Tag: Motley Fool

At the small end of the Australian share market, there are a number of companies with the potential to grow significantly in the future.

Two that investors might want to get better acquainted with are listed below. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8)

The first small cap share to look at is Audinate. It is the digital audio-visual networking technologies provider behind the hugely popular and industry-leading Dante audio over IP networking solution. Dante is used widely across the professional live sound, commercial installation, and recording industries globally.

The quality of the product is ahead of the competition by such a distance that there are now more than 3,000 different products incorporating Dante for audio-over-IP connectivity. This makes it the protocol of choice in more than 91% of the networked audio products currently available. This bodes well for the company’s future growth in a niche but lucrative market.

At the end of last month, analysts at Morgan Stanley retained their overweight rating and $10.00 price target on the company’s shares.

Serko Ltd (ASX: SKO)

Another small cap to look at is Serko. It is the online travel booking and expense management provider behind the Zeno Travel corporate travel tool and the Zeno Expense platform.

Zeno Travel provides AI-powered end-to-end travel itineraries, cost control and travel policy compliance to corporate customers. Whereas Zeno Expense allows users to automate and streamline the expense administration function, identify out-of-policy expense claims, and prevent fraud.

Given its exposure to travel markets, demand for its offering has inevitably fallen during the pandemic. However, with travel markets beginning to recover, Serko has also reported big improvements in its performance.

Looking ahead, Serko looks well-positioned to benefit from the travel market recovery and also its significant deal with travel giant Booking.com.

Macquarie is a fan of the company. Last week it retained its outperform rating and lifted its price target to NZ$8.31 (A$7.74). Due to its world class technology, Macquarie believes Serko is well placed as corporate travel continues to recover. It also notes that its growth opportunities are compelling.

The post 2 excellent small cap ASX shares to watch very closely appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 2 small cap ASX tech shares to watch
• 3 growing small cap ASX shares to watch
• 3 exciting small cap ASX shares to watch in 2021
• 2 exciting ASX tech shares that could be buys
• The 6-bagger ASX share that I now regret selling: fundie

James Mickleboro does not own any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AUDINATEGL FPO and Serko Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AUDINATEGL FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Serko Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3uXAFJI

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) is giving its employees two paid half-days off work to get vaccinated against COVID-19. While the news is likely being welcomed by the company’s workers, it hasn’t boosted the Westpac share price today.

Shares in each of the big four banks have had a rough day on the ASX.

At close, shares in Westpac were trading for $26.63 – 0.89% less than last session’s closing price.

Let’s take a look at Westpac’s new incentive for its employees to get vaccinated.

Paid time off to get the jab

Westpac announced its employees will be able to take paid half days off work for COVID-19 vaccinations, effective today.

Westpac’s CEO Peter King commented on the new incentive:

Getting people vaccinated is key to protecting our family and friends should further outbreaks occur, as well as opening up the economy and returning to a more normal way of life. While vaccination is a personal decision and employees should seek personal medical advice, we want to do everything we can to encourage employees to roll up their sleeve and get the jab.

Additionally, King said Westpac is interested in running a corporate COVID-19 vaccination program if it becomes a possibility.

National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB)’s CEO Ross McEwan had also flagged NAB’s interest in a corporate vaccination program. In April, McEwan told a parliamentary committee he received a COVID-19 vaccination at work. He said NAB would like to allow its employees to do the same.

Other corporate incentives

Westpac is the latest ASX-listed company providing incentives to get vaccinated.

Last week, Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN)’s CEO Alan Joyce announced the airline will offer vaccinated Australians the chance to win a year’s free travel for themselves and their family.

Joyce said:

I’m encouraging a ‘Team Australia’ moment where every corporate out there helps with this vaccine rollout and to reward people who have had the vaccine.

Last month, Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly said incentivising Australians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 could be a possibility. When asked if offering discounts, merchandise, or cash lotteries could help motivate Australians to get the jab, Kelly said:

I think we really do need to look for incentives, as many incentives as we can, for people to become vaccinated.

