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With the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) in such strong form, it will come as no surprise to learn that several ASX 200 shares are scaling new heights.

Three ASX 200 shares that have just hit 52-week highs or better are listed below. Here’s why they are flying high:

Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS)

The Healius share price hit a multi-year high of $4.88 yesterday. Investors have been buying this leading healthcare company’s shares this year due to its strong performance in FY 2021. This is being driven largely by its pathology business, which continues to benefit greatly from the strong demand for COVID-19 testing. And while the vaccine rollout is gathering pace, the emergence of the Delta strain is expected to support strong testing volumes for at least the remainder of the year. The Healius share price is up 29% in 2021.

ResMed Inc (ASX: RMD)

The ResMed share price continued its impressive run and reached a new record high of $36.00 on Wednesday. Investors have been fighting to get hold of this sleep treatment focused medical device company’s shares recently following a major product recall by rival Philips. Analysts are tipping ResMed to win market share while Philips is sorting out the recall and replacement of millions of sleep apnoea devices. The ResMed share price is up 29% in 2021.

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)

The Telstra share price climbed to a 52-week high of $3.83 yesterday. This telco giant’s shares have been in fine form this year thanks to its improving outlook. This is being underpinned by its 5G leadership, rational competition, and cost reductions. In addition, Telstra has announced a major asset sale, plans to return funds to shareholders, and its belief that a return to growth is on the horizon. The Telstra share price is up 26% in 2021.

The post These ASX 200 shares have just hit 52-week highs appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Here’s why the Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price just hit a new 52-week high
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• The Westpac (ASX: WBC) share price is down 20% in 5 years. But have the dividends paid off?
• 2 highly rated ASX 200 dividend shares that could be buys

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 recommended ResMed. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ResMed Inc. 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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Could the Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) share price be worth looking at considering it has been rising in recent months?

Over the last five months, Coles shares have risen by around 15%. It has been recovering since the decline in February 2021.

The stronger performance in recent weeks coincides with the lockdowns that have been happening around the country in the last month or two, particularly in NSW.

What has Coles been working on in recent times?

One of the key elements of Coles’ plan over the next few years is its Witron automated distribution centres (DCs). Management believe this will create a powerful advantage.

The new DCs will provide safer working environments with improved service at a lower cost. It will result in reduced lead time for better availability, with both sites providing a ‘full ambient range’ in each state. The new DCs will double the volume on half the footprint. It will have approximately two thirds of the operating costs of a standard site. Coles says the integration of the Witron automated DCs and Ocado’s customer fulfilment centres will create a powerful advantage.

The Coles share price could also be helped by the other supply chain improvements which is leading to a major transformation and cost saving program. Its initiatives have led to a 35% increase in pallets moved, increased product life (by reducing store order lead time by a total of 20 million days) and training for drivers moved to an online platform.

One area of future focus is embedding a fully integrated transport management system to improve efficiency and service.

The business has also been improving its supplier relationships and procurement process which is delivering an improvement in perceptions from suppliers whilst also improving its cost of goods sold (COGS).

Trading update

In the third quarter, the business saw that its total sales were down 5.1% year on year with the prior period experiencing that huge panic buying during the initial global disruption from COVID-19.

However, compared to the third quarter of FY19, total sales were up 7.2%.

But compared to both 2019 and 2020, liquor and express sales had increased.

At the time, Coles said that consumer behaviour had started to normalise, including a return to shopping centres and CBD stores. There were also increased shopping trips and improved transaction growth. But, on a national level, that was before these latest lockdowns. So investors will have to see what Coles says about the fourth quarter and the start of FY22.

But the supermarket business did say in the quarterly update that e-commerce sales to consumers were up 57% and its smarter selling was on track to deliver cost savings of more than $250 million in FY21.

Is the Coles share price worth looking at?

Morgan Stanley currently rates Coles shares as a buy, with a price target of $19.

The broker realises that the supermarket business is investing a lot into different initiatives at the moment, which will reduce profit, but thinks the valuation is/was attractive compared to Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW).

One of the things that Morgan Stanley notes is the prospect of a large dividend. In FY22, Coles is expected to pay a grossed-up dividend of 4.8%.

