Tag: Motley Fool

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) continue to grow in popularity with investors and it isn’t hard to see why.

Through just a single investment, investors are now able to put their hard-earned money into areas of the global share market that were previously beyond reach.

One of those areas is China, and the Chinese technology sector to be more precise. This is achieved through the BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASX: ASIA).

Why is the BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF a good option?

The BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF could be worth considering if you’re interested in growth shares.

This is because the fund gives investors exposure to 50 of the most exciting tech shares in the Asia market (excluding Japan).

BetaShares notes that due to its younger, tech-savvy population, Asia is surpassing the West in terms of technological adoption. As a result, the sector is anticipated to remain a growth sector for some time to come.

Which companies will you be buying a slice of?

Among the fund’s holdings you will find the likes of Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com, Meituan Dianping, Pinduoduo, Samsung, and Tencent.

In respect to Baidu, it is often referred to as China’s version of Google. As Google is not able to operate in China, this has allowed Baidu to become the dominant search engine in the country by some margin. It also operates the iQIYI video streaming service, which is China’s equivalent of Netflix, and is aiming to become a self-driving powerhouse.

Another quality company in the fund is Pinduoduo. It is an e-commerce platform that offers a wide range of products from daily groceries to home appliances. Its platform connects distributors with consumers directly through an interactive shopping experience. This allows shoppers to team up to buy items at lower prices. In March, the company surpassed Alibaba with the most active customers – 788 million.

A final company to know about in the fund is Tencent. It is a multinational technology conglomerate and one of the largest companies in the world. Its communication and social platforms, Weixin (WeChat) and QQ, connect over a billion users with each other and with digital content and services.

More reading

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• 2 outstanding ETFs for ASX investors to buy
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• 2 outstanding ETFs for ASX growth investors to buy
• 2 outstanding tech ETFs for ASX investors to buy this month

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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It has been a volatile morning for the Creso Pharma Ltd (ASX: CPH) share price after returning from a trading halt.

After being up as much as 5.5% to 19 cents, the cannabis and psychedelics company’s shares are now down 9% to 16.3 cents.

Why was the Creso Pharma share price in a trading halt?

Creso Pharma requested a trading halt on Wednesday pending the release of a “material operational update” in relation to its proposed acquisition target, Halucenex Life Sciences.

This morning the company revealed that the material development that required a two-day trading halt was that Halucenex Life Sciences has secured an additional 10 grams of synthetic psilocybin from its manufacturing partner. Combined with its existing inventory, Halucenex Life Sciences now has total pharmaceutical grade psilocybin of 22.3 grams.

As small as this sounds, this still makes it one of the largest holders of single batch GMP grade synthetic psilocybin in Canada. According to the release, the psilocybin will be used in research and development initiatives and future clinical trials.

Management commentary

Judging by the weakness in the Creso Pharma share price, investors appear underwhelmed by this announcement.

Nevertheless, Creso Pharma’s Non-Executive Chairman, Adam Blumenthal, believes it is an important development.

He commented: “Halucenex is now one of the largest holders of single batch GMP grade synthetic psilocybin in Canada. This is a major development and opens a number of doors for Halucenex in medium and long term.”

“Once it secures its licence from Health Canada, Halucenex will have the capacity to progress a number of R&D initiatives, which have the potential to unlock new drug delivery methods and combinations, potentially leading to a higher level of care through alternative treatment methods. We look forward to working with Halucenex and its existing partners to progress these research initiatives.”

“Halucenex and the Creso group more broadly continues to make steps forward. We have achieved a number of regulatory hurdles in regards to the proposed US OTC listing and anticipate DTC eligibility shortly. This will unlock considerable benefit for shareholders. We are very excited to share some of the developments the Company has been working on in the coming months,” he concluded.

More reading

• Why the Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) share price is edging higher today
• Why the AVITA (ASX:AVH) share price is charging higher today
• Is the Carsales (ASX:CAR) share price in the buy zone after its acquisition?
• The Crown (ASX:CWN) share price is in focus today. Here’s why
• Is the Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) share price a buy after its contract win?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) share price is edging higher during morning trade following two leadership changes.

At the time of writing, the Resolute share price is swapping hands for 59.2 cents, up 1.2%.

New appointment

Investors have been buying Resolute shares following the announcement of a reshape in its management team.

According to this morning’s release, Resolute advised it has appointed Mr Stuart Gale as its new managing director and CEO.

Since joining Resolute in January 2020, Mr Gale took up the role of chief financial officer, focusing on operational performance. However, from October that year, Mr Gale held the position of interim CEO following the departure of Mr John Welborn.