Westpac share price snapshot

Aside from today’s poor performance, the Westpac share price has been performing well on the ASX lately.

Currently, the Westpac share price is 37% higher than it was at the start of 2021. It’s also gained 42% since this time last year.

The post Westpac (ASX:WBC) gives its employees paid time off to get COVID jabs appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 drops, Altium soars, Skycity drops, NAB falls
• Broker tips Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price to keep on rising
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are on the move today
• Why Flight Centre, Mesoblast, NAB, & SkyCity shares are sinking
• Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price suffers as drug smuggling claims surface

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 

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

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3pqym0B

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped by 0.2% today to 7,282 points.

Here are some of the highlights from the ASX:

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

The Altium share price soared today, rising around 40% after receiving a takeover bid from Autodesk.

Altium confirmed the offer was non-binding, indicative and unsolicited from the US software business which offers products and services for a wide variety of industries.

The offer was $38.50 per share.

Altium’s board said that it appreciated the interest expressed by Autodesk, which had evolved from a dialogue about a strategic partnership.

However, the board considered the proposal significantly undervalued Altium’s prospects and therefore rejected the proposal at the current price.

Altium said that it has a unique position in the electronics ecosystem and in the past unsolicited acquisition interest has developed from partnership dialogues with others in the ecosystem. The board will engage with interested parties in the context of an appropriate valuation for Altium and it will continue to review all potential strategic alternatives for the company.

The ASX 200 share’s board has confidence in pursuing the company’s transformation strategy for the electronics industry and to achieve its 2025 financial goals. Altium said that after successfully pivoting to the cloud, it’s well positioned to pursue market dominance and industry transformation. The cloud platform is turning Altium’s business model from maintenance-based subscription to a capability-based software as a service (SaaS) subscription.  

National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB)

The NAB share price fell around 3% today after giving investors an update relating to AUSTRAC.

AUSTRAC said that it has identified “serious concerns” with NAB’s compliance with the anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) laws.

Those concerns have been referred to AUSTRAC’s enforcement team, which has initiated a formal enforcement investigation into the ASX 200 bank share.

In the letter to NAB, AUSTRAC stated it has not made any decision about whether or not enforcement action would be taken. AUSTRAC said, at this stage, it is not considering civil penalty proceedings and that this decision is “reflective of the work undertaken” by NAB to date.

AUSTRAC has a number of enforcement options available to it, including civil penalty orders, enforceable undertakings, infringement notices and remedial directions.

NAB CEO Ross McEvan said:

NAB takes its financial crime obligations seriously. We are very aware that need to further improve our performance in relation to these maters. We have been working to improve and clearly have more to do.

NAB has an important role in monitoring and reporting suspicious activity and keeping Australia’s financial system, our bank and our customers safe.

It is a key priority for everyone at NAB to uplift our financial crime capabilities, minimise risk to customers and the bank, and improve operational performance. That’s why we are so focused on getting the basics right every time to protect our customers and our bank.

NAB said since June 2017, it has invested around $800 million as part of its program to uplift financial crime and fraud controls.

SKYCITY Entertainment Group Limited (ASX: SKC)

The SkyCity share price dropped around 6.5% today after it also announced AUSTRAC action.

AUSTRAC said that it has also identified potential serious non-compliance by SkyCity Adelaide regarding anti-money laundering laws and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF). It was also announced that Crown Resort Ltd’s (ASX: CWN) Crown Perth and Star Entertainment Group Ltd’s (ASX: SGR) Star Sydney face similar AUSTRAC concerns.

The potential serious non-compliance by SkyCity Adelaide includes concerns relating to ongoing customer due diligence adopting and maintaining an AML/CTF program and compliance with part A of that program.

