Tag: Motley Fool

Could the Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ) share price be worth looking at right now?

BOQ is one the largest second tier ASX banks below Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).

What has happened to the BOQ share price recently?

Today, the BOQ share price is down. The lockdowns are ongoing in Sydney and Melbourne. But the share prices of CBA, Westpac, ANZ and NAB are down a little more than BOQ at the time of writing.

BOQ shares are up almost 49% over the last 12 months. However, since March 2021, it hasn’t moved much.

In April 2021, the bank announced its FY21 half-year result. The company revealed growth across a number of areas.

Half-year cash earnings after tax went up 9% to $165 million. Statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) grew by 66% to $154 million. The net interest margin improved by 3 basis points to 1.95%. BOQ’s common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio improved by 12 basis points to 10.03%.

Income-seekers may have noticed that the bank paid an interim dividend of 17 cents per share, which was an increase of 11 cents per share.

At the time of the HY21 result, BOQ said that the economic outlook appears more positive and is showing encouraging signs of improvement. The bank also said it remains committed to sustainable profitable growth, supporting returns to shareholders and a dividend payout ratio target range of 60% to 75% of cash earnings.

The ME Bank acquisition

BOQ recently completed the acquisition of ME Bank for a cash consideration of $1.325 billion.

When the regional bank first announced the deal, it said it would create a compelling alternative to the big banks.

The deal is expected to deliver material scale, broadly doubling the retail bank and providing diversification. Management believe there is a clear pathway to a scale, common, cloud based digital retail bank technology platform.

BOQ believes the deal is financially compelling. It’s expected to be low double-digit to mid-teens accretive for cash earnings per share (EPS). It’s expected to be cash return on equity (ROE) accretive by over 100 basis points including full run-rate synergies in the first year. Anticipated annualised pre-tax synergies are expected to be $70 million to $80 million.

 The BOQ managing director and CEO George Frazis said:

The acquisition of ME Bank is strategically aligned and financially compelling. It further strengthens our multi-brand strategy, delivers material scale, provides portfolio diversification and enables the acceleration of the digital strategy towards a common digital retail bank technology platform.

Is the BOQ share price a buy for dividends?

The brokers at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) believe that BOQ shares are a buy, with a price target of $10. That suggests the BOQ share price could go up over 10% in the next 12 months, if it ends up being correct.

Macquarie believes that BOQ will pay an annual dividend of 37 cents in FY21 and 47 cents in FY22. That translates into a fully franked dividend yield of 4.2% and 5.3% respectively.

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

More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• The Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) share price is having a good year. Here’s why
• The Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) has officially acquired ME Bank
• Bank of Queensland shares outperforming all ASX 200 banks this month
• Why this broker reckons Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) shares are 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 Macquarie 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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The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price is under pressure on Monday.

In afternoon trade, the airline operator’s shares are down 1.5% to $4.64.

Why is the Qantas share price under pressure?

The weakness in the Qantas share price on Monday appears to have been driven by concerns over Australia’s COVID-19 outbreak.

With New South Wales continuing to report high levels of new infections and Victoria extending its lockdown, investors appear to believe the domestic travel market recovery could be further delayed.

Fellow travel shares Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) and Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) are also trading notably lower today.

Is this a buying opportunity?

According to a note out of Citi this morning, its analysts see a lot of value in the Qantas share price at the current level.

This morning the broker retained its buy rating, albeit with a trimmed price target of $5.61.

Based on the current Qantas share price, this implies potential upside of almost 21% over the next 12 months.

What did the broker say?

The broker has been looking into border restrictions and lockdowns. While these will weigh on the company’s performance, Citi believes Qantas will be okay financially if it is just New South Wales that is locked down.

Citi commented: “Given heightened lockdown fears, we attempt to look through the noise and quantify the potential impact of border restrictions. Overall we estimate the relevant number we’ll keep our eye on is ~60% for capacity. At this level we believe EBITDA loses will be manageable, and only minor strain placed on the balance sheet. Theoretically we estimate capacity could remain at this level with just New South Wales locked down. However, the same can’t be said if we go into sustained lockdowns in other major states at the same time.”