In Mr Gale’s time as acting CEO, he has implemented and overseen a number of key initiatives. This includes a review of business operations, management appointments, and strengthening internal systems while managing the finance division.

Resolute chair, Martin Botha welcomed Mr Gale’s permanent appointment, saying:

It gives me great pleasure to confirm Stuart’s appointment as MD and CEO of Resolute. Over the past six months the Board retained a leading global search advisor who undertook a comprehensive CEO candidate search process. Throughout this period, Stuart has provided excellent leadership as Interim CEO, and clearly proven himself as the leading candidate for the role. Achieving this while retaining his CFO duties is also testament to his professionalism and capability.

Mr Gale will take over the company reins effective from today. A new search will be conducted to find a new chief financial officer that Mr Gale leaves behind.

What else did Resolute announce?

In further news boosting Resolute shares, the company also welcomed Mr Terry Holohan as its new chief operating officer (COO).

Mr Holohan brings a wealth of experience, holding various executive and technical positions in Africa for over 30 years. In addition, Mr Holohan spent the last 10 years in Asia working for PT Archi Indonesia. His role involved developing and expanding a multi-open pit gold mine, transitioning from an exploration project to an operational mine.

New Resolute managing director and CEO, Mr Gale commented:

It’s great to have someone of Terry’s calibre join Resolute. He brings a proven track-record together with detailed and wide-ranging technical knowledge and experience. Terry has demonstrated his experience and innovation through successfully developing and operating several particularly complicated mining and processing projects and we are looking forward to capitalising on this at Resolute.

The company’s current COO, Mr David Kelly will oversee the smooth transition, and remain on the executive team.

Mr Holohan will assume the newly appointed COO role from 17 May 2021.

Resolute share price snapshot

Resolute shares have lost more than 40% of their value in the past 12 months. Year to date, the company’s shares have not fared much better, down roughly 25% on the back of the falling gold spot price.

Based on the current share price, Resolute commands a market capitalisation of about $645 million, with 1.1 billion shares outstanding.

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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The AVITA Medical Inc (ASX: AVH) share price is on the move on Friday morning.

At the time of writing, the regenerative medicine company’s shares are up 4% to $5.35.

Why is the AVITA share price charging higher?

Investors have been buying the company’s shares this morning following the release of its third quarter update.

According to the release, demand for the company’s Recell system rebounded strongly during the quarter.

This led to AVITA recording revenue of US$8.8 million for the three months ended 31 March, which was a 126% increase over the prior corresponding period. Positively, this was also a 72.5% increase on its second quarter revenue.

Supporting this growth was an increase in procedural volumes. For the quarter, volumes reached 492. This compares to 408 in the prior corresponding period and 487 in the second quarter.

AVITA also advised that it added 6 new burn centre accounts during the three months, lifting its total to 99. This represents a penetration rate of 73% of the 136 total U.S. burn centres.

Furthermore, of the approximate 300 total U.S. burn surgeons, 244 have now been trained and certified with Recell. And 147 of these surgeons used Recell during the quarter.

Margins

AVITA’s gross margin has softened over the last 12 months from 84% to 76%. This reflects a lower Recell price point for units that were purchased under contract with BARDA. The company’s contract with BARDA was negotiated prior to the establishment of a higher price point achieved in the Recell commercialisation in the United States.

Positively, the company offset this with a reduction in its operating expenses. They came in at US$13.2 million for the third quarter, which is down from US$19.7 million a year earlier. Management advised that this was primarily attributable to lower stock-based compensation along with lower sales and marketing expenses.

Nevertheless, this wasn’t enough to stop AVITA from recording a quarterly net loss of US$6 million. Though, this is a big improvement on last year’s third quarter loss of US$15 million.

This left the company with cash of US$114.9 million at the end of the period.

Q4 guidance

Management advised that total revenue is expected to be in the range of US$8.2 million to US$8.6 million in the fourth quarter.

This comprises US$5 million to US$5.3 million of commercial Recell revenue and US$3.2 million to US$3.3 million of Recell revenue associated with BARDA.

AVITA’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mike Perry, said: “We made steady progress over the last quarter as we continued to drive RECELL usage in our established hospital burn center base with an increasing focus on smaller burns, and we continued to expand our physician training and outreach programs. As pandemic headwinds abate, we plan to leverage our highly experienced burns sales force and strong relationships built to date with the burn practitioner community to increase hospital access and to penetrate deeper into our existing accounts, resulting in additional procedures and engaging more burn practitioners.”