These concerns have been identified in the course of a compliance assessment, which AUSTRAC commenced in September 2019, focusing on SkyCity Adelaide’s management of customers identified as high risk and politically exposed persons.

AUSTRAC has made it clear it has not made a decision regarding the appropriate regulatory response that may apply, including whether or not enforcement action will be taken.

The post ASX 200 drops, Altium soars, Skycity drops, NAB falls appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These ASX shares just got hit with a broker downgrade today
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are on the move today
• Why Flight Centre, Mesoblast, NAB, & SkyCity shares are sinking
• Do higher interest rates look more likely than ever now?
• Star (ASX:SGR) share price latest to fall on anti-money laundering investigation

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 Altium. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Altium. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3pt9BRk

There are many ASX exchange-traded funds (ETFs) out there that are popular with investors.

You have your classic index funds, such as the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS). There are also your ETFs that follow more specific, or thematic investments, such as the BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK).

The iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV) falls into the former group. But instead of tracking ASX shares, it follows the US S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP: .INX), which follows 500 of the largest public companies over in the United States. If you can think of an American company, be that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) or Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE), it’s probably in this index, and ETF.

We take a closer look at why this ETF could be a buy today.

Low management fee

This ETF charges a management fee of 0.04% per annum – one of the lowest on the entire ASX. That fee represents an annual cost of $4 for every $10,000 invested. Fees that ETFs and managed funds charge can take a serious chunk out of your long-term returns. As such, it’s usually a good idea to try and minimise these. For example, there will be a big difference in your net wealth if you choose a fund with a management fee of 0.1% than one with 1% if both funds generate an equal gross return.

Diversification

Because this ETF invests in 500 companies, it can provide some meaningful diversification to an ASX share portfolio, especially one holding mostly ASX blue-chip shares. Not only that, many of the companies that the S&P 500 holds are truly global businesses like Apple, Netflix, Nike or Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F). As such, there is far less exposure to just the US economy than you might think. This can be a very useful way of juicing up a portfolio’s diversity.

Performance

Past performance is, of course, no future indicator of future returns. However, this ETF has been a very lucrative investment to own over the past few years. In fact, investors have enjoyed an average return of 15.38% per annum over the past 5 years, and 17.93% over the past 10. Those returns dominate what any ASX index fund has returned over that period, and indeed what many actively-managed funds have returned.

The post 3 reasons the iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX:IVV) could be a buy today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here’s why this ETF could be a top option for ASX investors
• 1 question Netflix has to answer
• 2 ETFs that could be buys today for any ASX share portfolio
• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) share price slips on AMD high-end gaming news
• 2 ASX tech shares that might be buys in June 2021

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Ford and Nike. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Apple, BETA CYBER ETF UNITS, Netflix, and Nike. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: 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 BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple, Netflix, Nike, 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.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3zae1Rm

The Australian share market is home to a large number of companies sharing their profits with shareholders in the form of dividends. This certainly is a big positive given how low interest rates have fallen.

Two ASX dividend shares that offer attractive yields are listed below. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX: CAR)

This auto listings company could be a dividend share to look closely at. Carsales is of course the dominant auto listings company in the ANZ market. It also has a number of operations across the world.

This will soon include the US-based Trader Interactive. Carsales recently announced an agreement to acquire the leading digital marketing solutions and services provider to the commercial truck, recreational vehicle, powersports, and equipment industries.

One broker that is positive on the company’s future is Morgan Stanley. Its analysts currently have an outperform rating and $23.00 price target on its shares. This compares to the latest Carsales share price of $18.90.

Morgan Stanley is also forecasting dividends of 62 cents per share in FY 2021 and 71.6 cents per share in FY 2022. This represents fully franked dividend yields of 3.3% and 3.8%, respectively.

Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)

Another ASX dividend share for investors to look at is this leading toll road operator.

Transurban currently has a portfolio of 17 roads in Australia and four in North America. It also has a significant project pipeline across its networks that could support its growth in the coming years.