In light of this, it is keeping its buy rating on the Qantas share price for the time being. Though, it may reassess its recommendation if things escalate.

The post Top broker still thinks the Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price is great value appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• It hasn’t been a great 2021 so far for the Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price
• Fresh blow to ASX 200 travel shares as Victoria lockdown looms large
• Will the Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price take off soon?
• It has been a big past year for the Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price
• Here are the 5 best ASX transport shares of the 2021 financial year

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 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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The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price is reaching new heights despite a disappointing day for the entire market.

At the time of writing, shares in the retail conglomerate are trading for $59.64 – up 0.88%. Earlier, shares reached an intraday high of $59.68. That’s an all-time record for the company. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), meanwhile, is 0.87% lower today.

While the company hasn’t made any market announcements today, it has been in the news over the past few days. Let’s take a closer look.

Recent market news

On Friday, Wesfarmers took another step in diversifying its already diversified business when its Mt Hollard lithium project in Western Australia received ministerial approval.

Wesfarmers looks intent on cashing in on the lithium boom. The commodity’s price has been surging as demand for the metal increases along with the demand for electric vehicles.

Managing Director Rob Scott said at the time:

The development of the Mt Holland lithium project presents an attractive investment for Wesfarmers shareholders. The project capitalises on our Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers divisions’ chemical processing expertise and Western Australia’s unique position to support growing global demand for electric vehicle battery materials which will make a crucial contribution to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The news sent the Wesfarmers share price higher on that day too.

Also making the rounds recently was the company’s proposed purchase of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).

Wesfarmers made a non-binding, indicative offer to acquire 100% of the Priceline Pharmacy owner for $1.38 cash per share. As Motley Fool previously reported, the offer represented a premium of 21% on its last traded price before news of the takeover bid.

Rob Scott said of the decision to invest in the retail chemist owner:

The combination of Wesfarmers and API is a compelling opportunity to capitalise on API’s strengths and positioning in these markets while drawing upon Wesfarmers’ capabilities in retail and distribution, our strong balance sheet and our willingness to invest in our businesses for growth over the long term.

How about lockdowns?

In this day and age, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on companies is often worth a mention.

Australia’s 2 largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, are both in lockdown to prevent the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus.

Historically, consumer staple and retail shares have done well during lockdown. The theory is stay-at-home order limits people’s options on what they can spend their money on.

Companies that are allowed to stay open and/or can provide pick-up and takeaway services, such as Wesfarmers retail division, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP), and Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) tend to do well in such an environment.

The Wesfarmers share price, as well as Domino’s and Metcash, are all in the green today despite the general market downturn.

Wesfarmers share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Wesfarmers share price has increased around 28%. Year-to-date, the company’s value has risen 18%.

Wesfarmers has a market capitalisation of $67 billion.

The post Why the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price just hit a new all-time high appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• Why is the Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) share price up over 3% today?
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX shakes off lockdowns to rise higher
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell next week
• 2 top ASX shares to buy according to WAM

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 Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Dominos Pizza Enterprises 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 S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a disappointing start to the trading week today. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down 0.81% to 7,288 points.

But let’s dive deeper into the ASX 200 shares that are seeing the heaviest trading volume today:

3 ASX 200 shares that are trading heaviest this Monday

Alumina Limited (ASX: AWC)

Aluminium producer Alumina is our first ASX 200 share to check out today. So far, a hefty 12.54 million Alumina shares have traded hands this Monday. That might be the result of the Alumina share price losing a nasty 3.12% to $1.55 a share so far today.

This share price move might be a result of the company’s quarterly earnings announcement that was released back on Friday morning. This announcement revealed that Alumina’s earnings from both its alumina and bauxite Alcoa divisions fell over the second quarter compared to the previous quarters’ numbers. Investors don’t seem to be impressed.

Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)

ASX 200 gold miner Evolution is our second share to check out today. A sizeable 14.16 million shares have traded on the ASX boards so far. Again, this is probably a direct result of the poor Evolution share price performance so far this Monday. At the time of writing, Evolution is down a painful 9.17% to $4.26 a share.

