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In early afternoon trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is following the lead of US markets and charging higher. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up a sizeable 1.1% to 6,738.1 points.

Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here’s why these shares are storming higher:

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)

The Afterpay share price is up 6% to $144.25. Afterpay and other popular tech shares are racing higher today after a particularly strong night of trade on Wall Street on Monday. The tech-focused Nasdaq index was a very strong performer, rising a sizeable 2.55%. The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) has followed its lead and is up 2.75% this afternoon.

Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP)

The Credit Corp share price is up 5% to $30.87. Investors have been buying the debt collector’s shares following the release of its half year results. For the six months ending 31 December, Credit Corp posted a 2% decline in revenue to $188 million and a 10% lift in net profit after tax to $42.3 million. The latter came in ahead of the market’s expectations. Credit Corp also lifted its guidance for the full year.

Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS)

The Healius share price has jumped 7% to $4.19. The catalyst for this was a broker note out of UBS this morning. According to the note, the broker has upgraded the healthcare company’s shares to a buy rating with a $4.40 price target. It believes Healius is well-placed to benefit from strong demand for diagnostic services.

Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)

The Volpara share price has surged 5% higher to $1.56. Investors have been buying Volpara’s shares following the announcement of the acquisition of CRA Health for US$18 million. CRA Health is a breast cancer risk assessment company. Its cloud-based software is tightly integrated into major electronic health record (EHR) systems and receives patient information, including breast density, and returns the risk of breast cancer alongside appropriate recommendations.

More reading

• ASX 200 up 0.9%: Credit Corp impresses, Afterpay jumps, bank shares rise
• 2 little known ASX growth shares to buy
• These 2 ASX stocks jumped after a broker upgrade to “buy” today
• Why the Credit Corp (ASX:CCP) share price is surging 10% higher
• Here’s why the Volpara (ASX:VHT) share price is surging 5% higher

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends VOLPARA FPO NZ. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended VOLPARA FPO NZ. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. 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 GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) debacle has been depicted as a modern-day phenomenon enabled by social media and $0-fee trading platforms.

While technology definitely played a part, it’s certainly not the first time everyday people feverishly punting on the share market has ruffled the feathers of professionals.

University of Tasmania lecturer Robbie Moore pointed out Tuesday that a big fad more than 100 years ago in the US were venues called “bucket shops”.

These were places where ordinary folks could bet on the price movements of particular shares, without actually directly purchasing real shares.

It was a TAB for the stock market, if you will.

“Bucket shops were immensely popular,” Moore told The Conversation.

“By 1889, the volume of shares wagered in bucket shops was 7 times larger than the volume of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Bucket shops drew many more Americans – including women – into the thrill-ride of speculation.”

And just like Robinhood and the GameStop saga, bucket shops were seen as a “democratisation” of a financial system that was even more inaccessible in those days.

The venues were popular with women, who still had immense barriers to directly participating in male-dominated financial markets.

And the shops also allowed middle-class men a peek into a world that only wealthy folks enjoyed at the time.

Finance industry gets defensive

Bucket shops were decorated to look like private men’s clubs, which the real stock market participants socialised in.

“Increasingly backed by big money and arranged in national chains, their interiors were often fitted with plush furniture and seductive technologies such as stock tickers and telephones,” said Moore.

“This mimicry threatened the legitimacy of stock speculation.”

This compelled professional share investors to label them as gambling dens – illegitimate and dangerous punting.

The same condescending tone has also been taken by current professionals to label the Reddit investors who triggered the GameStop frenzy.

“Writing on GameStop for the Washington Post, Sebastian Mallaby made the distinction between ‘rational investors’ who work to stabilise the market and keep prices realistic and ‘honest’, and the ‘crazies’ whose frenzied activity creates irrational prices,” said Moore.

“We saw similar language used by the finance industry of a century ago, asserting the superior masculine equipoise and rationality of trained financial professionals compared to the ‘hysteria’ of bucket shop amateurs.”

Axa SA (EPA: CS) core investments chief investment officer Chris Iggo said the GameStop crowd should be taken seriously.

“There is a temptation to be dismissive of the sort of ‘casino capitalism’ on show on Wall Street at the moment,” he said.

“However, there is a risk, albeit small at this stage, of today’s side-show having more meaningful implications for markets ahead.”

