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The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price has had a tough 2021 so far. Shares in the major iron ore miner have fallen 9.2% to close at $22.52 per share on Thursday.

Investors will be hoping for a turnaround in fortunes before the year is out. So, what’s the outlook for the ASX mining giant in 2021?

What’s in store for the Fortescue share price?

Let’s start with the current state of play. Shares in the Aussie miner are still up 26.1% in the past 12 months and 356.8% in the last 5 years, not including the role that a hefty dividend plays in total returns. So, it’s not all doom and gloom for shareholders right now.

However, a falling iron ore price, largely driven by weaker Chinese demand, has hurt the Fortescue share price in recent weeks. China is a major buyer of Aussie iron ore as a key input into the steel production process. That means when China decides to stop buying, ASX iron ore shares like Fortescue tend to perform poorly.

One leading broker thinks that the outlook for the Aussie mining share isn’t all bad. A recent equity research report from JP Morgan reinstated a $30 per share price target and overweight rating. Given the current $22.52 share price, this implies a potential 33.2% upside based on the broker’s target.

JP Morgan analysts cited Fortescue’s strong Q4 2021 results and a net cash position above their own and market expectations. While the Fortescue share price has been under pressure in 2021, clearly some in the market think there is still an attractive investment thesis to be made.

Foolish takeaway

The Fortescue share price has been on a sustained bull run for a number of years now. While 2021 hasn’t been panning out as investors would have hoped, the Aussie mining share is still up 26.1% in the last 12 months and trading on an 11.0% dividend yield.

The post What is the outlook for the Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• The Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price is down 8% in a week. Here’s why
• Afterpay and Zip were among the most traded ASX shares last week
• How does the Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) dividend compare to the materials sector?
• ASX 200 shares could get boost on prediction that A$ will crash to US68c

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall 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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If you’re looking for growth shares to buy, then the tech sector could be a great place to start. At this side of the market, there are a number of companies with the potential to grow materially over the next decade.

With that in mind, I have picked out three top tech shares that could be buys. Here’s what you need to know about them:

BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK)

The first option to look at is actually an ETF that gives you access to a group of tech shares. The BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF aims to track the performance of an index that provides investors with access to the leaders in the growing global cybersecurity sector. Among the 40 companies that you’ll be investing in with this ETF are the likes of Accenture, Cisco, Cloudflare, Crowdstrike, Okta. Positively, with demand for these types of services increasing due to the growing threat of cyberattacks on governments and businesses, the future looks very bright for this ETF.

Life360 Inc (ASX: 360)

Another tech share to look at is Life360. It is the San Francisco-based technology company behind the incredibly popular Life360 mobile app. This is a market leading app for families, offering features such as communications, driver safety, and location sharing. During the three months ended 30 June, Life360 grew its user base by over 4 million to 32 million users. This is underpinning significant recurring revenues and shows no signs of slowing. Another positive is that the company has just made a major acquisition which has broadened its product range and opened up cross-selling opportunities to its massive user base. All in all, the company appears well-placed to continue its strong growth for some time to come. Credit Suisse is a fan and currently has an outperform rating and $10.00 price target on its shares.

Nitro Software Ltd (ASX: NTO)

A final tech share to look at is Nitro Software. It is the document productivity software company behind the Nitro Productivity Suite. This software provides integrated PDF productivity and electronic signature tools to businesses large and small. Demand has been growing rapidly and is underpinning strong recurring revenue growth. For example, at the end of June, Nitro’s annualised recurring revenue (ARR) reached US$33.8 million. This was an increase of 56% over the prior corresponding period. Pleasinginly, the future looks bright thanks to a number of positive tailwinds such as working from home. It also just announced a key acquisition and integration with Salesforce. Wilsons is very positive on the company. Its analysts currently have a buy rating and $4.22 price target on Nitro’s shares.