As my Fool colleague Zach covered this morning, this appears to be a reaction to several brokers downgrading their estimations of Evolution. Investors seem to have taken this to heart, and might be selling Evolution as a result.

Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET)

Yet another ASX 200 share in the wars today is Betmakers, which is also the most heavily traded ASX 200 share so far today. Betmakers shares are currently down 7.65% to 90 cents a share. This move seems to have resulted in a whopping 25.29 million shares changing owners today so far.

Today’s drop in value might be a result of Betmakers’ announcement this morning that one of its directors has entered into a “funding arrangement” with an investment bank, using Betmakers shares as security. This comes after another announcement last Friday, which informed investors that it had updated its partnership with the Waterhouse Group.

The post Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares this Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Altium, Evolution, Oil Search, & SEEK shares are tumbling lower
• 2 defensive ASX 200 shares that brokers rate as ‘buys’ this Monday
• ASX 200 midday update: Altium sinks, Oil Search CEO resigns
• ASX construction shares fall on worksite shutdowns in NSW
• Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) share price downgrade from four brokers

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen 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 Betmakers Technology Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Betmakers Technology Group 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 Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price has started Monday’s session after a week to forget.

Flight Centre shares are now exchanging hands at $14.53, dipping ~2% into the red from the open.

Let’s take a closer look at why investors are unloading the company’s shares.

Lockdowns, lockdowns and more lockdowns…

Flight Centre shares are sliding as investors continue selling shares in the overall ASX travel basket.

Shares in the travel agency have been volatile since the NSW and Victorian governments locked down both Sydney and Melbourne in response to a surge in new COVID-19 cases from the delta variant.

It appears investors are concerned these lockdowns will pose additional headwinds to the travel industry’s recovery.

Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs revised its price targets on the company’s share price on Friday, trimming its forecasts accordingly, Bloomberg LP states.

The revised targets came in at $18.40 a share, an 8% down-step from its previous outlook.

Flight Centre’s share price struggles have come amid a recent surge in travel-related shares that occurred after the recent Sydney Airport takeover bid.

However, since both state governments’ decisions to send their major metropolitan areas into lockdown last week, Flight Centre shares have been punished on the charts.

Since the announcements last week, Flight Centre shares have slipped 5% into the red over the previous five sessions.

By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has climbed 0.14% into the green over this same time frame.

Flight centre share price snapshot

The Flight Centre share price has had a choppy year to date, posting a loss of 8% since January 1.

Despite this performance, its share price has posted a return of 39% over the previous 12 months.

At the time of writing, Flight Centre had a market capitalisation of $2.89 billion.

The post Here’s why the Flight Centre share price is down 5% in the last week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• Fund manager sees Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price as ‘golden’ opportunity
• Broker says Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price weakness is a buying opportunity
• Why Flight Centre, PolyNovo, Vulcan, & Zip shares are sinking
• Fresh blow to ASX 200 travel shares as Victoria lockdown looms large

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 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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This morning, I launched the second in our semi-regular investor challenges.

Called the #Investor5DayChallenge, the aim is simple: don’t check your portfolio for a week.

Why?

Well, because if you’re a long-term investor (a phrase that Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner rightly believes should be considered a tautology), there’s nothing for you in doing so.

And probably harm.

See, if you’re investing with a time horizon of 3, 5, 10 or 20 years, your returns will owe much, much more to the quality of the businesses you invest in, and almost nothing to daily movements.

Woolworths group Ltd (ASX: WOW), which listed at around $2, is now not far from $40 per share.

Do you know what happened in the second week of February, 1998?

Me either.

Do you reckon it mattered, on the way to $40?

Me either.

CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) shares went from $5 to $280 over the past 22 years.

Do you reckon anyone who held those shares cares whether they were up or down in 5 consecutive days in 2003? Or 2016? Or 2020?

Me either.

See, that’s the point.