Activism investors and hedge funds have much in common

Moore said that both the activist Reddit investors and the professional fund managers are “invested in myth making” and “false dichotomies”, such as Robinhood vs The Man and the Rational vs the Rabble.

“But it is clear that both sides are more similar and more entangled than they would care to admit. This poses difficult questions for the finance industry as it tries to shut out the rabble while maintaining the status quo.”

Much like the criticisms of Robinhood’s gamified nature, early last century the finance industry criticised the use of telegraph stock tickers in bucket shops.

“Tickers transmitted stock information over telegraph lines, and were available for anyone to purchase,” said Moore.

“One pro-Wall Street journalist described the ticker as a ‘narcotic’, while a doctor writing for the Medical Times described the illness of ‘tickeritis’.”

But professionals also used these machines. Of course, the finance industry argued qualified tape readers were cool and rational.

“The Tape Reader is like a Pullman coach, which travels smoothly and steadily along the roadbed of the tape, acquiring direction and speed from the market engine, and being influenced by nothing whatever,” reads the 1910 book Studies in Tape Reading.

Iggo said the amount of retail money flying around the markets due to low interest rates, plus the retail activism, would scare off professional short investors.

This would naturally reduce the opportunities for future short squeezes, although the public consciousness of them could have a profound impact.

“The more the media focuses on it, the more the idea that the whole market is in a bubble takes hold,” he said.

“The psychological impact could drive investors to take profits on their equity portfolios or hold back cash in case there is a market correction.”

More reading

• Why these ASX silver shares are surging today
• 53% share price jump lands GME Resources (ASX: GME) in trading halt
• Gamestop on the ASX? Why GME Resources (ASX:GME) share price rocketed 28% today

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo 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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At lunch on Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to deliver another strong gain. The benchmark index is currently up 0.9% to 6,725.2 points.

Here’s what is happening on the market today:

Credit Corp impresses

The Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP) share price is surging higher today after the release of its half year results. For the period ending 31 December, Credit Corp delivered revenue of $188 million and a net profit after tax of $42.3 million. This represents a 2% decline and a 10% jump over the prior corresponding period. The latter has outperformed the expectations of analysts at Morgans. They were forecasting a 2.5% increase in net profit. Credit Corp also lifted its guidance for the full year.

Tech shares jump

The Australian tech sector has followed the lead of its U.S. counterpart by charging notably higher on Tuesday. Overnight, the tech-focused Nasdaq index jumped a sizeable 2.55%. Back on home soil, strong gains by the likes of Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) have helped take the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) 2.6% higher today.

Bank shares rise

The big four banks are all pushing higher and helping drive the ASX 200’s recovery. While all the banks are making solid gains, the best performer in the group has been the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price. The shares of Australia’s largest bank are up a sizeable 1.6% at the time of writing.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Tuesday has been the Credit Corp share price. The debt collector’s shares are up 6% following its stronger than expected half year results. The worst performer is the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield CDI (ASX: URW) share price with a 7% decline. This decline appears to have been driven by profit taking after a short squeeze initiated by traders from Reddit drove its shares notably higher over the last few days.

More reading

• Why Bubs, Huon, Temple & Webster, & Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield are dropping lower
• Why the Credit Corp (ASX:CCP) share price is surging 10% higher
• The WiseTech (ASX:WTC) share price is trading near 52-week highs
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• GameStop chaos: Love always wins over shorting

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

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There are some little known ASX growth shares that some investors may be interested in.

Smaller businesses may have more growth potential than larger businesses.

Here are two contenders:

Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)

Volpara is an ASX healthcare software business involved in screening for breast cancer.

The company recently announced its quarterly update for the three months to 31 December 2020.

It said that its annual recurring revenue rose by 20% to NZ$20.7 million (US$13.5 million), driven by increasing demand for the Volpara breast health platform. It received quarterly cash receipts of NZ$4.6 million despite COVID-19 and the weak US dollar.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 5% to US$1.22. Client retention remains high and its coverage of US women is approximately 27%.

That quarter was the first time that the ASX growth share received a payment from the partnership with a genetics company. Volpara said that its ability to identify women at high cancer risk who should have genetics testing has the potential to be a potential game-changer and significantly increase the ARPU. Volpara said at the time of this quarterly announcement that its focus will be on ramping up those genetics relationships and connections as quickly as possible.

It didn’t waste any time. Today, the company announced an acquisition that would give it more access to those genetics companies.

