG Partners, Astarte Capital Partners, Victory Park, ROC Partners and so on.

GQG Partners initial public offering (IPO)

Pacific noted on Thursday that GQG Partners has today lodged a prospectus with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for an initial public offering of CHESS depository interests (CDIs) over shares of common stock.

Around 20% of GQG’s common stock is being offered to Australian and overseas investors in the form of CDIs for listing on the ASX.

Pacific originally invested US$2.7 million in GQG Partners to help launch the business in 2016. In return, Pacific received a ‘preferred interest’ that entitled it to 10% of GQG Partners’ annual net revenue between US$5 million to US$50 million and 2% of all annual net revenue after that.

Its interest was also subject to a put/call arrange exercisable in June 2023. This arrangement would allow Rajiv Jain, GQG’s chief investment officer, to purchase Pacific Current’s interest in GQG Partners for 8x the prior year’s gross revenue share paid to Pacific or for Pacific to sell its GQG interest to Mr Jain for 3x the prior year’s gross revenue share paid to Pacific.

The Pacific share price could be affected by how the IPO will impact its holding of GQG Partners.

The transaction

Pacific Current said that its preferred interest will be exchanged for two things.

The first is that it will receive approximately 4% of the GQG shares (post-transaction), to be held in escrow until the end of the escrow period, which is expected to be late in August 2022.

It will also receive a cash amount of approximately 1% of the value of GQG at the IPO price, assuming the offer is subscribed in full (which is expected to approximately equal to 5% of the proceeds from the IPO), less costs.

Following this, the put/call arrangement will terminate.

After GQG lists onto the ASX, GQG’s continued contribution to Pacific Current’s underlying earnings will be reflected in the dividends received by the company from the shares it owns in GQG.

Two Pacific directors will become directors of GQG: Paul Greenwood, the Pacific Current managing director and CEO, as well as Melda Donnelly (who is a non-executive director).

Broker rating on the Pacific Current share price

The broker Ord Minnett currently rates Pacific as a buy with a price target of $8.30 as a result of the GQG Partners’ expected IPO.

The post Why the GQG Partners IPO is putting the Pacific (ASX:PAC) share price in focus appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The Imdex (ASX:IMD) share price leaps 7% following AGM
• The Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) share price has dropped 12% in a month. What’s happening?
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• These were the 3 best performing ASX energy shares in September
• Why is the Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) share price jumping 4% today?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB) share price is edging higher during trade on Thursday. At market close, it is up 0.99% and is now changing hands at $1.53 each.

Despite the gains today, shares in the small cap biotech company have slipped 12% into the red this past month, capping off a difficult year for shareholders.

This is ahead of the S&P/ASX 300 Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology index (AXPBKD) which has clicked around 8% lower in this time.

What’s headwinds has the Mesoblast share price faced lately?

Zooming out past the last month, the Mesoblast share price dove off the springboard after the company released its FY21 earnings on 31 August.

Here the company recorded a substantial 77% down-step in revenue over the prior year, resulting in a net loss after tax (NLAT) of US$98.8 million.

Perhaps more alarming, is concerns the company may need to hit the capital markets again, to raise more funds via debt or from investors.

In its report, the company acknowledged that “cash inflows will be required” in order to service its existing debt facility.

This may depend on whether it can form “more strategic partnerships, or restructure existing loan agreements, and have prepared the financial report on a going concern basis”.

Since its FY21 was released, Mesoblast’s share price has dropped 22% from a previous high of $1.98.

Then came reports that the company was facing increasing scrutiny from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its remestemcel-L label.

The FDA requires Mesoblast to provide additional data before it is approved for emergency use in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Mesoblast CEO reassured the market that everything is fine regarding the FDA’s spotlight, especially after the drug candidate was found to reduce the incidence of ARDS in COVID-19 patients.

Whilst this secured a swift recovery in the Mesoblast share price, it wasn’t enough to overcome the selling pressures to date.

Aside from this, there has been no price-sensitive information that is remarkable for the company in this time.

Mesoblast share price snapshot

The Mesoblast share price has been swimming in a sea of red this year to date, and also over the past 12 months.

It has posted a loss of 32% since January 1, extending its loss over the last year to 54%.

Both of these results have lagged the S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX: XJO)’s climb of around 25% this past year.

The post The Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) share price has dropped 12% in a month. What’s happening? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• Top broker tips Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) share price to double in value

The author Zach Bristow has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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While September is known for being a hard month for stock markets around the world, these ASX energy shares managed to push through it with massive gains.