The post 3 excellent ASX tech shares that could be buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Healthcare, miners among top performing ASX ETFs in July
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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. owns shares of and has recommended BETA CYBER ETF UNITS and Life360, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nitro Software 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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There are a few ASX shares that could be interesting reopening ideas to think about.

The lockdown continues in Sydney and lockdowns are rolling into other places, with the ACT being the latest region to be affected.

Plenty of businesses, large and small, are experiencing significant impacts. But they may also be ideas as reopening options once the country gets through this difficult time.

Tony Featherstone from the Switzer Report has pointed out that in the US there is a lot of demand for COVID-impacted services like music festivals, cruises, air passenger traffic and casinos.

He pointed out some high-quality, large ASX shares that look good value and could benefit as borders reopen.

Mr Featherstone revealed these three ideas as ones to consider:

Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN)

He noted that Qantas is suffering from the domestic borders closing as well as international borders remaining shut.

Qantas could be interesting if domestic borders are completely open by the end of FY22 and international borders start to open.

He thinks demand for Qantas air tickets will go back to full capacity once the public are confident to book travel.

The ASX share could also emerge from this period with a lower cost base, however, Mr Featherstone acknowledged that Qantas isn’t a screaming buy.

Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR)

The casino operator was another stock idea. With The Star in Sydney in lockdown, the business is being heavily impacted. Since the start of June 2021 the Star share price has fallen 17%.

Mr Featherstone acknowledged the potential threat from a second Sydney casino.

However, the fact that overseas casinos are doing better than expected after the end of restrictions could be a good sign for later in the year.

In his opinion, Mr Featherstone believes that The Star is well positioned for the rebound because its main asset is locked down in Sydney. Over the longer-term, the development in Brisbane could also be a good addition.

Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)

Flight Centre is the third ASX share that was picked as a reopening idea.

It was noted that Flight Centre is facing more than one difficulty. There’s the COVID-19 impacts on travel bookings, but there is also the long-term change of bookings from bricks and mortar places to online booking.

The detractors of Flight Centre, Mr Featherstone points out, say that travel agent commissions are under pressure as people go directly suppliers (like Qantas), and the business also has large rent and wage costs.

However, a positive factor for the ASX share is that Flight Centre generates around half of its total transaction value (TTV) outside of Australia and New Zealand, where vaccination rates are higher and likely to get back to normal quicker.

Another factor is that Flight Centre sees a pleasing amount of TTV come from corporate travel, which is less affected by COVID-19 too.

Whilst he acknowledged that it could take years for full demand to return, Mr Featherstone believes that picking Flight Centre whilst it’s down could be an opportunistic strategy.

The post 3 reopening ASX share ideas as potential buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price gains amid virtual travel pack
• Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price lifts amid frequent flyer update
• Here are the 10 top moving ASX shares on Monday
• Why ELMO, Flight Centre, Northern Star, & Regis shares are dropping
• All eyes on Qantas (ASX:QAN) shares this reporting season

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 recommended Flight Centre Travel Group 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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Ask A Fund Manager

The Motley Fool chats with fund managers so that you can get an insight into how the professionals think. In part two of our interview with NAOS Asset Management portfolio manager Robert Miller, he presents 3 ASX shares that currently have beautiful prospects.

Hottest ASX shares

The Motley Fool: What are the 2 most attractive ASX shares right now?

Robert Miller: First one I’ll talk about is Eureka Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: EGH). They are a provider of independent seniors living. So it’s not aged care. 

If you think about people that are of senior age and they want to live in the community still, this is a way to live in a rental community that certainly doesn’t have any aged care factor involved in it. It’s simply a rental agreement. 

The vast majority, 95%-ish, of Eureka’s revenue actually comes from government pension funds — in terms of rental assistance.

Eureka’s got a portfolio of about 2,500 units across 40 villages that they own and manage. Strong management team and board. The key here is the aging population tailwind is very significant — only going to be a bigger factor for the economy over time. 