And while trading conditions are mixed at the moment due to the pandemic, there have been significant improvements in recent months. For example, during the month of March, Transurban’s monthly traffic was down just 5% compared to the prior corresponding period. This compares to an 11% decline in February.

One broker that is particularly positive on the company is Ord Minnett. Its analysts currently have a buy rating and $16.00 price target on the company’s shares. This compares to the latest Transurban share price of $14.37.

Ord Minnett is forecasting dividends of 37 cents per share in FY 2021 and then 58 cents per share in FY 2022. This will mean yields of 2.6% and 4%, respectively, over the next two years.

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

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX hits 7,300 points for the first time
• When the music stops… the investment bankers stop getting paid!
• 2 ASX dividend shares analysts rate as buys
• 2 buy-rated ASX dividend shares for income investors in June
• How much is Transurban’s (ASX:TCL) dividend worth today?

James Mickleboro does not own any shares 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 Transurban Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended carsales.com Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/2TDIFCs

Move over Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE).

You may be getting the lion’s share of media attention lately. With no small thanks to Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) founder Elon Musk’s penchant for tweeting about you. But other cryptocurrencies have delivered far larger gains over the past week.

How the big names like Dogecoin performed this week

Dogecoin started life as a light-hearted joke with a Shiba Inu mascot as its image. But it’s no laughing matter today.

The Dogecoin price currently stands at 38 cents. While the price is now roughly half of the 74 cents it was trading for as recently as 8 May, it’s still up an eye-popping 7,844% year-to-date. That gives it a market cap of US$48.6 billion (AU$62.7 billion). Certainly, nothing to laugh at.

And Dogecoin has put in a strong week, with the price up 26.6% over the past 7 days.

By comparison Bitcoin (CRYTPO: BTC), the world’s biggest crypto by market cap is up 5.4% in the last full week.

Dogecoin also edged out Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the second largest digital token. Ether has gained 20.2% over 7 days.

All solid returns, to be sure.

But these 2 lesser-known cryptos returned far more.

This week’s top 2 crypto gainers

The best performing crypto over the past week is…drum roll, please… Theta Fuel (CRYPTO: TFUEL).

Theta Fuel is up 58.6% since this time last week. At the current price of 44 cents, Theta Fuel has a market cap of over US$2.4 billion.

And if you’d picked up some Theta Fuel at this time last year, you’d be sitting on a gain of 6,177%.

So what does Theta Fuel do?

According to CoinMarketCap, “TFUEL is the second token on the Theta blockchain that serves as the utility token in decentralised video and data delivery, it also acts as a gas token. This means that it is used to power all operations on the Theta blockchain.”

This week’s number 2 crypto asset is Curve DAO Token (CRYTPO: CRV). Curve is up 55.1% in 7 days, currently trading for US$2.52. That gives it a market cap of US$896 million.

For an insight into what Curve is all about, we turn back to CoinMarketCap, which tells us, “Curve is a decentralised exchange for stablecoins that uses an automated market maker (AMM) to manage liquidity.”

As a handy reminder on the high levels of volatility and risk surrounding cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin, Curve which launched early in 2020, was trading at US$31.38 on 14 August last year. Meaning even with the past week’s hefty gains, it’s still down 92% from those levels.

The post These 2 cryptos are smashing Dogecoin’s 7-day gains appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 3 reasons Dogecoin could head to the moon — Someday
• Electric car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) looks set to move into restaurants
• Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have dropped 50%. What’s going on?
• Why 1 analyst thinks the recent crypto collapse is not so different from 2017
• Crypto is crashing: Is now the time to invest?

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin and Tesla. 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.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3v7mwtz

Adriatic Metals PLC (ASX: ADT) shares finished on a high at the close of trade today, settling 9.8% higher at $2.69 per share. The Adriatic share price peaked at $2.90 mid-afternoon, an all-time high for the miner.