“Our three pivotal clinical trials in vitiligo, trauma, and pediatric burns are continuing on schedule and we expect to see expanded indications for RECELL coming online, allowing us to serve an ever-growing population of patients,” he added.

More reading

• Is the Carsales (ASX:CAR) share price in the buy zone after its acquisition?
• The Crown (ASX:CWN) share price is in focus today. Here’s why
• Is the Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) share price a buy after its contract win?
• Top broker gives its verdict on the Xero (ASX:XRO) share price
• 2 buy-rated ASX bank shares with huge dividend yields

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 Avita Medical Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Avita Medical 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 Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX: CAR) share price remains in a trading halt on Friday.

This follows a request on Wednesday by the auto listings company to halt its shares while it raises funds for a major new acquisition.

What is Carsales acquiring?

Carsales has signed an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in United States-based business Trader Interactive for approximately US$624 million (A$800 million). The company also has a call option to acquire the remaining interest on specified terms in the future.

Management believes the acquisition represents a strategically compelling opportunity to further build out its international scale and industry diversification. Furthermore, it gives it exposure to attractive verticals in the massive United States market.

The deal is expected to be earnings per share positive on a pro-forma basis, with mid-single digit earnings per share accretion from year one.

To fund the acquisition, Carsales is looking to raise $600 million via a pro rata accelerated renounceable entitlement offer with retail rights trading. The entitlement offer will be conducted at $17.00 per new share, which represents a 12.9% discount to its last close price.

Is the Carsales share price a buy when it returns?

According to a note out of the Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) equities desk, its analysts believe the Carsales share price is fully valued. As a result, it isn’t in a rush to recommend it as an investment at this point.

In response to the acquisition announcement, the broker has retained its neutral rating and cut its price target on its shares to $20.80.

Macquarie believes the acquisition makes strategic sense and feels the deal is fairly price. However, it also believes that the timeframe and scale of future revenue growth is unclear and notes that it has increased the company’s overall risk.

Based on the current Carsales share price, Macquarie’s target price implies potential upside of approximately 6.5%.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
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• ASX 200 drops again, Pushpay rises, CSR climbs
• Carsales (ASX:CAR) share price halted to raise funds for major US acquisition

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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 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.

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Shares in Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN) are in focus after news the company could potentially open its $2.2 billion casino in Sydney by the end of 2021. The Crown share price closed yesterday’s session trading at $12.75.

Crown was deemed unfit to run Sydney’s Barangaroo casino in February following a yearlong inquiry by Commissioner Patricia Bergin. The inquiry uncovered allegations of money laundering.

Now, Crown is working with the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) to receive approval for a casino licence in the state of New South Wales. 

Yesterday, ILGA chair Philip Crawford told media the verification of Crown’s suitability to run the casino could potentially be completed by the end of the year.

The Crown share price didn’t noticeably react to the news early yesterday afternoon when it was covered by a number of media outlets. Crown provided its own update regarding the matter to the ASX after market close on Thursday. 

Commitments

Both Crown and Crawford said the company has committed to a number of measures in a bid to open the casino with the ILGA’s approval, which it could possibly receive in the third quarter of this year.

The commitments include paying $12.5 million towards the costs of the Bergin Inquiry and working towards banning smoking indoors.

Crown must also “evaluate the necessary steps towards the introduction of cashless gaming alternatives” and link all money gambled to recognised financial institutions.

It has already ceased dealings with international junket operations and agreed to pay a yearly $5 million Casino Supervisory Levy for this year and next, as advised by ILGA.

In yesterday’s press conference, Crawford said Crown was on the right path, but not out of the regulatory woods yet. He said:

If we continued to meet [the resistance Crown showed the ILGA during the Bergin inquiry], it was my own thought that, it would be very hard to get them to suitability. It’s just too hard to regulate someone who doesn’t want to be regulated… we needed to see some good will on their part, and the ability to work with us. I must say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised…

I’m not here today to tell you that they’re suitable, there is work to be done… first of all, there is an audit being done of their bank accounts — one of the primary focuses there is to make sure organised crime has not infiltrated the bank accounts of the Crown group…

Until we get sign-off that those accounts haven’t been infiltrated then that’s a key issue for us about suitability.

How long these audits will take? I don’t know. It could be, probably ambitious to say, the end of June but probably it’ll go just into the third quarter of the year. But, if you look back to February, there’s no doubt that Crown working with us has achieved a lot.