Volpara is acquiring CRA Health, which is based in Boston, for US$18 million. CRA’s software is integrated with the major electronic health record (EHR) and genetics companies.

CRA receives patient information, including breast density, and returns the risk of breast cancer alongside appropriate recommendations, including whether additional imaging or genetics testing is advised and reimbursed according to established guidelines. CRA also has electronic interfaces built with all the major genetics companies.

Volpara said that CRA is profitable, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) of over US$4 million, average revenue per user (ARPU) of US$1.70 and coverage of around 6% of US breast screenings.

After this acquisition, Volpara will have ARR of around $US$17.5 million and at least one product in use in over 30% of US breast screenings. Group ARPU will increase to over US$1.40.

City Chic Collective Ltd (ASX: CCX)

City Chic is an ASX growth share in the retail space. Its niche is plus-size apparel, accessories and footwear.

The company is growing swiftly, through a mix of both organic growth and acquisitions. In FY20 sales rose 31%, with year on year sales growth for ANZ online of 20%. Online sales made up 65% of total sales for the year. At 31 October 2020, it had risen to 70%.

The company is steadily growing its percentage of sales coming from the northern hemisphere, which has a much bigger total addressable market. At 30 June 2020, the northern hemisphere represented 42% of sales, up from 20% in FY19, with the US comprising the majority of sales. The company expects this trend of northern hemisphere sales growth to continue.

The ASX growth share recently announced the acquisition of Evans in the UK for US$41 million.

City Chic has bought Evans’ e-commerce and wholesale businesses, not the physical store portfolio. Those purchased assets made £26 million of combined sales for the year to August 2020. The Evans business made £60 million of annual sales prior to COVID-19.

Fund manager Clime Capital Ltd (ASX: CAM) said that the Evans purchase was made for around 5x the earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) that it was buying.

Clime thinks that the ASX growth share can command superior margins due to its vertically integrated structure. The fund manager said it’s well positioned to execute on its strategy and, despite the recent share price rally, it still sees an opportunity in the stock.

More reading

• Here’s why the Volpara (ASX:VHT) share price is surging 5% higher
• Fundie names 3 great ASX shares to own
• The ASX small cap with the best global expansion potential may not be tech
• Brokers think these 3 top ASX shares are buys in February 2021
• Here’s why the Volpara (ASX:VHT) share price is edging higher

Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends VOLPARA FPO NZ. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended VOLPARA FPO NZ. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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

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

The stock market rebounded sharply on Monday, bouncing back from losses at the end of last week. As of just after 1 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) was up 240 points to 30,223. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained 60 points to 3,774, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) outpaced them all with a massive 322-point gain to 13,394.

The attention on Wall Street remains squarely on the efforts of the groups of individual investors spearheading the big moves in short-sold stocks, like GameStop (NYSE: GME). Over the weekend, those investors targeted the silver market, and they were largely successful in pushing prices higher. Yet the gains that investors are seeing from these silver-squeeze candidates aren’t nearly as large as the moves in GameStop and other stocks were.

A somewhat muted response

Silver had a solid rally on Monday. As of early afternoon, spot silver prices climbed about $1.75 per ounce to roughly $28.75. That was its highest level in six months, but it was considerably below the eight-year high that the white metal had seen overnight before New York markets opened for trading.

Investors also saw solid gains in silver-related stocks. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV), which holds silver bullion and acts as a market-traded proxy for silver prices, was higher by nearly 9% by early afternoon on Monday. The similar Sprott Physical Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: PSLV) climbed 8%.

Silver mining stocks were where most of the biggest gains were found. First Majestic Silver (NYSE: AG) picked up 22%, while Endeavour Silver (NYSE: EXK) was higher by 19%, and Silvercorp Metals (NYSE: SVM) gained 18%.

Yet even those larger moves among silver stocks didn’t match up to the massive gains that GameStop saw last week. Fivefold gains don’t appear to be in the cards for these silver-squeeze candidates, at least not immediately.

Are short squeezers losing their focus?

Successful investors often find that it’s difficult to duplicate winning performance a second time. It’s understandable that a big win on GameStop has emboldened individual investors, but they’ll have to keep to the same playbook to avoid making mistakes in the future.

The silver market does have some appeal from a structural standpoint, as trading activity in the silver market dwarfs the actual production of the semi-precious metal. Silver market commentators have warned of supply-deficit conditions for a long time, which would potentially make it more vulnerable to such efforts.