Adriatic Metals share price gets a boost

Investors were driving up the Adriatic Metals share price today after the company announced it has received three new exploration permits. This means the company can now mine more areas in its Vares Project located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Adriatic Metals is the only listed company mining in the country.

The three permits have expanded the area Adriatic Metals can explore by 32 square kilometres.

The permits were first granted in September last year, sending the Adriatic Metals share price soaring 10.7% on the day of its announcement.

What’s next?

Now, Adriatic Metals plans to commence its exploration at the project. Before applying for the permits to explore the area, the company conducted preliminary sampling. The sampling found seven high-priority targets in the newly permitted areas.

Radiometric surveying has also uncovered a large alteration system under the areas the permits have been received for.

Adriatic Metals has also completed magnetic surveys, which have highlighted additional areas of interest within the new permit zones. The company has already been granted permission to mine using invasive exploration techniques, such as drilling and channel sampling.

A scoping study completed at the Vares Project in 2019 found it has a net value estimation of US$917 million.

Adriatic share price snapshot

Shares in Adriatic Metals are having a great year on the ASX, with today’s gains boosting them to a new all-time high.

The Adriatic Metals share price has gained 15.45% since the beginning of 2021. It has also seen a rise of 91.46% since this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $496 million, with 210 million shares outstanding.

The post Why the Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) share price climbed 10% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here’s why the Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) share price is gaining today

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.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/34VN8D8

The big four banks have been out of favour with investors over the last few years due to the Royal Commission and then the COVID-19 pandemic.

Well, it appears fair to say that the banks are well and truly back in favour with investors now. For example, the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price is up a stunning 36% since the start of the year.

That’s a return that a rapidly growing tech share like Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) would be proud of, let alone Australia’s oldest bank.

Can the Westpac share price still go higher?

The good news is that it may not be too late to invest, with one leading broker tipping the Westpac share price to continue its ascent.

According to a note out of Citi from last month, Westpac remains its sole buy in the sector. The broker currently has a buy rating and $29.50 price target on its shares.

Based on the latest Westpac share price, this implies potential upside of 11% over the next 12 months excluding dividends.

And with Citi forecasting dividend yields of approximately 4.4% in FY 2021 and 4.5% in FY 2022, this potential return stretches beyond 15%.

What did Citi say?

Commenting on Westpac’s half year results, the broker said: “The market received WBC’s 1H21 result positively, with core earnings upgrades near-term from a better than expected NIM; and over the medium term, from lower costs. WBC’s target for FY24 costs of $8bn was lower than we anticipated, and management are confident and ambitious.”

“We see many of the building blocks in place for the strategy, even if obvious sensitivities prevent their more fulsome disclosure. The premise of multi-year core earnings upgrades, layered on sector-wide asset quality improvements, leave WBC with a differentiated investment thesis. It remains our sole Buy in a sector that has rallied strongly in the COVID recovery,” it concluded.

Food for thought for investors looking for banking sector options.

The post Broker tips Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price to keep on rising appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX hits 7,300 points for the first time
• When the music stops… the investment bankers stop getting paid!
• Why the Westpac (ASX:WBC) share price just hit a 52-week high
• Westpac (ASX:WBC) board to further consider New Zealand demerger
• 2 ASX dividend shares that could help you beat low interest rates

James Mickleboro owns Westpac shares. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/34S3f4z

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) briefly ticked over 7,300 today for the first time on record. While the big banks and miners were responsible for most of the heavy lifting, these ASX 200 shares have cruised to record all-time highs.

ASX 200 shares making record all-time highs

ARB Corp Ltd (ASX: ARB)

Australia’s largest manufacturer and distributor of 4×4 accessories could be benefitting from some industry tailwinds.

According to Commsec, vehicle sales are bouncing back after COVID-19 induced supply shortages last year. Its report observed that “SUVs and Utes are the wheels of choice, accounting for 8 of the top 10 vehicles sold.”