The post Is the Coles (ASX:COL) share price a buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why has the Brickworks share price rocketed up 50% in the last year?
• 2 excellent ASX 200 blue chip shares named as buys

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 COLESGROUP DEF SET. 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’s been a tough 18 months for investors in Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) shares. The Aussie travel group’s value has halved since 21 February 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic really kicked in here. Here are a few things Webjet investors will be watching in August.

What to watch in August if you own Webjet shares

August means the ASX reporting season is upon us. For many Aussie companies with a 30 June financial year-end, that means full-year earnings results.

Webjet investors will be understandably keen to see COVID-19 restrictions ease both domestically and internationally. Webjet generates revenue through customer bookings, so if traffic is reduced, that’s not good news for earnings.

Shareholders will likely be keeping an eye on the major travel players for commentary around the FY2022 outlook. The Aussie travel market, particularly regarding air travel, is concentrated. That means insights from the likes of Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN) and Regional Express Holdings Ltd (ASX: REX) could be valuable.

Webjet shares have recovered 66.1% in the last 12 months after being smashed in the March 2020 bear market. However, it’s still a long way back to pre-COVID share price levels.

Clearly, the key to Webjet’s value increasing is for booking numbers and travel to pick back up. Current COVID-19 restrictions haven’t helped, but investing is a long-term game. That means any indication in August of increasing discretionary consumer spending could be good news for the likelihood of a travel rebound.

Apart from the airlines, investors might also be keeping an eye on rivals’ results in the August reporting season. That means watching Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) and Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT). This might provide an indication of how Webjet is travelling compared to its peers and the broader industry.

There’s also the Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) result to watch. Sydney Airport is Australia’s busiest airport which means traffic updates and FY2022 commentary is a useful barometer.

Foolish takeaway

Webjet shares remain under pressure heading into the August reporting season. Shareholders will likely be watching for any signs of COVID-19 restrictions easing, how Webjet’s performance stacks up against its peers and the FY2022 outlook from major travel industry stakeholders.

The post Own Webjet (ASX:WEB) shares? Here’s what to look at during reporting season appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 owns shares of and has recommended Corporate Travel Management Limited and Webjet Ltd. 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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As July draws to a close, many investors will turn their attention to the August reporting season. If you own Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares, here are a few things to keeping an eye on next month.

What to watch in August for investors in Westpac shares

Westpac shares have been performing strongly in 2021. The bank’s share price has climbed 25.1% higher this year which is more than both National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).

The banks are naturally leveraged towards a post-COVID economic recovery. That’s because the vast majority of their risk-weighted assets are commercial or residential mortgages. For Westpac, as at 31 March 2021, that’s $138.0 billion (32.2%) in residential mortgages and $101.8 billion in corporate and business lending (23.7%).

Stability and growth mean more people doing well in the economy and, therefore, a higher likelihood of repayment for the bank. That means any signs of economic stability and/or growth in August should be good news for Westpac. The same is also true if we see signs in various ASX results that economic growth is waning — that may see Westpac shares slide lower.

There are a few key metrics that owners of Westpac shares should be watching. For one thing, the net interest margin (NIM) of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) when it releases its full-year results on 11 August 2021. The NIM is a measure of bank profitability, being the spread between interest earned and funding costs paid.

CBA is Australia’s largest bank, and any NIM compression would be looked at unfavourably by investors. It follows that if one big-four bank is reporting lower NIM, Westpac may be likely to do the same at its full-year result in November.

Westpac shareholders may also be keeping an eye on impairment levels across not only CBA but regional banks like Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN). Higher impairments are never good news for a bank, but low impairment levels could put investors’ minds at ease over economic distress.

Foolish takeaway

Owners of Westpac shares have a lot to watch in August. Even outside of the banks, other ASX results can provide a barometer for current spending habits and future expectations. The CBA result is one worth watching as well as Westpac’s own third-quarter update on 17 August.

The post Own Westpac (ASX:WBC) shares? What to look for during reporting season appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

What happened

Inoculating the world can be quite beneficial for a big pharmaceutical company’s finances. Such is the case with Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE), the shares of which closed Wednesday more than 3% higher on the back of top- and bottom-line beats in its latest quarter.

