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Are you interested in growth shares? Three to look closely at are listed below.

All three have been growing strongly in recent years and look well-placed for more of the same during the 2020s. Here’s what you need to know about these ASX growth shares:

Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)

The first ASX growth share to look at is Megaport. It is an elasticity connectivity and network services company. The company utilises software defined networking (SDN) to allow customers to rapidly connect their network to other services across the Megaport Network. This means that services can be directly controlled by customers via mobile devices, their computer, or its open API.

Demand has been strong, leading to Megaport growing at a rapid rate over the last few years. The good news is that this is continuing in FY 2021 thanks to the ongoing shift to the cloud. Last month it released its third quarter update and revealed an 8% quarter on quarter increase in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) to $6.8 million.

Pushpay Holdings Group Ltd (ASX: PPH)

Another growth share to look at is Pushpay. It is a leading donor management and community engagement platform provider for the faith sector. Pushpay has been growing at a rapid rate in recent years thanks to the accelerating digitisation of the church, the shift to a cashless society, and the overall quality of its offering.

This strong form continued in FY 2021, with Pushpay recently reporting another impressive full year result. For the 12 months ended 31 March, Pushpay delivered a 40% increase in operating revenue to US$179.1 million and a 133% increase in EBITDAF to US$58.9 million. This was well-ahead of its original guidance, which was upgraded three times during the year. Positively, management is forecasting further growth in FY 2022 and is planning to expand into a new market.

Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW)

A third ASX growth share to look at is Temple & Webster. It is Australia’s leading online furniture and homewares retailer. Temple & Webster has been growing at a rapid rate in recent years but particularly during the pandemic. This was driven by the accelerating shift to online shopping.

The good news is that online furniture shopping is still in its infancy in comparison to both other areas of the retail market and other Western markets. This bodes well for the future, especially given Temple & Webster’s leadership position. Management is now investing heavily to take advantage of the shift and cement its position as the market leader.

More reading

• 3 reasons why the Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) share price could be a buy
• These are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX
• 2 ASX shares that could be worth looking at this weekend
• 3 reasons why the Pushpay (ASX:PPH) share price might be a buy
• 2 highly rated ASX growth shares

The post 3 ASX shares growing at a rapid rate appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) share price might be one to watch on Wednesday.

This follows the release of an announcement just before the market close today.

What did EML release?

This afternoon EML released a response to a series of questions from the ASX Ltd (ASX: ASX) relating to a recent announcement regarding its European operations.

In case you missed it, last week the company revealed that the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) has concerns over the company’s PFS Card Services (Ireland) (PCSIL) business in relation to Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terrorism Financing compliance.

Given that 27% of its total revenue is derived from this business and the CBI could take away its licence, the market panicked and the EML share price crashed significantly lower.

What did it say today?

The Australian share market regulator quizzed the company on the timing of the announcements and whether it had known about the concerns earlier.

The response reveals that the Irish business received the letter from the CBI late in the evening on Thursday 13 May (Australian time) and then senior managers at EML met Friday morning to discuss the matter.

However, unfortunately for any investors that bought shares on Friday 14 May, urgent legal advice wasn’t obtained until Friday evening (Australia time), meaning a trading halt wasn’t requested until Monday morning after the EML board met.

EML explained:

“PCSIL received the CBI’s letter at 11:12pm on Thursday evening, 13 May 2021 (Australian time). The letter was preceded by a call with the CBI at 10:00pm on Thursday evening, 13 May 2021 (Australian time). The call was attended by senior managers of PCSIL, including an executive director.”

“EML’s Group Chief Risk Officer also attended the 10:00pm call and was sent a copy of the letter at 11:12pm. PCSIL’s executive director provided a copy of the letter to EML at 12:37am on Friday morning, 14 May 2021 (Australian time). The letter was provided as an attachment to a calendar invitation for a meeting to be held at 6:30am on Friday morning, 14 May 2021 (Australian time). The calendar invitation was sent to senior managers of EML, including EML’s Managing Director and Group CEO.”

“The Board of EML was informed of, and provided with a copy of, the CBI’s letter on Saturday, 15 May 2021. The Board met on the morning of Monday, 17 May 2021, and the company requested a trading halt prior to the market opening while it considered the Information and prepared an ASX announcement.

EML released its ASX announcement, lifting the trading halt, on the morning of Wednesday 19 May 2021 (Australian time), before trading on the ASX commenced.”