But also equally the flip side of that is as you get more people moving into retirement age, there are less people in the age of their working career, as in producing income for the economy. So therefore you get that natural switch between people that are generating income to… the government needing to provide more stimulus and whatnot over time.

Add to that housing affordability, which is a topic, and certainly one that you’re seeing less home ownership percentages over time. That plays into Eureka’s long-term [benefit] in terms of the tailwinds that they operate in. 

It’s a very large market and we see them as providing a social infrastructure good that [has] a significant demand. 

What I would also say is I think Eureka’s done a good job to date, under the current management and board, of acquiring businesses. There are significant M&A opportunities within this space. But as well as that, they’ve got a lot of assets where they might have some vacant land, or are able to purchase vacant land as well, and develop that internally.

You possibly could classify it as a boring business, but we believe that’s one that’s got very strong tailwinds, very stable revenue profile, and a business that can incrementally grow over time, and generate hopefully very strong free cash flow returns.

The Motley Fool: And the other one?

Robert Miller: Another one that is a little bit different, it’s probably classified as a turnaround story at this moment, is a business called Gentrack Group Ltd (ASX: GTK), which is an enterprise software business that provides billing and customer support software to utility providers. 

So this business has been around for a few years… It went from $6 to 80 cents. Since that time, a new board [and] new management team have come on into this business. And it’s a new strategy under the current management team who’ve been there for approximately 12 months now.

The reason for mentioning it today is they’ve put out an outline of a 3-year strategy at the end of their investor day in June. They’re not starting from scratch on this turnaround. So they’ve got a very sticky product, and we believe by not starting from scratch, you’re able to reinvest in technology and transition the business to becoming a cloud-first business with your existing customers first, before you have to go out and win new customers.

Despite the long-term tailwinds around energy businesses and utilities looking for a lower cost to serve and also more complexity around a transition to a green energy world, … there are short-term headwinds for this business. 

Quite a few of the [management team] have come out of a business called Amdocs Limited (NASDAQ: DOX), which is a US-listed business that does a lot of utility and customer billing software. I think roughly it’s like a US$10 billion NASDAQ business. … There’s a lot of pedigree out of that business.

So it’s a big market. And I think if they’re successful in turning around this business with their existing customer base and then grow it from there, and they want to be best of breed at what they do, the earnings profile could be significant in terms of the upside there.

They’ve got another small division, which is an airport software division. So the utilities division I’ve touched on, is by far the majority. But they do have an airport software business as well, which is providing some mission-critical software into some of the largest airports in the world, including Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD), and JFK, around say things like passenger tracking.

Yes, this is at a cyclical low, but they’ve got some tier-one airport customers. We think there’s quite a bit of inherent value in this airport software as well. Hopefully, it can be realised in time.

The keeper

The Motley Fool: If the market closed tomorrow for 5 years, which stock would you want to hold?

Robert Miller: A key principle of ours is long-term investing. So we almost always think about, when investing, for periods of 5-plus years. So this is perfect, and I could probably answer this with a few across the portfolio.

In saying that, I certainly will pick something within our investment universe. Objective Corporation Limited (ASX: OCL) — I don’t know how familiar you are with that one, but it’s an enterprise software business again. This one’s for regulated industries, such as local councils, state councils, federal [government], whatnot. What they provide is software that has tools for governance, content and workflow processes. 

The business was founded by Tony Walls, who founded it over 30 years ago now. He’s still the CEO and the major shareholder. He still owns over 65% of the shares on issue. They haven’t raised capital since back in 2000.

Clearly, digital transformation is something that all industries are experiencing, but I think probably government and regulated industries have a long way to go on this and probably aren’t as nimble as other sectors. So we think there’s a long runway for this tailwind to benefit Objective Corp. 

Their software [contributes as] core platforms within their customer base. So their churn rate is very low. A low level of churn is an extremely valuable asset in an enterprise software business.