So what

Wednesday morning, Pfizer unveiled its Q2 figures. They revealed that the pharmaceutical sector giant earned revenue of $19 billion, a robust 86% higher than in the same quarter of 2020. Much of this was, of course, due to the BNT162b2 coronavirus vaccine it’s developed with Germany-based BioNTech. But even stripping out the vaccine’s sales from the top line, the company still managed to grow revenue by 10% to $11.1 billion. On average, analysts tracking Pfizer stock were modeling $18.45 billion.

The company notched a more convincing beat with net profit. This also saw quite a leap, as on a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis it increased by 75% to $6.08 billion ($1.07 per share). Those analysts were anticipating $0.96 per share.

Quoted by the company as saying the quarter was “remarkable,” CEO Albert Bourla signaled optimism for the coming years. He and his troops believe Pfizer will be able to hit a 6% compound annual revenue growth rate through 2025. 

Now what

With that powerful quarter behind it, the confident Pfizer has upped its full-year guidance. It now expects $78 billion to $80 billion in revenue (previous estimate: $70.5 billion to $72.5 billion), and adjusted diluted per-share earnings of $3.95 to $4.05 (up from $3.55 to $3.65).

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why the Pfizer share price shot higher on Wednesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Eric Volkman 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.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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If you’re interested in adding a tech share or two to your portfolio, then you may want to look at the two listed below.

These two ASX tech shares have been rated as buys and tipped to grow strongly over the long term. Here’s why they could be excellent options:

Nitro Software Ltd (ASX: NTO)

The first ASX tech share to look at is Nitro Software. It is a software company that is aiming to drive digital transformation in organisations around the world via its Nitro Productivity Suite. This product provides integrated PDF productivity and electronic signature tools to customers.

Demand for its offering continues to grow thanks to its quality and a number of positive industry tailwinds. This includes the global shift to remote and digital work, which is being accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week Nitro released its second quarter update and revealed a 56% increase in its annualised recurring revenue (ARR) to US$33.8 million. This puts it on track to achieve its FY 2021 guidance for ARR of between US$39 million and US$42 million.

Bell Potter is very positive on the company. In response to its update, this morning the broker retained its buy rating and lifted its price target to $4.00.

WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC)

Another ASX tech share to consider is WiseTech Global. It is a leading developer and provider of software solutions to the logistics execution industry globally. At the last count, the company had over 17,000 customers, including 41 of the top 50 global third-party logistics providers and all of the 25 largest global freight forwarders worldwide. Its flagship platform, CargoWise, forms an integral link in the global supply chain and executes over 60 billion data transactions annually.

WiseTech Global appears well-placed to continue its growth long into the future. This is thanks to its high quality platform, strong market position, and growing freight volumes globally. It also looks set to benefit from its customers making acquisitions, which is expected to lead to increased usage from existing customers.

Earlier this week analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded the company’s shares to an outperform rating with a $34.00 price target. The broker believes COVID-19 has structurally benefitted its CargoWise proposition. In addition, Credit Suisse is confident its FY 2021 result will be strong and expects positive guidance for FY 2022.

The post 2 excellent ASX tech shares named as buys 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. owns shares of and has recommended WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended WiseTech Global. 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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Despite some pullback in the past week, all the major indices, including the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), are still at or near historic highs.

The ASX 200 is up a whopping 54% since the trough of the COVID-19 crash in March last year.

And according to Marcus Today director Marcus Padley, incredibly the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) has doubled over that same period.

“Even ignoring the pandemic, the S&P 500 has returned a compound 20.0%pa since the high BEFORE the pandemic,” he said in his newsletter.

“It is up 29.5% in 1.4 years not including the pandemic.”

The American market, which the ASX 200 often follows, is now trading at its highest price-to-earnings ratio (30.4) since the dot-com boom in the late 1990s.

‘Chickens are for slaughter’

So is it time to pull our money out of shares? Is it all going to come crashing down, as it does occasionally?

Padley recommended investors hold firm.

“Do not sell. Do not go all Chicken Little over a few statistics,” he said. 

“Chickens are for slaughter and I abhor the chickens that sit on the sidelines and wag a finger at other people taking risk and making money.”

Padley remembered “a wise old adviser” at Bell Potter criticising colleagues for investing in shares during the dot-com boom.

“And he was right. It was a house of cards,” said Padley.