No update has been provided in relation to its dealings with the central bank. Shareholders will have an anxious wait for that one.

More reading

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• ASX 200 up 0.1%: Aristocrat results, Zip’s global expansion continues
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week
• These were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week
• ASX 200 rises, Kogan sinks, EML soars

The post EML Payments (ASX:EML) share price on watch after responding to ASX query appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price has inched closer to that elusive $100 a share milestone today. Fittingly, Australia’s largest bank is ‘flying’ to new heights after it placed a big bet on Melbourne start-up, Little Birdie.

At the time of writing, the Commonwealth Bank share price is 0.88% higher to $99.63 a share.

Setting records before even taking flight

Little Birdie is the brainchild of successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, Gabby and Hezi Leibovich. After selling Catch Group to Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) for $200 million in 2019, the brothers got working on their next venture.

The little company with big plans sees itself being the homepage for online shoppers. With over 70 million products to flick through, compare, and also share. But before Little Birdie has even launched, it’s setting new records.

Significantly, the ASX’s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank pledged $30 million into the e-commerce company’s latest funding round. That makes it the largest funding round for an Australian start-up before launching a product. As a result, Little Birdie is now valued at $130 million – with CBA taking a 23% stake.

What’s in it for ASX’s Commonwealth Bank?

The biggest Aussie bank isn’t just investing in Little Birdie, it’s bringing it on board. That’s right, in the not-too-distant future, 11 million CBA customers will open their mobile banking app and have Little Birdie right there – ready to go.

Group Executive of retail banking, Angus Sullivan said:

Leveraging CommBank’s Customer Engagement Engine, customers will have access to data-driven personalised offers that are exclusive to CommBank customers and based on their spending habits via the CommBank app.

It will be interesting to see whether CommBank’s own buy now pay later (BNPL) installment offering will be directly embedded into Little Birdie on launch. Or, whether Klarna will make an appearance, considering the bank’s investment in the Swedish BNPL competitor.

An official launch of Little Birdie is slated for mid-June. A positive reception on launch might just be the final nudge for the Commonwealth Bank share price to break $100.

More reading

• Here are the US shares ASX investors were buying last week
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• 2 blue chip ASX dividend shares analysts are tipping as buys
• The Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price hits new record highs
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week

The post The Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) bets big on Little Birdie appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool Australia Chief Investment Officer Scott Phillips joined Weekend Sunrise on Sunday to discuss the remarkable returns for Superannuation so far this financial year, and to check in on the rollercoaster ride that is Bitcoin.

 

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More reading

• Crypto is crashing: Is now the time to invest?
• China’s crackdown on Bitcoin mining sends crypto prices plummeting
• Would you pay 10% more for a ‘green Bitcoin’?
• Is cryptocurrency the same as owning a stock?
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week

The post A cracking year so far for Super, and where to for Bitcoin? Motley Fool CIO Scott Phillips on Sunrise appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Most weeks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)’s CommSec share brokerage and trading platform tells us the most popular international shares (which are usually US shares) that its Australian users were trading the previous week.

CommSec is one of the most popular ASX brokers in Australia. Because of this, its data provides an interesting insight into the foreign shares that ASX investors have been chasing (or running away from) of late.

My Fool colleague James Mickleboro has already covered some of the ASX’s most popular shares today. So here are the top 10 international shares that CommSec users were buying and selling last week. This week’s data covers 17-21 May.

Tesla, GameStop and Coinbase dominate most popular ASX US shares

1. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) – representing 7.8% of total trades with a 79%/21% buy-to-sell ratio.
2. GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) – representing 3% of total trades with an 83%/17% buy-to-sell ratio.
3. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC) – representing 2.3% of total trades with an 83%/17% buy-to-sell ratio.
4. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) – representing 2.3% of total trades with a 71%/29% buy-to-sell ratio.
5. Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) – representing 1.6% of total trades with a 74%/26% buy-to-sell ratio.
6. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)
7. Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE: PLTR) 
8. Nio Inc – ADR (NYSE: NIO) 
9. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA)
10. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)

What can we learn from these trades?

Some interesting data to look through this week, as always. Well, first things first, Tesla and GameStop once again get the gold and silver medals for the US shares that AS investors can’t seem to leave alone. Tesla’s buy-to-sell ratio was remarkably similar to our last report.