They expense all their R&D. And that’s been the case since listing, and they’ve invested close to $200 million in their software over that time, all expensed. And they invest a very healthy portion of sales at over 20%. So they are continually reinvesting in the product and the software offering to make it a benefit for their customers, which in turn drives growth, which they in turn reinvest back in the businesses, and it becomes a bit of a perpetual cycle like that.

The other thing to note is they’ve taken the migration to the cloud successfully. … Objective are the majority of the way through that. I suppose once you’ve got a high-quality software cloud offering, you get compounding over time. 

Management has been excellent allocators of capital over a long period of time. And we see no reason why this won’t continue. So very much if the market closed tomorrow … happy to hold this for that period of time.

Looking back

The Motley Fool: Is there a move that you regret from the past? For example, a missed opportunity or buying a stock at the wrong timing or price.

Robert Miller: Yeah, there’s plenty. Where do I start? Wrong timing, wrong price, missed opportunities — I’d be lying if I said we hadn’t had all of those things occur to us. I think regrets and mistakes are part and parcel of being an investor, unfortunately. 

What I would say is being able to learn from your mistakes and also potentially learning from the mistakes of others before they’ve happened to you, is another key factor. 

I would say the one that can hurt the most are missed opportunities in terms of our experiences. I won’t name names, but I feel like over the years, you’ve probably missed a few businesses that have been run by excellent founders.

So when you miss one that’s in your circle of competence that compounds for many, many years, and you can generate 5, 10 times returns, missing them are the ones that probably hurt the most.

The Motley Fool: You don’t want to name an obvious clanger?

Robert Miller: No, I really don’t, because some of them we’ve invested in later on. 

But it’s just identifying excellent founders and whatnot early on enough so you get that compounding nature of returns for shareholders. I would say that we probably learnt a lot from some of these, and you’re never going to get a business that looks exactly the same, run by a founder who looks exactly the same. 

But using our knowledge and experiences, we’ve been able to invest in quite a few businesses since then, that are run by what we believe to be excellent founders and allocators of capital.

And hopefully in the future, we can identify them early. But obviously you’re never going to get them all right.

The post This ASX tech share fell 87%, but we love it now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• When was the best day on the Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) share price chart?
• Why is the Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) share price slipping 2% today?
• The Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) share price is up 20% so far in 2021. Here’s why
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: Blockbuster Afterpay deal turbocharges ASX to new record highs
• Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) offer shows infrastructure interest: expert

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo owns shares of Sydney Airport Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Objective Corporation 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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It looks as though interest rates are going to remain at low levels for some time to come. But don’t worry, because dividend shares remain a great way to earn a passive income.

But which dividend shares should you buy? Two quality options that analysts rate highly are listed below:

Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ)

The first option for income investors to look at is ANZ. With the banking sector appearing to be over the worst of its issues, now could be a good time to invest if you don’t already have exposure to it. Especially given the booming housing market, rampant cost cutting, and the relaxing of responsible lending rules. This should be supportive of growth over the medium term.

Another positive is ANZ’s very strong capital position. This is likely to lead to some generous dividend payments and share buybacks over the coming years.

One broker that is very positive on ANZ is Morgans. It has an add rating and $34.50 price target on the bank’s shares.

Morgan is also forecasting a $1.45 per share dividend in FY 2021 and a $1.65 per share dividend in FY 2022. Based on the current ANZ share price of $29.35, this represents fully franked yields of 4.9% and 5.6%, respectively.

Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL)

Another ASX dividend share to look at is Super Retail. It is the company behind retail brands BCF, Macpac, Rebel, and Super Cheap Auto.

Super Retail has been a very positive performer during the pandemic. For example, in February the retailer revealed a 23% increase in first half sales to $1.78 billion and a 139% increase in first half underlying net profit after tax to $177.1 million. Key drivers of this impressive profit growth were strong like for likes sales, stellar online sales, and margin expansion.