Eagle-eyed investors might notice all the best-performing energy stocks of September are oil producers. Of course, September was a brilliant month for oil prices.

In fact, rising oil prices might have been one reason the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) gained an impressive 16.3% last month. For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell 2.6% over September.

According to data from CNBC, the price of West Texas Intermediate soared 9.5% in September to reach US$75.03 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the Brent crude oil price gained 7.5%, ending the month at US$78.52 a barrel.

So, that explains why oil producers reigned through September, but which producers performed best?

The 3 best performing ASX energy shares of September

Investors who held shares in these energy stocks in September, get ready to pat yourself on the back.

For simplicity’s sake, only energy shares with market capitalisations of more than $100 million have been included in this list.

Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT)

The Beach Energy share price came in at equal first place as one of two top-performing ASX energy shares over the month of September. It gained 42.8% over the course of last month.

While Beach Energy started off slow, its share price took off after the company released multiple announcements in late September.

First, Beach announced it had entered a heads of agreement with BP for the sale of all the liquid natural gas produced at its Waitsia Gas Project Stage 2. Then, it released a positive investor update.

The company’s stock ended the month trading for $1.50 apiece.

Empire Energy Group Limited (ASX: EEG)

The Empire Energy share price was also best-in-show last month. The company’s share price also gained an impressive 42.8% to finish September at 40 cents.

The company started the month strong, releasing an update on grants awarded to its wholly owned subsidiary.

The grants will offset 25% of the costs of seismic acquisition and drilling, fracture stimulation, and flow testing of three horizontal appraisal wells in its Beetaloo Sub-Basin tenement.  

It also announced it had received work program approval from the Northern Territory government.

Later in the month, Empire announced it was to restart operations at its Carpentaria-1 well after they were shut down in July due to COVID-19. It also provided an update on its Beetaloo operations.  

Comet Ridge Ltd (ASX: COI)

Finally, Comet Ridge made it onto the podium as the third best performing ASX energy share in September.

The Comet Ridge share price gained 40% over the course of last month, ending it trading at 14 cents.

In September, the company completed a $5 million placement ahead of an appraisal program at its Mahalo North blocks.

Later that month, Comet released a positive update on the block’s program alongside an update on the company’s cash position and commercial agreements.

The post These were the 3 best performing ASX energy shares in September appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 energy shares pull back as oil prices take a breather
• Why has the Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) share price rallied 33% in a month?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares this Wednesday
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Afterpay & Zip sink, energy shares rise

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) performed strongly across all sectors, aside from the energy sector. The benchmark index climbed 0.7% higher to 7,256.7 points.

While energy shares were burdensome to the Aussie index today, the other sectors more than made up for it. Notably, tech shares upheaved the index with a strong showing by the WAAAX shares (WiseTech, Afterpay, Appen, Altium, and Xero).

The question is: which shares delivered the biggest returns to investors on the ASX today? Here are the ten stocks that rose to the occasion:

Top 10 ASX shares countdown today

Looking at the top 200 listed companies, Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) was the biggest gainer today. Shares in the retailer surged 7.92% despite no announcements from the company. Find out more about Super Retail Group here.

The next biggest gaining ASX share today was Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS). The lithium producer flew 6.95% higher after releasing a project update. Uncover the latest Pilbara Minerals details here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made in these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL)	$12.40	7.92%
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)	$2.00	6.95%
AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL)	$6.09	5.36%
Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)	$6.85	5.06%
Orocobre Ltd (ASX: ORE)	$8.35	4.77%
Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX: ILU)	$8.99	4.17%
Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX: PME)	$52.69	4.01%
Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC)	$6.50	4.00%
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)	$16.45	3.92%
Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR)	$12.35	3.87%

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check-in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the 3 heaviest trading ASX 200 shares so far this Thursday
• Which ASX 300 shares are the biggest winners and losers on Thursday?
• Why Collins Foods, Pilbara Minerals, Sezzle, & Super Retail are pushing higher
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Pilbara Minerals jumps, Whitehaven Coal sinks
• Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) share price higher on lithium project update

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO, Appen Ltd, Lynas Corporation Limited, and Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO, Altium, Appen Ltd, Dicker Data Limited, MEGAPORT FPO, Pro Medicus Ltd., Super Retail Group Limited, WiseTech Global, Xero, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO, Altium, Appen Ltd, Dicker Data Limited, Pro Medicus Ltd., Super Retail Group Limited, WiseTech Global, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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