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Australian shares are in strong shape compared to northern hemisphere markets, according to two fund managers.

First Sentier Investors deputy head of Australian growth equities David Wilson said that this is because local funding is “in pretty good order” to see them through to post-COVID recovery.

“Australian companies raised equity very quickly and put their balance sheets in a good place,” he said in a Livewire video.

“They did the same thing in 2009… Just the whole equity capital market seen in Australia means that you don’t have the balance sheet pressures in Australia that you have in a lot of northern-hemisphere countries.”

TMS Capital portfolio manager Ben Clark agreed.

“We’re lucky we’ve got a great system here. Investors were happy to stump up quite significant amounts of cash in a pretty scary period. It allowed companies to get through,” he said.

“You’d almost say some companies were probably a bit conservative, but I don’t think you could really point fingers at them. No one knew what the future held in March and in April.”

Some companies raised in excess of a billion dollars this year, including National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), Lendlease Group (ASX: LLC) and QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE).

Travel companies understandably had to get cash quickly to survive a period of near-zero revenue. Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB), Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) and Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) all grabbed much-needed funds during the pandemic.

It hasn’t been all beer-and-skittles though, with Qantas sacking thousands of workers and Flight Centre forced to close more than 400 stores.

No massive COVID-19 disasters in Australia, phew

Australia as a society has managed the pandemic relatively well compared to other western nations.

And Clark said this also applied to Australian shares.

“We really haven’t seen any big disasters come out of COVID,” he said.

“Even the obvious ones – your Webjets, your travel stocks – managed to get through, and hopefully they will catch the resurgence in travel that we’ll see.”

With the prospect of multiple vaccines coming soon, Clark has bought up a particular sector to take advantage.

“We’ve liked the infrastructure stocks, like Atlas Arteria Group (ASX: ALX), the airports, and Transurban Group (ASX: TCL). Stocks where we think you can be wrong by six months or a year, but ultimately you’ll still be right,” he said.

“You’re not going to get tapped for more equity… The businesses ultimately will normalise – it’s just a question of when.”

More reading

• Qantas (ASX: QAN) share price on the rise as more flights resume
• Why the Helloworld (ASX:HLO) share price is climbing higher today
• Revealed: Shares that’ll shoot up with a COVID-19 recovery
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX continues to climb, despite outage
• Here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo owns shares of Qantas Airways Limited and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Transurban Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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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.

2020 will be remembered as a volatile year in the stock market. After crashing in March, the broader market has seen high highs and low lows, and the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) is up 10% year to date through Friday’s close.

Stay-at-home stocks have scored most of the high gains so far this year, and if you had invested in Etsy Inc (NASDAQ: ETSY), Square Inc (NYSE: SQ), and Peloton Interactive Inc (NASDAQ: PTON) a year ago, you would have more than doubled your money. Are further gains in store?

Exclusive products drive this e-commerce winner

Etsy’s success as an online marketplace for handmade and one-of-a-kind items hasn’t gone unnoticed — certainly not by Amazon com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), which tried to compete with its own Handmade service. But with great management, an improved platform, and a long lead, Etsy keeps growing.

Etsy was well positioned for the pandemic, not only as a fully digital business, but with a community of makers ready to create custom masks and other pandemic paraphernalia. CEO Josh Silverman coordinated a response that spread demand among suppliers to meet increased interest in masks, resulting in millions of new customers, triple-digit sales growth for the past two quarters, and soaring earnings.

And it’s far from over. Active customers are also on the increase as Etsy moves from a niche category into the mainstream and challenges the biggest names in e-commerce. The company acquired Reverb, a marketplace for musical instruments, moving into complementary businesses and adding new ways to plump the top line.

Etsy’s stock has gained almost 240% over the past 12 months (based on Friday’s closing price), but it fell after a great earnings report that has investors wondering about the future, and fell again on Pfizer Inc‘s (NYSE: PFE) promising coronavirus vaccine news. While some forward progress was definitely built into its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, its recent dip brings it down to a relatively reasonable P/E of 75, making now a great time to buy in.

Fueling new ways to pay

Square offers payment solutions for small and medium businesses as well as a peer-to-peer payments service called Cash App. But you probably already know that, since Cash App is the most popular peer-to-peer payments service in Alphabet Inc‘s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) Google Play store.

COVID-19 wasn’t kind to the company; its main business, small business payment processing, and other small business services suffered with business closures. But Cash App business, specifically bitcoin, kept revenue afloat. And now that lockdowns have for the most part been lifted, growth has resumed across the board, with a 140% sales increase and a return to positive earnings.