What short squeezers need, though, is a firm target, and that’s not readily apparent in the silver market. Concentrating on iShares Silver Trust has its own problems, but with so many silver miners, it’s hard to pick a single company on which to focus efforts. Therefore, even investors who want to participate don’t know exactly what to do.

Moreover, some individual investors disagree with picking silver as the next GameStop. They note that some major Wall Street institutions stand to benefit from higher silver prices, which seems to go against their stated goals.

See what comes next

It took a while for GameStop to make a big move higher, and it’s premature to say that silver’s rise will immediately come to an end. The folks pushing the silver squeeze need to get more organized about what they’re trying to do and how they’ll successfully go about doing it.

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

More reading

• Robinhood forced to raise another $2.4 billion despite limiting GameStop trades
• The moral of the GameStop story?
• GameStop chaos: Love always wins over shorting
• Silver squeeze next on the list for WallStreetBets, or is it?
• The worst mistake GameStop investors can make right now

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.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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

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In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to continue its recovery with another solid gain. The benchmark index is currently up 0.9% to 6,723.7 points.

Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here’s why they are dropping lower:

Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB)

The Bubs share price has continued its slide and is down a further 5.5% to 67 cents. Investors have been selling the goat milk infant formula company’s shares after its second quarter update fell short of expectations last week. While Bubs’ performance has improved since the first quarter, its latest update was still weaker than the market was forecasting. Its sales came in softer and its costs were higher than expected.

Huon Aquaculture Group Ltd (ASX: HUO)

The Huon share price has crashed 9% lower to $2.79 following the release of a trading update. That update revealed that challenging market conditions as a result of COVID-19 have persisted throughout the first half in both the domestic and international markets for salmon. While its sales volumes were on target for the period, the price of salmon has softened notably. Management also warned that prices are unlikely to recover over the coming months.

Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW)

The Temple & Webster share price has sunk 5% lower to $10.51. This follows the release of the online furniture and homewares retailer’s half year update this morning. For the six months ended December 31, Temple & Webster delivered a 118% increase in revenue over the prior corresponding period to $161.6 million. Thanks to operating leverage, EBITDA jumped a massive 556% to $14.8 million. While this was undoubtedly strong, it still fell short of Goldman Sachs’ estimate of revenue of $171.1 million and EBITDA of $17.6 million for the half.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield CDI (ASX: URW)

The Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield share price is down almost 7% to $5.14. This decline appears to have been driven by profit taking after a strong rise in recent trading sessions. That rise was driven by a short squeeze initiated by traders from Reddit.

More reading

• Why the Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) share price is sinking 5% lower today
• 2 small cap ASX shares that are growing quickly
• Why Afterpay, ResMed, Temple & Webster, & Worley shares are dropping lower
• Top ASX shares to buy in February 2021
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: Reality (and GameStop) finally hits ASX

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 Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended BUBS AUST FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended 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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The Centuria Industrial Reit (ASX: CIP) share price has lifted in morning trade, up 1.14% to $3.10 at the time of writing.

This follows the release of the real estate investment trust’s (REIT) first half of the 2021 financial year results.

What did Centuria report?

In the first half of FY2021, Centuria acquired 9 industrial properties worth $694 million. The REIT now holds 59 industrial properties across key capital cities in Australia.

The 9 properties all were acquired with 100% occupancy with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 19 years. This helped bring Centuria’s total portfolio WALE up to 9.8 years and total occupancy at 97.7%.

The acquisitions, alongside $104 million in revaluation gains, saw Centuria’s portfolio value reach $2.4 billion, an increase of almost 50% during the half year.

Statutory net profit for the half year came in at $99.6 million, with funds from operations (FFO) of $42.8 million. With 29.6% gearing, the trust has $146 million of undrawn debt available.

Centuria became part of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) on 22 June.

What did management say?

Commenting on the first half results, Centuria fund manager Jesse Curtis said:

During this first half of FY21 we strategically targeted acquisitions within tightly held industrial sub-sectors with favourable supply demand dynamics to create a diversified pure-play industrial portfolio. In particular, we expanded into the data centre and cold storage sectors…

During the COVID period we observed a rapid increase in demand for data warehousing with a shift to cloud based data storage coupled with an increase in online shopping, particularly for non-discretionary items such as groceries and pharmaceuticals. We believe these trends are here to stay and investing in the undersupplied industrial sub-sectors of data centre and cold storage is a sound strategy.