If you’d been obsessing over the share price of Woolies or CSL, minute-by-minute, day-by-day, week-by week, month-by-month… don’t you reckon there’s even the smallest chance that a 1%, 5% or 10% fall might have scared you into selling?

If you’d seen Woolies go from $40 to $20 a couple of years ago, might you have been tempted to declare ‘the show is over’ and sell your shares?

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) (I own shares) famously went from (a split-adjusted) $3 to $100 and back to $9.

Now? It’s over $3,500 per share.

What did the market have to teach you about Woolies? CSL? Amazon?

Or, let me ask this a different way:

Do you do a straw poll of your neighbours and colleagues every morning, before deciding what mood you’re in?

Do you check again, a dozen times a day, just in case they’ve changed their minds?

Of course not.

So why do it with shares?

In case the price falls?

Really?

What would that tell you? When Amazon fell from $200 to $180, was the market telling you to sell?

Maybe.

And you would have been very, very poorly served, had you listened.

Repeat after me: The market has nothing to tell us, other than how it feels.

And that’s a terrible way to make investing decisions.

So go on — join the #Investor5DayChallenge.

Click the video below to find out more, and to take the challenge!

Speaking of learning more, here’s a question I received last week:

“Hi Scott, I’ve just started investing, I’m 28 years old and have dived into ETFs for my daughters future instead of using savings accounts from banks in today’s climate. Do you have any tips or advice for a new investor like myself.”

Firstly, onya!

No, seriously. Getting started can be a big barrier for many — maybe most — people.

Biting the bullet and getting started might well be more than half the battle, to be honest.

The longer you do it, and the more you can save and invest, the better off you’ll be.

So, congratulations — you and your daughters will almost certainly (the regulator — rightly — doesn’t allow people like me to write in absolutes) be much, much better off for the decision!

Speaking of regulators, I’m also not allowed to tell *you* what you should do. That would be personal advice.

But I’m allowed to speak in generalities, as long as you make sure you consider how the advice pertains to your circumstances.

In some sort of order then:

1. Make sure that ‘start’ turns into reality. Fill out those forms. Make your first deposit into the linked savings account. Buy those first shares. Just — as Nike says — do it!

2. Don’t obsess over your first purchases. You’ll get it wrong sometimes, I promise. Me too. Try to be roughly right, as often as you can. But don’t let the quest for perfection stop you. Perfect really can — as my boss Bruce says — be the enemy of the good… or the great!

3. Diversify. An ETF or two is a great start. It can be a great finish, too, if that’s all you want to do, or you can start to add individual company shares, over time.

4. Expect the journey to be volatile. Share prices zig and zag. Some days, weeks, months and years will be terrible. Some will be wonderful. You can’t avoid volatility, so make your peace with it.

5. Add anyway. The best advantage any investor can have is time. The next best advantage is regular saving. If the market is up, you’re making money. If the market is down, you get to make your next purchase at discount prices.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is this awesome chart from Vanguard.

The crashes that felt like huge deals at the time? They’re almost unnoticeable with the benefit of hindsight.

Remember that when the going gets tough.

Congratulations on getting started. Your daughters might not know it yet, but on top of all of the more important parts of being a great parent, you’re setting them up for financial success, too — and teaching them the power of investing at the same time.

Just do me one favour: Once you’re set up, pay it forward to some other new parents!

Thanks!

The post I’m investing for my kids. Any advice? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Polynovo (ASX:PNV) share price bounces off 10-month lows, up 3% today
• These ASX 200 healthcare shares are holding up in today’s sea of red
• Why is the Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) share price up over 3% today?
• Why CSL, Humm, IntelliHR, & Vulcan shares are pushing higher
• The CSL (ASX:CSL) share price is down 9% in a month, here’s why

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor Scott Phillips owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Amazon and CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2022 $1,920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1,940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon. 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) is on course to start the week with a sizeable decline. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 0.8% to 7,288.7 points.

Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are tumbling lower:

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

The Altium share price is down 2% to $35.82. This morning the electronic design software company’s shares were down as much as 14% amid reports that it rejected another takeover approach from Autodesk. This reportedly led to the US software giant giving up in its quest to acquire the company. However, Altium has responded to the speculation, stating that it has not received any further offer from Autodesk.

Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)

The Evolution share price has crashed 9% to $4.24. Investors have been selling this gold miner’s shares after brokers responded negatively to its recent strategy update. One of those brokers was Macquarie. According to a note, its analysts have downgraded the gold miner’s shares to an underperform rating with a $4.00 price target. Macquarie notes that Evolution’s costs and capital expenditure outlook is much higher than expected.

Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH)

The Oil Search share price is down 5% to $3.67. This morning the energy producer revealed that its CEO Dr Keiran Wulff has resigned for health reasons. Oil Search advised that he has been managing a long-term medical condition which has recently deteriorated. In addition to this, the company notes that it had been in discussions with Dr Wulff following the receipt of recent concerns and complaints about his behaviour.

SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK)

The SEEK share price has fallen 3% to $30.67. Investors have been selling the job listings company’s shares following the release of a broker note out of Goldman Sachs. That note reveals that its analysts have downgraded SEEK’s shares to a sell rating with an improved price target of $30.80. The broker made the move on an uncertain ad volume outlook and elevated valuation.

The post Why Altium, Evolution, Oil Search, & SEEK shares are tumbling lower appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Oil Search (ASX:OSH) share price slides on shock leadership change
• Altium (ASX:ALU) share price bounces back after responding to media speculation
• ASX 200 midday update: Altium sinks, Oil Search CEO resigns
• Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) share price downgrade from four brokers
• Why the Altium (ASX:ALU) share price is crashing 14% on Monday

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of SEEK Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Altium. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Altium. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended SEEK 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 Polynovo Ltd (ASX: PNV) share price is catching a break today after sliding as much as 26.95% in July.

At the time of writing, shares in the medical devices company are up 2.67% to $2.11.

Polynovo stumbles to a 10-month low

2021 is shaping up to be a miserable year for Polynovo shareholders, with the company’s shares down 46% year-to-date.

The Polynovo share price began struggling in January when the company’s shares tumbled 32% following a disappointing half-year trading update.

The update looked good at face value, highlighting a 31% increase in 1H21 sales against the prior corresponding period.

However, back in November 2020, management said that “we continue to harness this [FY20] momentum to double our revenues again in FY21”.

With an underpromise and overdeliver narrative taking place, brokers were also quick to flag disappointing results that were “well below our forecasts, consensus and management expectations”.

Last Tuesday, Polynovo released a fourth quarter and FY21 market update.

The initial market reaction was positive, with the Polynovo share price rallying 4.62% to $2.49 on the day.

However, over the next three sessions, Polynovo shares would slide 17.27% to a close of $2.06 last Friday.

Bell Potter was quick to criticise Polynovo’s fourth quarter and FY21 update, saying: “Today’s announcement came as a 13% miss vs our expectations – we expected COVID recovery tailwinds would make an impact on sales in the 2H.”

Broader healthcare gains lift the Polynovo share price on Monday

Despite a sea of red for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), the healthcare sector is picking up the slack with gains across the board.

There has been broad buying across the healthcare sector, with names including CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SHL) and Resmed CDI (ASX: RMD) rallying 2.34%, 1.61% and 2.64% respectively.

While the Polynovo share price has joined in on the rally today, it has a lot of catching up to do.

The post Polynovo (ASX:PNV) share price bounces off 10-month lows, up 3% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These ASX 200 healthcare shares are holding up in today’s sea of red
• Why is the Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) share price up over 3% today?
• Why CSL, Humm, IntelliHR, & Vulcan shares are pushing higher
• Why the Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) share price hit an all-time high today
• ASX 200 midday update: Altium sinks, Oil Search CEO resigns

Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun 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 CSL Ltd. and POLYNOVO FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended ResMed. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ResMed Inc. and Sonic Healthcare 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 Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is in the green today, amid a sea of red.

Right now, shares in Afterpay are up 1.25%, trading for $104.50 a piece.