“But all he did was deny all his clients one of the best money-making opportunities in stock market history. So let’s not get on a high horse.”

Do not sell because ASX 200 shares are going up

The bears are basing their convictions on “a predictably weak-brained mean reversion assumption”, according to Padley.

“It’s gone up so it must come down. Not true. You do not sell because things are going up.”

What the historic-high indices do indicate is that conditions are ripe for “the herd” to quickly change its mood.

“The US equity market (which will lead any sell-off) is expensive, it’s overbought but it’s not a sell until the herd thinks it has had enough,” said Padley.

“But with the US markets floated on central bank money and, who knows,… this could go on for years.”

He implored investors to try not to predict when a correction is coming, but simply be aware when it comes.

“Let’s not be smarter than the herd. Let’s just be on alert for the day it changes its mind because, from up here, it could… easily and quickly,” said Padley.

“The air is thin and it’s a lot easier to pass out at altitude.”

The post Yes, share markets are high. But don’t sell appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo 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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There are a number of great ASX shares outside of the ASX 20 that could be ones to consider.

Businesses that are smaller tend to have more growth because they are earlier on with their growth journeys. If they are growing revenue and experiencing rising margins then they could be larger businesses in a few years.

Here are two potentially good options to think about:

Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)

Volpara is a leading business in the breast screening space in the US. It offers a suite of products to help women detect breast cancer earlier. The company is increasingly focusing on risk which will help improve the service and outcomes for patients.

The business has made a few acquisitions in recent years that has increased its market share to around 33% of US women who have a breast screening.

A key part of Volpara’s growth plans is that it wants to grow its average revenue per user (ARPU). Its ‘Volpara Breast Platform’ is an important component of that – it includes all products with multiple integrations to make the suite compelling. A lot of new sales are now for two or three products, representing significantly increased ARPU. The relationship with genetics companies is expected to increase that further.

In FY21 the ARPU was US$1.40. In the first quarter of FY22, that had increased to US$1.42, with the average ARPU being US$1.55. Some sites saw ARPU of up to US$5.87.

The ASX share sees opportunities for significant upselling with its customer base, as well as potential acquisition opportunities. Its customer retention rate remains high.

In the first quarter of FY22, subscription-based receipts were up 38% (or 60% in constant currency) to more than NZ$6.1 million.

Australian Ethical Investment Limited (ASX: AEF)

Australian Ethical is another ASX share that may have a lot of growth potential over the coming years.

It’s a fund manager that seeks to provide investors with exposure to businesses that are aligned with their ethics. For example, Australian Ethical looks to invest in businesses that are involved in things like implementing energy efficient technology, generating renewable energy, contributing to a circular economy and achieving medical breakthroughs. However, it avoids businesses involved in activities like fossil fuels.

Australian Ethical is exposed to two growth trends. The first is that there is a growing amount of people who want their investments to be greener. The other trend is that the superannuation pool of money represents a large and growing amount of money that needs to be managed by someone.

The ASX share is seeing its superannuation funds under management (FUM) steadily grow. At the end of June 2021, total FUM had risen by 12% over the quarter and 50% over FY21 to $6.07 billion. Australian Ethical is now managing $3.9 billion of superannuation FUM after seeing net inflows of $610 million over the 2021 financial year.

After including the expected performance fee from the emerging companies fund, Australian Ethical is expecting its underlying profit after tax (UPAT) to be between $10.7 million to $11.2 million. That would represent a mid-point increase of profit of 18% in FY21 compared to FY20.

The Australian Ethical CEO John McMurdo recently said:

We are seeing unprecedented interest and demand for ethical investment as Australians open their eyes to how our products deliver attractive investment returns and make a positive difference in the world. Looking ahead, we expect this growth in ethical investing to accelerate.

The post 2 great ASX shares to think about appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 2 top ASX growth shares reporting strong growth
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• Australian Ethical (ASX:AEF) share price climbs on FUM update

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 Australian Ethical Investment Ltd. and VOLPARA FPO NZ. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended VOLPARA FPO NZ. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Australian Ethical Investment 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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The IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL) share price could be one to watch on Thursday.

This follows the release of the financial services company’s fourth quarter update.

How did IOOF perform?