Commentary from management 

Crown’s executive chair Helen Coonan commented on ILGA’s confidence in Crown’s potential suitability, saying it was welcome. Coonan said:

It’s important to know we are well on track but I have assured the regulator there will be no complacency as we continue to embed the changes to improve our governance and compliance processes across the organisation.

Crown share price snapshot

Despite Crown’s difficulties this year, its share price has performed well so far.

Currently, the Crown share price is up 32% year to date. It’s also gained more than 40% over the last 12 months.

The entertainment company has a market capitalisation of around $8.63 billion, with approximately 677 million shares outstanding.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price overcame weakness in the tech sector on Thursday and pushed higher.

The health imaging software provider’s shares rose 1.5% to $41.15.

This latest gain means the Pro Medicus share price is now up 17% since the start of the year.

Why did the Pro Medicus share price avoid the selloff?

Investors were buying Pro Medicus’ shares yesterday after it announced another major new contract win.

According to the release, Pro Medicus has signed an 8-year deal with The University of Vermont Health Network worth $14 million.

The deal will see Pro Medicus deploy its Visage 7 Enterprise Imaging Platform across six hospitals operated by the University. Once the system is fully functional, a unified diagnostic imaging platform will run across the network. This will replace the multiple legacy PACS platforms that are currently being used.

What was the reaction?

According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, it was pleased but unsurprised by the contract win.

The broker notes that the contract is the seventh the company has won in the last 11 months, of which four have been fully cloud based.

The latter is important to note, as the broker believes customers are increasingly seeking cloud-deployment and the Visage solution is the only one currently available that can be fully cloud-deployed at scale.

However, one slight concern that Goldman Sachs has is the slow progress being made in the mass-market channel.

It commented: “Whilst we have clearly seen an increased cadence of contract wins through recent periods, the quid pro quo is a potentially shorter runway from here. Visage 7 now operates in 5 of the Top 10 hospitals in US, and has so far shown relatively slower progress in the more price-sensitive, mass-market channel.”

“Whilst we see little reason why Visage 7 can’t penetrate this market more effectively over time, we expect uncertainties around capital budgets to persist across this channel for longer than in the leading academic institutions. Although PME’s larger customers argue that Visage’s price premium is repaid in efficiency gains, the value proposition is likely less compelling for the lower volume facilities, and so we will wait to see evidence of this dynamic playing out before formally accommodating it into our forecasts.”

“Nevertheless, the nature of the recent wins suggests a broadening of interest across different types of customer, which we believe is underpinned by PME’s current technology advantage over peers, and will remain important to the longer-term trajectory,” it added.

Is the Pro Medicus share price good value?

While Goldman hasn’t made any adjustments to its recommendation and forecasts yet, as things stand, it has a buy rating and $53.80 price target on the company’s shares.

Based on the current Pro Medicus share price, this represents potential upside of 31% over the next 12 months.

More reading

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• ASX tech shares are in a world of pain. There might be more to come…

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 recommends Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pro Medicus 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 Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price was a particularly poor performer on Thursday.

The cloud accounting provider’s shares finished the day a massive 13% lower at $117.39.

Why did the Xero share price crash lower?

The Xero share price came under significant pressure following the release of its full year results.

For the 12 months ended 31 March, Xero reported an 18% increase in revenue to NZ$848.8 million and a 39% jump in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to NZ$191.2 million.

Although its revenue was broadly in line with expectations, its operating earnings fell well short of consensus estimates.

In addition to this, management’s operating expenditure guidance for the year ahead was much higher than the market was expecting.

Combined with weakness in the tech sector, the Xero share price was always going to struggle during yesterday’s session.

Is this a buying opportunity?

Analysts at Goldman Sachs believe the weakness in the Xero share price is a buying opportunity.

This morning the broker reiterated its buy rating but trimmed its price target slightly to $151.00.

This implies potential upside of almost 29% over the next 12 months.

What did the broker say?

Commenting on the result, Goldman said: “In our view, Xero delivered a positive FY21 result, with revenue +2% ahead of GSe, as the company showed stronger sub growth across all key markets, without sacrificing unit economics. Sub momentum also improved across 2H21 (i.e. record March) and churn declined meaningfully (despite the growth).”

‘We believe this reflects the increased importance of Xero’s products through an accelerating period of global digitisation, with Xero meaningfully increased its investment into product/marketing as it looks to capitalize on this opportunity. This drove a -13% EBITDA miss, along with FY22 opex guidance that was well ahead of expectations (i.e. 82-87% of sales vs. GSe 77%).”