However, ASX investors seem to be cooling on GameStop. Last week, we were looking at a 94%/6% buy-to-sell ratio for GME shares. This week’s 83%/17% ratio indicates some investors are cashing out. That was despite the GameStop share price (uncharacteristically) not doing too much moving.

A surprising promotion though went to cinema chain AMC holdings. AMC shares were our sixth most popular share in last week’s report, but AMC cracks the top 3 this week. That can probably be explained by the 13% share price slide the company made over the analysed period. Clearly, the ASX has more than a few bargain hunters. 

Coinbase also makes something of a comeback this week. In last week’s report, Coinbase had slid to a position outside the top 10. But it came roaring back at No. 5 this week. Again, we can probably explain this by looking at the Coinbase share price over the past week or two. Between 17-21 May, this cryptocurrency broker fell around 10%. It has also fallen more than 30% since its April IPO. 

The US blue-chip tech stocks in Apple and Microsoft remain popular as ever. As do the Chinese companies Alibaba and Nio.

More reading

• The Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) bets big on Little Birdie
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• Why Tesla stock jumped on Monday
• The Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price hits new record highs
• Would you pay 10% more for a ‘green Bitcoin’?

The post Here are the US shares ASX investors were buying last week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The BARD1 Life Sciences Ltd (ASX: BD1) share price had a woeful day on the ASX today. This comes despite the company releasing positive results for its novel pan-cancer probe, SubB2M-based immunohistochemistry (IHC) test.

At market close, BARD1 shares finished the day at $2.19, down 9.5%.

SubB2M is an engineered protein that binds to a unique sugar molecule called Neu5Gc. This protein is only present in human cancers. Additionally, it can detect the disease using liquid biopsies, immunoassays, circulating tumour cell assays, and PET imaging.

What did BARD1 announce?

Investors are selling BARD1 shares despite receiving promising results from a preliminary study demonstrating the feasibility of its SubB2M technology.

In its announcement, BARD1 advised that SubB2M has successfully been used to demonstrate staining of cancer in specific tissue sections. The preliminary study compared cancer tissue from an invasive ductal breast cancer tumour biopsy against a non-cancer breast tissue biopsy.

The study also found that the SubB2M IHC test could be performed on automated staining equipment. This equipment is used in pathology laboratories worldwide. BARD1 noted that once the staining has been optimised for breast cancer tissue. It will extend its studies to other cancer applications.

The company noted that its SubB2M-based IHC applications represent a potential fast-to-market product opportunity.

BARD1 CSO, Dr Peter French welcomed the results, saying:

Whilst this data is from a single patient sample, and the assay conditions have not been optimised, we are pleased that we were able to utilise SubB2M to achieve a positive staining outcome in breast cancer FFPE sections. This is the first time SubB2M has been used in a histopathology application, and it demonstrated both initial feasibility in an IHC application for breast cancer and compatibility with an automated staining instrument.

BARD1 CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch added:

This initial feasibility data indicates that our SubB2M technology may be expanded to IHC applications for tissue-based cancer diagnosis. This represents a potential fast- to-market product opportunity for BARD1’s expanding cancer diagnostic pipeline. The global immunohistochemical market was valued at US$1.8 billion in 2019 and SubB2M-based IHCs could be developed for cancers such as melanoma where it can be difficult to distinguish malignant from benign tissues.

About the BARD1 share price

In the past 12 months, BARD1 shares have accelerated to more than 180%. However, year-to-date performance has further jumped to post a gain above 220%.

Based on valuation metrics, BARD1 presides a market capitalisation of roughly $175 million, with approximately 80 million shares outstanding.

More reading

• Here’s why the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price is crushing it today
• Why the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price is on the rise today
• Why is the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price jumping today?

The post Why the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price plummeted 9% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Anteris Technologies Ltd (ASX: AVR) share price took a hit today. This follows the company’s latest announcement of a proposed capital raise.

The company’s shares closed today’s trade at $7.45, down 6.88%.

Anteris initiates capital raising

Anteris, a healthcare company specialising in the design and production of heart valve products, saw its share price fall after it announced a capital raise that will dilute existing shareholder value.

According to its release, Anteris advised it is placing 310,386 new ordinary shares mainly to its top 10 institutional shareholders.

The newly created shares will be offered at an issue price of $7.50 apiece, raising a total of $2.3 million.

The placement price represents a 9% discount to the 5-day volume weighted average price.