Goldman Sachs is a fan of Super Retail and has a buy rating and $15.00 price target on its shares. Its analysts are expecting the company to have a strong second half and to reward shareholders with a special dividend.

Goldman is forecasting fully franked dividends of 84 cents per share (including the special dividend) in FY 2021 and then 59 cents per share in FY 2022. Based on the latest Super Retail share price of $13.00, this represents 6.4% and 4.5% yields, respectively.

The post Analysts name ANZ (ASX:ANZ) and this dividend share as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price lags the big banks’ after NZ ‘formal warning’
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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 owns shares of and has recommended Super Retail Group 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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There are a group of ASX dividend shares that are expected to pay a high dividend yield and are also rated as a buy by brokers.

Just because a business pays a dividend, particularly a large one, doesn’t automatically make it a good stock to own.

Brokers are also on the lookout for opportunities that are valued at a good price for investors.

That’s why the brokers have picked out these two ASX dividend shares:

Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN)

The retailer Harvey Norman is one of the ASX dividend shares rated as a buy.

One of the brokers that likes Harvey Norman is Citi, which has a price target on the retailer of $6. Citi feels that the current COVID-19 restrictions around the country will hurt some demand, though there is still stronger-than-normal demand for household goods.

But over the longer-term, Citi believes that demand and profit will start to go back to more normal levels.

On Citi’s numbers, the Harvey Norman share price is valued at 15x FY22’s estimated earnings with a projected grossed-up dividend yield of 9.1%.

In the first six months of FY21, Harvey Norman revealed that reported profit before tax had more than doubled, up 113.8%, to $643.9 million. Underlying net profit after tax increased by 115.8% to $438.2 million.

The company continues to see international growth. HY21 offshore company-operated Harvey Norman retail sales revenue grew by 21.8% to $1.36 billion.

APA Group (ASX: APA)

APA is one of the other ASX dividend shares that brokers also like.

If readers haven’t heard of APA before, it has 15,000km of natural gas pipelines that connect sources of gas supply and markets across Australia. It operates and maintains networks connecting 1.4 million Australian homes and businesses to natural gas, supplying half of the nation’s usage.

APA also owns or has interests in gas storage facilities, gas-fired power stations and renewable energy generation (wind and solar farms).

It’s rated as a buy by the broker UBS, with a price target of $11.20. That suggests that the share price could rise by over 10%.

The broker believes APA is placing itself in a good position to capitalise on the billions of dollars of energy opportunities over the next two decades in the renewable energy space as well as electricity transmission. APA points to $40 billion of renewable energy opportunities and $20 billion of electrification opportunities in Australia.

The US is another area of potential growth. There are US$2.7 trillion of investment opportunities there to 2040, those opportunities break down to $125 billion of gas pipeline infrastructure, $1.6 trillion of renewables and firming, and US$1 trillion of electrification.

The ASX dividend share also points to the hydrogen economy, with US$11 trillion of potential investments worldwide to 2050.

UBS estimates that APA will pay a distribution of 55 cents per security in FY22. That translates to a potential FY22 distribution yield of 5.6%.

The post 2 ASX dividend shares rated as buys by brokers appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the Harvey Norman (ASX:HVN) share price is up 9% in a month
• 2 ASX shares that could keep growing the dividend every year
• These ASX dividend shares keep giving investors a payrise
• These ASX 200 CEOs have the most wealth tied up in their companies
• COVID Delta is raging: 4 ASX shares to buy in turbulent times

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 APA Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. 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) continued its positive run with the smallest of gains. The benchmark index rose 3.9 points to end the day at 7,588.2 points.

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

ASX 200 futures pointing higher

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 29 points or 0.4% higher this morning. This follows a decent night on Wall Street, which saw the Dow Jones rise slightly, the S&P 500 climb 0.3%, and the Nasdaq push 0.35% higher.

Telstra rated as a buy

The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price remains good value according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. It was pleased with its FY 2021 results and particularly the performance of its mobile business. In response to the result, the broker has retained its buy rating and lifted its price target to $4.30.