For the three months ended 30 June, IOOF revealed a $9.4 billion increase in its Funds Under Management, Advice and Administration (FUMA) to $213.3 billion.

This was driven partly by positive market movements of $5.3 billion, which helped offset $1.8 billion of net outflows from its Financial Advice business. Management advised that this outflow was driven largely by the exit of 33 advisers from its self-employed advice business as part of its transformation program.

Also growing was its MLC Assets Under Management and Funds Under Administration (AUM/FUA), which increased $11.4 billion to $301.2 billion. MLC was acquired from National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) at the end of May.

Management commentary

IOOF’s CEO, Renato Mota, was pleased with the quarter and particularly the performance of its Portfolio & Estate Administration business.

He said: “Ongoing positive organic flows into Portfolio & Estate Administration were experienced, achieving quarter-on-quarter positive flows for the last 34 quarters, as well as a positive turnaround in flows into Investment Management during the quarter.”

“The successful completion of the MLC acquisition has transformed our business in terms of size, scale and reach. The ‘new IOOF’ has over $200 billion of funds under administration across its platforms, in excess of $200 billion of investment funds across its multi-manager and direct investment portfolios, and relationships with more than 9,000 financial advisers, supporting more than two million Australians with their retirement and investment decisions.”

“This gives us a strong platform for future growth, including the enhanced ability to attract new FUMA though our extended scale and reach,” he added.

$200 million non-cash impairment

Something that could weigh on the IOOF share price today was news that it will be making a one-off non-cash impairment charge of $200 million.

This one-off non-cash impairment relates to goodwill associated with Shadforth Financial Group, DKN Financial Group, and Bridges Financial Services Group. It primarily reflects the termination of the platform relationship with BT Portfolio Services and the cessation of grandfathered revenue in the advice business.

Importantly, the impairment is a non-cash accounting adjustment and will not impact IOOF’s underlying net profit after tax nor the determination of its final dividend.

The post IOOF (ASX:IFL) share price on watch following Q4 update 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 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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August 2021 could be a good month to consider some high-quality exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

There might be some really good options to consider for the long-term because of their underlying holdings that may have good growth potential.

Here are two that may be worth thinking about:

iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV)

This is an ETF that is offered by Blackrock, one of the world’s biggest fund managers. This investment also happens to be one of the cheapest on the ASX, with an annual management fee of just 0.04%. That means almost all of the gross returns turn into net returns.

Those returns have been very good over the last five years, with an average return per annum of 17.2%. Though, past performance shouldn’t be seen as a reliable indicator of future performance.

How has the ETF managed to do so well? An ETF can only perform as well as its underlying holdings. With this investment, many of the world’s best technology businesses are the biggest holdings, which means they have the biggest influence on the ETF’s overall returns.

Those high-quality portfolio names include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet, Tesla and Nvidia. Many of these businesses are changing the way we work, learn or entertain ourselves.

Of course, there’s more to the portfolio than just a few tech giants. Names like Berkshire Hathaway, Visa, PayPal, Home Depot, Mastercard, Walt Disney and Adobe are just some of the other positions.

As one of my American Fool colleagues pointed out, during the 2020 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder’s meeting, Warren Buffett said that “for most people, the best thing to do is to own the S&P 500 index fund.”

The S&P 500 offers plenty of diversification with 500 names across multiple sectors. But technology gets the biggest allocation.

VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF (ASX: ESPO)

This investment is a much more concentrated idea.

It is focused on the video gaming and e-sports industry. The ETF provides that exposure with 26 positions that are involved with gaming in some way whether it’s game development, e-sports, hardware or software.

The portfolio names come from a number of different places with the US (43.2%), China (19.5%) and Japan (18%) being the three countries with weightings of more than 10%.

Video gaming businesses have growing revenue at double digits for a number of years. Regions like Africa and Asia are contributing a sizeable amount of that revenue and growth.

E-sports in-particular has led to a lot of new potential revenue streams such as game publisher fees, media rights, merchandise, ticket sales and advertising. E-sports revenue has grown by an average of 28% each year since 2015. The competitive video gaming audience is expected to reach 646 million people globally in 2023.

The post 2 top ETFs that might be buys in August 2021 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 has recommended VanEck Vectors ETF Trust – VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF and iShares Trust – iShares Core S&P 500 ETF. 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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