Many of the REIT’s 117 tenants, spread across its 59 properties, are involved in producing, packaging and distributing consumer staples, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications.

And Curtis sees further growth in this sector, notably for online retailing space:

Industrial tenant demand remains robust, particularly for e-commerce and online retailing occupiers. While having grown quickly during the pandemic period, online retail penetration in Australia still lags the global average, providing the potential for significant take up of industrial space.

Centuria share price snapshot

This morning’s gain sees the Centuria share price squeak back into the green for 2021, up just 0.32%.

While shares are up 39% from the 2020 March lows, the share price remains down 12.8% over the past 12 months.

More reading

• These 2 ASX stocks jumped after a broker upgrade to “buy” today
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• ASX 200 rises, Worley dumped, Mesoblast rises
• On fire! 2 reasons why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price rocketed 12% in January
• ASX 200 down 0.2%: Zip Chair steps down, Worley crashes, Blackmores & InvoCare jump

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben 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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Our share market jumped higher at the open but two ASX stocks are outperforming after UBS upgraded them to “buy”.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) gained 0.9% at the time of writing on positive overnight leads from Wall Street.

But that pales in comparison to the 4.9% surge in the Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS) share price to $4.11.

Big “buy” upgrade lifts the HLS share price

The big increase the share price of the medical facilities operator coincided with UBS’ big upgrade of the stock today.

The broker lifted its recommendation on the HLS share price by two full notches to “buy” from “sell”. It also pumped up its 12-month price target to $4.40 from $2.70 a share.

“In our view, HLS is now far better placed to benefit from favourable underlying demand for diagnostic services and a more benign reimbursement environment,” said UBS.

“In addition, sale of the GP component within the Medical Centre division has significantly improved the company’s capital structure.”

Good dividend prognosis

Not having the general practice (GP) businesses means is that Healius can lift its dividend payout and fund an on-market share buyback.

UBS is forecasting the group to pay a dividend of 12 cents a share in total for FY21. That’s up from the 3 cents a share it paid the year before.

Getting more bullish on iron ore

Another stock outperforming on the back of an upgrade is the Deterra Royalties Ltd (ASX: DRR) share price.

Shares in the iron ore royalties entity jumped 2.3% at the time of writing to $4.44 after UBS upgraded it to “buy” from “neutral”.

“We forecast a 5% lift in world crude steel production in 2021 with China +2% and RoW [rest of world] +8%,” said the broker.

“The forecast growth in steel production in 2021 drives a 3% or 50Mt y/y lift in seaborne iron ore demand to 1,496Mt.”

Supply deficit to keep prices high

With low-cost iron ore supply only increasing by 25 million tonnes (Mt), this leaves the market with a supply deficit of 27Mt.

This will keep the high-cost producers in business – driving up the marginal cost of production for the industry.

The broker upgraded its iron ore forecast for this calendar year to US$125 per dry metric tonne, up from US$110/dmt. Its longer term price forecast also increased by US$5 to US$65/dmt.

Deterra royalty revenue explained

Deterra owns collects a 1.232% royalty from BHP Group Ltd’s (ASX: BHP) Mining Area C operation in the Pilbara.

The mine is expected to lift production from 60 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) to 140Mtpa over three years, starting this year.

UBS’s 12-month price target on the DRR share price rises to $5.15 from $5 a share.

More reading

• Why the Centuria (ASX:CIP) share price is gaining today
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• ASX 200 rises, Worley dumped, Mesoblast rises
• On fire! 2 reasons why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price rocketed 12% in January
• ASX 200 down 0.2%: Zip Chair steps down, Worley crashes, Blackmores & InvoCare jump

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau owns shares of BHP Billiton Limited and Deterra Royalties Limited. Connect with me on Twitter @brenlau.

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 Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP) share price is surging higher today. This comes after the company released its half-year results for the 2021 period.

In early morning trade, shares in the debt collector are swapping hands for $32.68, up 10.93%.

Let’s take a look and see the company’s latest announcement and what that means for the Credit Corp share price.

How did Credit Corp perform for H1 FY21?

Sending the Credit Corp share price higher, the company highlighted robust trading conditions which either met or exceeded key targets.