Xero share price valuation

And while the broker has downgraded its near term earnings forecasts to reflect Xero’s investments, it doesn’t impact its longer term estimates. As a result, there has been little change to its valuation.

It concluded: “Reflecting the FY21 result and strong sub momentum, we revise FY22-23 revenue +3 to +4%. However, given the step up in investment our EBITDA is -29%/-28%, but our FY30+ earnings are largely unchanged. Consequently, our XRO 12m TP is -1% to A$151 given a -1% DCF value (lost near-term cashflows) and -2% in our EV/GP (higher GP, offset by 2X multiple reduction, in-line with US SaaS peers). With strong subscriber and revenue trends we remain positive on Xero and retain our Buy, with +28% upside potential.”

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
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• Why American Pacific Borates, NAB, Perenti, & Xero are tumbling lower

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

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The banking sector has been in fine form this year and was a key reason the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) recently reached a new high.

The good news for investors is that it doesn’t appear to be too late to buy the big four banks for income. Even after their strong gains in 2021, they are still forecast to provide investors with generous yields over the next couple of years.

Two highly rated ASX bank shares to look at are listed below. Here’s what income investors need to know about them:

Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ)

Last week ANZ released its half year results and revealed a statutory profit after tax of $2,943 million and cash earnings from continuing operations of $2,990 million. This was up 45% and 28%, respectively, on the second half of FY 2020.

This return to form allowed the ANZ board to declare a fully franked interim dividend of 70 cents per share.

Pleasingly, analysts at Morgans are expecting more of the same in the second half and in FY 2022. According to the note, the broker is forecasting fully franked dividends per share of 145 cents and 163 cents in FY 2021 and FY 2022, respectively.

Based on the current ANZ share price, this will mean yields of 5.3% and 6%. Morgans has an add rating and $34.50 price target on its shares.

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)

Westpac was also a strong performer during the first half. For the six months ended 31 March, the bank reported cash earnings of $3,537 million. This was a 256% increase over the prior corresponding period and a 119% lift over the second half of FY 2020.

This allowed the Westpac board to declare a fully franked interim dividend of 58 cents per share.

Morgan Stanley was pleased with its result and retained its overweight rating and lifted its price target to $29.20. It also revealed that it now expects Westpac to pay fully franked dividends per share of $1.18 and $1.25 over the next two years.

Based on the latest Westpac share price, this will mean yields of 4.7% and 5%.

More reading

• What do the CEOs of the Big Four banks think of the Federal Budget?
• Which ASX bank share is the cheapest after earnings?
• Flight Centre and Zip were among the most traded ASX shares last week
• ASX 200 shares hit all-time high! How did we get here?
• Here’s why the ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price underperformed today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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With so many growth shares to choose from on the Australian share market, it can be hard to decide which ones to buy over others.

To help narrow things down, I have picked out three ASX growth shares that could be top options for investors today. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8)

The first ASX growth share to look at is Audinate. It is a leading digital audio-visual networking technologies provider. The key product in its portfolio is the Dante audio over IP networking solution. Management notes that Dante is the evolution of AV systems, converging all previous connection types into one. It delivers vastly superior performance while making these systems easier to use, easier to expand, and less expensive to deploy. The solution is the clear industry leader, with the number of Dante enabled products manufactured by its customers now eight times greater than its nearest rival. UBS has a buy rating and $10.40 price target on the company’s shares.

Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)

Another growth share to look closely at is Megaport. It is an elasticity connectivity and network services company. Megaport’s service allows users to increase and decrease their available bandwidth in response to their own demand requirements. This has proven very popular with businesses, leading to Megaport growing its recurring revenues at a rapid rate over the last few years. Pleasingly, this has continued in FY 2021. It recently released its third quarter update and revealed an 8% quarter on quarter increase in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) to $6.8 million. UBS was pleased with its update. The broker retained its buy rating and lifted its price target to $17.10.

Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW)

Another ASX growth share to look at is Temple & Webster. It is Australia’s leading online furniture and homewares retailer. While it was growing at a rapid rate prior to the pandemic, its growth went up a few levels during the crisis. This was due to the accelerating shift to online shopping. The good news is that online furniture shopping is still in its infancy in comparison to other areas of the retail market. This bodes well for the future, particularly given Temple & Webster’s leadership position. Management is now investing heavily to take take advantage of the shift and cement its position as the market leader. Morgan Stanley is pleased with this strategy. It currently has an overweight rating and $15.00 price target on its shares.

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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 recommends MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of AUDINATEGL FPO and Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended AUDINATEGL FPO, MEGAPORT FPO, 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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