The shares will be issued using the company’s existing placement capacity. Under listing rule 7.1, this allows up to 15% of its shares to be issued without shareholder approval.

In addition, participating investors will receive 1 unlisted option for every 2 shares, exercisable at $11.50 a pop.

The options will have a 2-year expiry period, and are subject to shareholder approval if they exceed listing rule 7.1.

Should shareholders vote against the issue of the options, the company will instead hand out a cash payment equivalent to $1.25 per option.

The vote will be held at Anteris’ Annual General Meeting (AGM) in July.

The managers of the placement, Evolution Capital Advisors, will receive $81,739 for facilitating the capital raise.

Furthermore, there will be 50,000 options with the same terms available, pending shareholder approval. Again, should shareholders vote against, Anteris will pay a cash payment of $62,500 ($1.25 per option) to Evolution Capital Advisors.

About the Anteris share price

The Anteris share price is up just over 5% since this time last year.

Anteris shares reached a 52-week high of $13.75 in March, before treading lower due to profit taking and a broader market slump.

Based on today’s price, Anteris has a market capitalisation of roughly $49 million, with only 6.6 million shares on issue.

More reading

• Why is the Anteris (ASX:AVR) share price surging today?

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) went up today by 1% to 7,115 points. 

Here are some of the highlights from the ASX today:

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

The TechnologyOne share price rose more than 1% today after releasing its FY21 half-year result.

TechnologyOne reported that net profit after tax jumped 48% to $28.2 million. This was driven by total revenue increasing 5% to $144.3 million, whilst total expenses declined by 5% to $107.4 million.

Revenue from the ASX 200 share’s software as a service (SaaS) and continuing business increased by 7% to $140.6 million. The SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) figure rose by 41% to $155.8 million.

It ended the half-year period to 31 March 2021 with $100.2 million of cash on the balance sheet, an increase of 20%. The board decided to increase the interim dividend by 10% to 3.82 cents per share.

TechnologyOne CEO Edward Chung said:

Our global SaaS enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the future of enterprise software. It provides our enterprise customers a mission critical solution to run their entire business on any device, anywhere at anytime. It also allows them to innovate and meet the challenges ahead with greater agility and speed, without having to worry about underlying technologies.

We had many significant wins in the first half. Momentum in the Federal Government sector continues with our global SaaS ERP, chosen by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment to streamline and modernise their business. This was a significant win against SAP.

The ASX 200 share sees its total ARR increasing to more than $500 million by FY26, from the current base of $233 million.  

Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)

The Airtasker share price rose around 12% after it came back to trade following its capital raising.

The business said that it has successfully completed its $20.7 million raising from investors.

The issue price of $1 per share represented a discount of 7.4% to the previous closing price.

Proceeds from the placement will be used to fund the acquisition of the assets of Zaarly, a US-based local services marketplace, expansion into key city markets in the US and UK, and the costs of the offer.

Airtasker revealed that the placement was strongly supported by existing and new domestic institutional, sophisticated and professional investors. Allocations were heavily weighted in favour of existing investors.

Doctor Care Anywhere Group PLC (ASX: DOC)

The Doctor Care Anywhere share price rose by around 15% today.

The ASX share said that it has signed a head of terms with Nuffield Health, one of the UK’s largest private healthcare organisations, to develop a digitally integrated virtual and in-person primary care service. Pre-marketing to Nuffield Health’s network of 1,600 corporate clients will commence immediately.

Launching in the fourth quarter of 2021, this partnership will allow patients to access Doctor Care Anywhere’s virtual GP service and Nuffield Health’s nationwide network of face to face GPs, through one digital platform and represents the first nationally integrated primary care proposition in the UK.

Medical director at Nuffield Health, Dr Davina Deniszczyc said:

We are delighted to be strengthening our partnership with Doctor Care Anywhere to offer customers access to a national network of virtual and face to face GPs. The pandemic has demonstrated the need for accessible health services and through this partnership we are now able to offer everyone the choice of how they access their GP, whenever they need to.

More reading

• Why the Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price jumped 21% today
• Why Airtasker, Betmakers, Kogan, & Telix shares are charging higher
• ASX 200 up 0.6%: TechnologyOne results, BHP & Rio Tinto rise
• Why the Doctor Care Anywhere (ASX:DOC) share price is surging 11% today
• An ASX investor’s guide to ESG-focused ETFs

The post ASX 200 rises, TechnologyOne up, Airtasker jumps appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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

The online marketplace for local services returned from its trading halt and jumped as much as 21% to $1.31 at one stage.