Oil prices fall

Energy producers such as Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could end the week in the red after oil prices fell overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 0.4% to US$68.95 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is down 0.35% to US$71.19 a barrel. US calls for more supply weighed on prices.

NAB shares are in the buy zone

The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price could be good value according to Goldman Sachs. This morning the broker retained its conviction buy rating and lifted its price target to $30.62 following a solid third quarter update. Goldman said: “NAB reported unaudited cash earnings from continuing operations of A$1.70 bn, up 1% on the previous period average, run-rating 11% ahead of what was implied by our previous 2H21E forecasts.”

Gold price edges higher

Gold miners Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) will be on watch after the gold price edged higher. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is up 0.1% to US$1,754.60 an ounce. Traders were buying the precious metal after concerns over US Federal Reserve tapering eased.

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

More reading

• ASX 200 edges higher, Telstra climbs, NAB up
• Healthcare, miners among top performing ASX ETFs in July
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• The ASX reporting wrap-up: Telstra, AGL Energy, Downer
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares this Thursday

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 owns shares of and has recommended Telstra 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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With savings accounts and term deposits still offering very low interest rates, the share market arguably remains the best place to earn a passive income.

But which ASX dividend shares should you consider buying? Two to look closely at are listed below:

Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT (ASX: CQE)

The Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT is a real estate investment trust focused on social infrastructure properties. These include properties such as childcare centres and government sites.

This morning the company released its full year results and revealed a 103% increase in statutory profit to $174.1 million. This was driven by a strong operating performance and further increases in its property valuations.

This allowed the Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT to increase its distribution to 19.71 cents per share. This comprises a distribution of 15.7 cents and a special distribution of 4 cents.

Positively, further growth is expected in FY 2022. Management provided guidance for a distribution of 16.7 cents per share, representing a 6.4% increase year on year.

Based on the current Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT share price of $3.53, this will mean a yield of 4.7% for investors. Goldman Sachs currently has a buy rating and $3.84 price target on its shares.

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)

Another ASX dividend share to look at is Westpac. It could be a top option due to its strong performance in FY 2021 and its positive outlook.

In respect to the former, for the six months ended 31 March, Australia’s oldest bank reported cash earnings of $3,537 million. This was up 256% over the prior corresponding period and 119% over the second half of FY 2020.

The team at Goldman Sachs are positive on Westpac as well. The broker currently has a buy rating and $29.03 price target on its shares. This compares to the current Westpac share price of $25.76.

The broker is also forecasting generous dividend yields in the near term. Based on where its shares trade today, Goldman expects yields of ~4.5% and ~4.8% in FY 2021 and FY 2022, respectively.

The post 2 buy-rated ASX dividend shares with very attractive yields appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price lags the big banks’ after NZ ‘formal warning’
• Is now a good time to buy Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) shares?
• Top broker gives its verdict on the Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price
• Is the Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price good value right now?
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking Corporation. 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 S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) went up slightly to 7,688 points.

Here are some of the highlights from the ASX today:

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)

The Telstra share price rose by around 3.7% today after the telco announced its FY21 report.

Telstra also announced a $1.35 billion share buy-back. It is returning approximately 50% of the net proceeds from its InfraCo Towers transaction to shareholders with an on-market share buy-back.

Telstra’s board also decided to declare a fully franked full year dividend of 16 cents per share.

The CEO Andrew Penn said that the transaction reinforced the view that Telstra’s infrastructure assets could deliver additional value to shareholders.

In June, Telstra announced a long-term strategic partnership with a consortium that will acquire a 49% interest. The towers business is the largest mobile tower infrastructure provider in Australia with approximately 8,200 towers.

Turning back to the FY21 result, the ASX 200 telco giant said that on a reported basis, total income decreased by 11.6% to $23.1 billion, whilst net profit grew 3.4% to $1.9 billion.