For the period ending 31 December, 2020, Credit Corp delivered total group revenue of $188 million, reflecting a 2% decline on the prior corresponding period (pcp).

In its largest market, Australia/New Zealand debt buying stayed relatively steady with $113.3 million recorded. The 1% increase remained in line with the previous year. Credit Corp noted that its collections reduced over the December quarter due to reduced COVID-19 stimulus packages from the Commonwealth government.

The United States debt buying segment recorded the strongest gains, rising to $37.3 million, up 33%. This was attributed to improvements in operations and elevated purchases of debt ledgers in the last few years.

In addition, Australia/New Zealand lending dropped to $37.4 million, down 26%. This is because new customer approval rates and loan amounts were affected by the economic downturn. However, the company noted that in the last quarter, applications have exceeded the prior year. Thus, it expects lending revenue to return to growth in the second-half of FY21.

Overall, net profit after tax (NPAT) came to $42.3 million, a 10% jump over the comparable period.

Credit Corp revealed that it has a healthy cash balance of $400 million and remains debt free to capture any potential opportunities that may accelerate growth.

The board declared a fully-franked dividend of 36 cents per share to be paid to eligible shareholders on 12 March, 2021.

What did management say?

Credit Corp CEO, Mr. Thomas Beregi, commented on the purchase of the debt ledger from Collection House, saying:

The Collection House purchase will enable us to maintain our operational scale and grow collections while ongoing purchasing volumes recover.

Furthermore, Mr. Beregi went on to talk about the resilience of its United States market, adding:

While COVID-19 has produced tight purchasing conditions, our US business is very competitive and can grow NPAT rapidly when conditions ease.

Outlook and guidance for Credit Corp

Looking ahead, Credit Corp believes that its continued performance will run into the remaining second-half of the 2021 financial year. It noted that the recent investment in Collections House will drive strong revenue generation more than the recovery to pre-COVID levels.

In light of the above, the company upgraded its guidance for the FY21 period.

Credit Corp anticipates purchase debt ledger (PDL) acquisitions to come around $310 million to $330 million. Previously, its forecasts estimated PDL to fall between $270 million to $330 million.

NPAT is also looking to surge with the company predicting guidance of $85 million to $90 million. Last month, Credit Corp projected NPAT to be between $70 million and $85 million.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
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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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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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

Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) stock is down 9% on Monday after Bank of America analyst Geoff Meacham downgraded his opinion on the stock from neutral to underperform and kept his $150 target on the shares. Moderna, which traded hands at $185 on Friday, opened at $173 and dropped down to $154 in early trading.

The biotech stock skyrocketed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, running up from $19 a share to $111. Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) platform allows it to find vaccines quickly and get them into clinical trials before its rivals.

Meanwhile, Pfizer signed a collaboration agreement with another biotech, BioNTech, another mRNA specialist, to develop its COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna and Pfizer were neck-and-neck all year in the race to get COVID-19 vaccines to the public. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency-use authorisation to both companies in December.

Moderna has a wide-ranging platform with 27 molecules in its pipeline, so long-term investors could be rewarded if it finds success in any major programs including vaccines for cytomegalovirus and certain cancers.

While the market was already bullish about Moderna prior to the pandemic, the huge run-up in valuation is undoubtedly due to its ability to produce (and get clearance) for a highly effective COVID-19 vaccine in under a year. Moderna’s phase 3 data and the FDA’s resulting decision is seen as a proof-of-concept for Moderna’s mRNA platform. Moderna expects to bring in $11 billion in revenue from its vaccine this year.

However, there is a serious downside to Moderna’s vaccine and the class of mRNA vaccines in general: distribution issues. Pfizer’s drug has to be frozen, and Moderna’s vaccine has a 30-day window before it starts to go bad. As a consequence, other vaccine makers like Johnson & Johnson and Novavax might end up taking a larger market share if and when they cross the regulatory finish line, and that could put downward pressure on Moderna’s stock.

Investors should probably wait for a cheaper price to buy Moderna.

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

More reading

• Moderna says vaccine protects against all known variants
• Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine given green light for use in Australia
• Will the ASX see a share market bubble in 2021?
• Moderna coronavirus vaccine approved in Europe
• How MRNA stock performed in 2020

Taylor Carmichael owns shares of Novavax. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Johnson & Johnson and Moderna Inc. 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.

The post Moderna stock: Buy the dip? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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

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