The Airtasker share price eased back as the day went on, ultimately ending the session with a 12% gain to $1.21.

Why did the Airtasker share price jump 21%?

Investors were bidding the Airtasker share price higher today after it announced the successful completion of a private placement.

According to the release, Airtasker was able to raise $20.7 million via a fully underwritten share placement to institutional, sophisticated, and professional investors at $1.00 per share. This was a 7.4% discount to its last close price.

Why is the company raising funds?

The placement proceeds will be used to fund its acquisition of US-based local services marketplace Zaarly and expand into key city markets in the US and UK.

Last week Airtasker announced an agreement to acquire Zaarly for ~$3.4 million. This acquisition provides the company with more than 597,000 registered users and 900+ verified service providers. It believes this will help to jump start expansion in the lucrative market.

The company will also bring Zaarly’s highly experienced team of marketplace product, engineering and operations executives on board. They will be led by CEO Bo Fishback, who joins Airtasker to lead its US market expansion.

What are its market opportunities?

Given that the company estimates that it has a $52 billion opportunity in the Australian market, it will come as no surprise to learn that the UK and US markets offer significant greater potential.

For example, management estimates that the US market is worth half a trillion dollars. This gives the Zaarly business a huge runway for growth in the future.

This may go some way to explaining why the Airtasker share price was in such fine form on Tuesday.

More reading

• Why Airtasker, Betmakers, Kogan, & Telix shares are charging higher
• Why the Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price will be on watch today
• Why the Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price is up 5% today
• ASX 200 rises, Kogan sinks, EML soars
• Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price halted to raise funds for US expansion

The post Why the Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price jumped 21% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) share price was one of those ASX shares that seemed to be a decisive ‘pandemic winner’. As lockdowns forced us all inside last year, Kogan’s e-commerce marketplace boomed. This resulted in Kogan shares rising from around $4 each in March 2020 to a new all-time high of $25.57 by August. 

However, the more recent months haven’t been so kind. On today’s share price, Kogan is now down around 60% from those highs. And that’s despite Kogan being up a healthy 3.11% today to $10.29 a share at the time of writing. Even so, Kogan has been resurgent this week.

The company dropped to a new 52-week low of $8.70 just yesterday. That means that Kogan is now up more than 20% since market open yesterday. Talk about volatility! Clearly, there are large numbers of investors who saw these share price lows as a bargain opportunity.

But perhaps there is now more pressure on Kogan to perform than ever before. Well, for Kogan co-founders David Shafer and Ruslan Kogan, that is. According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) yesterday, Mr Shafer and Mr Kogan were issued 6 million options for Kogan last year, as part of their shareholder-approved remuneration packages.

At the time, these options were worth a collective $100 million. Their only condition was that Messrs Kogan and Shafer couldn’t resign before their redemption. These options are exercisable in 2023 at a price of $5.29. But due to the falling value of Kogan shares over the past 10 months, they are now estimated to be worth almost half that amount. Perhaps a little more with today’s share price moves.

The Kogan share price and optionality

These options give Kogan’s co-founders the right to acquire more shares at the strike price on the expiration date. As such, if the Kogan share price rises above the option strike price, the options grow in value.

This gives the co-founders a powerful incentive to grow the Kogan share price over the next 2 years – part of the reason why options are a popular component of executive pay packets these days.

The AFR quoted Ron Shamgar, head of Australian Equities at TAMIM Asset Management, on this matter. He said the following:

You’d argue that management is now more than ever incentivised to make money on these options in a couple of years from now… They have to now work for it to make money on it, whereas last year it looked like they didn’t need to do anything for it… Ironically I think it’s going to work for the benefit of shareholders, considering the current issues… We still think they have to deliver to get value out of their options.

On the current Kogan share price, the company has a market capitalisation of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 25.6 and a trailing dividend yield of 2.83%.

More reading

• Why Airtasker, Betmakers, Kogan, & Telix shares are charging higher
• Got money to invest? Here are 2 ASX shares that could be buys
• The Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price has halved in 2021
• Why Corp Travel, Domino’s, Kogan, & Zip shares are storming higher
• These are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX

The post There’s now extra pressure on the Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price to perform appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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