Taking a broader view, Commsec said that new vehicle sales totalled 100,005 in March, up 22.4% from a year ago.

The ARB share price has run ~11% higher from its February record all-time highs of $40.00. Its shares marked an intraday high of $45.63 and are currently fetching $44.54.

Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)

Goodman has pulled ahead of other ASX-listed REITs today. After an 8-month lull where its share price hovered around the $17 to $19 level, its shave have broke out to record all-time highs this month.

The Goodman share price is up ~5% this month, scoring an intraday record all-time high of $20.77. Its shares have pulled back slightly, currently trading at $20.53.

The last time we heard from Goodman was during its third-quarter update on 7 May. This update included the REIT reaffirming its FY21 guidance of $1.2 billion in operating profit, representing an earnings per share growth of 12% on FY20.

Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX: PME)

The Pro Medicus share price is another ASX 200 share breaking out. Its shares marked an intraday record all-time of $49.81 on Monday and are currently trading at $48.90.

The company’s bullish run has been supported by its continued stream of positive announcements. On 13 May, the company announced an 8-year contract with The University of Vermont Health Network Inc, expected to generate $14 million in revenue. Then on 3 June, the company signed a multi-year research collaboration agreement with Mayo Clinic.

The post ASX 200 shares making record all-time highs today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Best returns in a decade leave experts scrambling to upgrade ASX shares
• $20,000 invested in these ASX shares 10 years ago would be worth how much?
• Why the ARB (ASX:ARB) share price is jumping 7% to a record high
• Why ARB, Humm, Incitec Pivot, & Pro Medicus shares are charging higher
• ASX 200 up 0.1%: Tech shares fall, gold miners tumble

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 Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ARB Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/2T6ZhCd

The Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART) share price was a positive performer on Monday.

At one stage today, the local jobs marketplace provider’s shares were up 5% to $1.20.

When the Airtasker share price reached that level, it meant it was up 85% from its March IPO listing price of 65 cents.

Why did the Airtasker share price charge higher?

With no news out of the company, today’s gain appears to have been driven by a bullish broker note out of Morgans this morning.

According to the note, the broker has upgraded the company’s shares from a neutral rating to an add rating with an improved price target of $1.29.

Based on its Friday’s close, this implied potential upside of just over 13% for the Airtasker share price over the next 12 months.

Why did Morgans upgrade its shares?

Morgans made the move largely on the surprisingly strong progress the company is making in the UK and US markets.

In respect to the latter, the broker notes that there are positive signs of traction in the US market, with tangible evidence of demand picking up. For example, Morgans estimates that there was an average of 225 tasks posted weekly last month across its US business. This was despite Airtasker not spending money on advertising in the lucrative market.

In light of this, it appears pleased with the company’s decision to acquire the US-based Zaarly business recently.

With established operations and user bases in two US cities, the broker believes Zaarly will support the development of a US marketplace.

Is anyone else positive on Airtasker?

As my colleague revealed here last month, the Firetrail Small Companies Fund is also positive on Airtasker.

Firetrail’s equity analyst, Eleanor Swanson, commented on LiveWire: “Users create their own unique tasks and communicate the requirements directly to taskers. The flexibility is valued by both customers and taskers, reflected by the fact that a new task is posted on Airtasker every 17 seconds. In addition, the company is now the number 1 employer of platform workers in Australia, ahead of even Uber!”

“The company aims to reach over 80% brand awareness within the next 2 years. Heightened brand awareness will drive increased market penetration and growth in total transaction value on the marketplace,” she added.

Swanson also highlighted the company’s huge market opportunity globally, which is estimated to be worth $643 billion.

The post Why the Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price charged 5% higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• The Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price has fallen 11% in a month
• These 2 growing ASX shares have upgraded guidance
• ASX 200 rises, TechnologyOne up, Airtasker jumps
• Why the Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price jumped 21% today

James Mickleboro does not own any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Airtasker 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.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3uYbpD0