On a guidance basis, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 9.7% to $6.7 billion. The underlying EBITDA included an in-year NBN headwind of around $650 million and an estimated $380 million financial impact from COVID-19. Excluding the in-year NBN headwind, underlying EBITDA in FY21 dropped $70 million.

In FY22, Telstra expects to achieve underlying EBITDA of between $7 billion to $7.3 billion, total income of between $21.6 billion to $23.6 billion and free cashflow after lease payments of between $3.5 billion to $3.9 billion.

National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB)

The NAB share price went up 0.2% after the bank released its update for the third quarter of FY21.

The ASX 200 bank said that its cash earnings of $1.7 billion grew 10.3% compared to the prior corresponding period. It also made $1.65 billion of quarterly statutory net profit.

NAB said that its net interest margin (NIM) was broadly stable. Excluding markets and treasury, and higher liquids, the NIM actually increased modestly with lower deposit and funding costs, partly offset by the impact of lower interest rates and home lending competition.

Looking at its loan book, NAB said that the ratio of loans that were over 90 days past due and gross impaired assets to its loan book decreased by 10 basis points over the three months period to 1.13%.

NAB’s management noted that the acquisitions of Citigroup’s Australian consumer business and the neobank 86 400 will “help accelerate” the growth strategy.

Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)

The Goodman share price fell around 2% today after delivering its FY21 result.

The global property business reported that its operating profit increased by 15% over the year to $1.22 billion. That led to operating earnings per share (EPS) growth of 14.1% to 65.6 cents, beating its initial guidance of 9%.

Goodman generated $2.3 billion of statutory profit. This figure includes items like Goodman’s share of valuation gains, non-cash items and so on.

The ASX 200 business finished the financial year with total assets under management (AUM) of $57.9 billion, an increase of 12%.

Goodman paid a total FY21 distribution of 30 cents per security. Management said this was in line with the group’s capital management strategy to maintain an appropriate payout ratio in light of the strong activity levels.

Its net tangible assets (NTA) per security grew 14.4% to $6.68.

In FY22, the ASX 200 share is expecting to maintain its distribution at 30 cents per security, but grow EPS by another 10% to 72.2 cents.

The post ASX 200 edges higher, Telstra climbs, NAB up appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Telstra 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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If you’re wanting to invest in the small side of the Australian share market, then the three small caps listed below could be worth a closer look.

All three have been tipped for big things in the future. Here’s why these small cap ASX shares could be worth adding to your watchlist:

Adore Beauty Group Limited (ASX: ABY)

The first small cap to watch is Adore Beauty. It is a leading online beauty retailer which has been growing strongly during FY 2021. This has been underpinned by a significant lift in customer numbers thanks to the shift online. The good news is that this shift is only really getting started with the beauty category. This leaves it very well positioned for growth over the long term as penetration rates increase.

Alcidion Group Ltd (ASX: ALC)

Another small cap share to watch is Alcidion. It is a growing informatics solutions company which provides software which has been designed to improve the efficacy and cost of delivering services to patients and reduce hospital-acquired complications. Alcidion appears well-placed for growth in the future thanks to the shift to a paperless environment in the healthcare sector and a number of favourable industry tailwinds.

Serko Ltd (ASX: SKO)

A third small cap to watch Serko is an online travel booking and expense management provider. It offers businesses the Zeno Travel and Zeno Expense platforms. The former provides AI-powered end-to-end travel itineraries, cost control and travel policy compliance to corporate customers. Whereas the Zeno Expense platform allows users to automate and streamline the expense administration function, identify out-of-policy expense claims, and prevent fraud. It recently signed a game-changing deal with travel giant Booking.com.

The post 3 exciting small cap ASX shares to watch appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• ASX travel share Serko Ltd (ASX:SKO) higher on COVID business update
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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. owns shares of and has recommended Alcidion Group Ltd and Serko Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Adore Beauty Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alcidion Group Ltd and Serko Ltd. 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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