That gain is particularly impressive given the broader market’s struggles today.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) are currently down 0.83% and 0.90% respectively.

Afterpay’s shareholders will be particularly relieved the company’s share price is in the green after its disastrous stint last week.

Let’s take a look at what’s been up with Afterpay lately.

On the road to recovery?

The Afterpay share price dropped 12.2% last week as news of its potentially increasing competition hit headlines.

The ASX buy now, pay later (BNPL) giant faced an incredibly grim day on Wednesday after news of BNPL services from Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) started swirling.

First off the bat was Apple.

The technology monolith didn’t officially announce anything on Wednesday. However, reports were published in the media detailing a BNPL offering being planned by Apple.

Apple is reportedly working on a new service that would allow Apple Pay users to pay for their purchases in instalments. It’s said that Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) will fund the service.

Next, PayPal threw the Afterpay share price a curveball.

PayPal announced its BNPL service won’t charge Australian users late fees.

Unlike Paypal, Afterpay charges its users $10 for missing a payment and another $7 if that payment isn’t made within a week of its due date.

The Afterpay share price fell a massive 9.7% on Wednesday. It then fell another 2% and 1.3% on Thursday and Friday respectively.

Afterpay’s biggest ASX-listed competitor Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) was also hit hard. It fell 14.1% over the course of the week.

Afterpay share price snapshot

Last week’s disruptions did a number to Afterpay.

It’s currently 11.8% lower than it was at the start of 2021. However, it’s 50.8% higher than it was this time last year.

The post Finally, some good news for the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) share price up over 3% today?
• Here’s why Apple stock has room to run higher
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX shakes off lockdowns to rise higher
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• How has the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price responded to competition in the past?

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. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO, Apple, PayPal Holdings, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2022 $75 calls on PayPal Holdings, long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple and PayPal Holdings. 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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At the start of each week I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) has seen its short interest rise to 11.3%, making it the most shorted ASX share. Concerns over extended lockdowns and border restrictions have been weighing heavily on this online travel agent’s shares.
• Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) has short interest of 10.9%, which is down slightly week on week. Short sellers don’t appear to believe recent lockdowns will boost sales enough to help Kogan recover meaningfully quicker from its inventory issues.
• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has seen its short interest rebound to 9.6%. As with Webjet, the recent lockdowns in Australia are delaying the travel market recovery and pushing back Flight Centre reaching profitability.
• Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING) has 8.8% of its shares held short, which is flat week on week once again. The poultry company has a major contract renewal with a supermarket giant due in August.
• Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) has short interest of 8.45%, which is up week on week. Apple’s potential entry into the BNPL market and PayPal’s removal of late fees has investors worried.
• Tassal Group Limited (ASX: TGR) has short interest of 8.2%, which is up week on week. Short sellers are not giving up on this one despite salmon prices being tipped to improve.
• Electro Optic Systems Hldg Ltd (ASX: EOS) has 8% of its shares held short, which is down slightly week on week. Supply chain and cash flow concerns appear to be weighing on investor sentiment.
• Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) has seen its short interest ease to 7.5%. Short sellers have been going after this ecommerce company since it announced plans to sacrifice margins to grow market share.
• A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) has seen its short interest rise to 7.3%. Short sellers have been increasing their positions in recent weeks. This appears to be due to the belief that the worst is not yet over for the embattled infant formula company.
• Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) is back in the top ten with 6.4% of its shares held short. Although the wholesale distributor has been in fine form recently, short sellers don’t appear to believe this will continue. This could be due to the belief the consumer behaviour will revert back to less favourable trends in the near future.

The post These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) share price up over 3% today?
• Fund manager sees Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price as ‘golden’ opportunity
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX shakes off lockdowns to rise higher
• 3 ASX shares growing at a rapid rate
• The A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price is up 17% in the last month, here’s why

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 Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited, Kogan.com ltd, Temple & Webster Group Ltd, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited, Kogan.com ltd, and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended A2 Milk, Flight Centre Travel Group Limited, and Temple & Webster Group 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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