Square, with $3 billion in revenue, is nowhere near as big as rival PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL), which has close to $5.5 billion in revenue, and PayPal’s Venmo is the most popular peer-to-peer payments service in the Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) store. But Square is growing much faster, with 140% revenue growth. PayPal’s maturity means its growth, while consistent, will be less eye-popping.

Square’s stock has gained about 190% over the past 12 months, but investors can expect to see a lot more upside.

Pedaling toward success

Going public in September 2019, just a few months before the pandemic struck, Peloton was just in time for a stay-at-home fitness movement that lifted its sales and catapulted it into hot stock territory. 

In the third quarter, even after fitness-minded consumers were out and about again, Peloton showed its staying power with a 92% retention rate, 137% increase in connected fitness subscriptions, 382% increase in digital subscriptions, and 232% increase in revenue.

In fact, it’s growing so fast that it can’t keep up with demand, and there’s a longer than one-month waiting list to purchase its premium video-connected bikes. 

Peloton has had the biggest gains of the three companies listed here, more than 280% over the past 12 months, even with a recent dip as investors cash out of stay-at-home stocks. I would say it’s also the riskiest of the three, since premium bikes have a lower ceiling than payments and trinkets. But the company is making strategic moves to keep growing, such as launching new products and connecting with celebrities, and it still has years of high growth ahead.

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

More reading

• Here are the US shares that CommSec customers are buying
• ASX stock of the day: DigitalX (ASX:DCC) shares surge on quarterly update
• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Fastly (NYSE:FSLY) among most popular US shares last week

Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, Etsy, PayPal Holdings, Peloton Interactive, and Square and recommends the following options: short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon, long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon, and long January 2022 $75 calls on PayPal Holdings. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, and PayPal Holdings. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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At lunch on Monday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week on a positive note. The benchmark index is currently up 0.7% to 6,585.7 points.

Here’s what has been happening on the market today:

Zip Co update.

The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price is edging lower despite revealing strong growth for the first four months of FY 2021. The buy now pay later (BNPL) provider delivered a 91% increase in BNPL revenue to $96.7 million for the period. Approximately $27.6 million of this was generated in October. Management also revealed that trading had been strong in November, with all regions set to deliver step change month-on-month growth.

Ampol $300 million buyback.

The Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD) share price is jumping higher today after announcing an off-market share buyback worth $300 million. The fuel retailer announced the surprise buyback after completing the sale of its convenience retail properties. Originally the company, formerly known as Caltex, was going to use the funds to reduce its leverage. But due to improving trading conditions, it has opted to use the proceeds to buy back shares as well.

Insurance Australia placement.

The Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price is sinking lower today after completing its institutional placement. The insurance giant raised $650 million through the issue of approximately 128.7 million new shares to institutional investors at a 7.5% discount of $5.05 per new share. The proceeds will be used to strengthen its balance sheet following an $865 million business interruption claims provision.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers.

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Monday has been the Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price with a gain of almost 6.5%. A number of resources shares are charging higher today with Fortescue. The worst performer has been the IAG share price with its decline of 5.5%. This follows the completion of its institutional placement.

More reading

• ASX 200 events this week that could move the market
• Zip Co (ASX:Z1P) share price pushes higher on trading update
• Why the Ampol (ASX:ALD) share price is racing 8% higher
• Revealed: Shares that’ll shoot up with a COVID-19 recovery
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX continues to climb, despite outage

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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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AGM season this year has seen its fair share of contentious and interesting meetings for S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) companies. This has included first strike votes against Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) and Lendlease Group (ASX: LLC), and the loss of two directors at Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN).

Outside of the ASX 200, but still dramatic, was the resignation of the chairman at Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR).

From an investors point of view, AGM season has allowed us to gauge how companies are recovering from the COVID-19 lockdowns, and get updates on recent news.

Here are a range of AGMs, as well as general investor days, that may make the news this week.

ASX 200 AGMs

Monday

Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD) is using its investor day to discuss issues around its poor performing Lytton refinery. Market interest was piqued after BP plc (LON: BP) announced it would be closing its West Australian refinery, further underlining difficulties in the sector. 

Tuesday

Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC), Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW), and TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE) are ASX 200 companies with an AGM on Tuesday. Of these, TechnologyOne has been in the news recently for its engagements with the Tasmanian Government, the Murray River Council, and Victoria University.

Wednesday

IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL) has seen its share price drop in the wake of an announcement to purchase MLC Limited from National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB). In fact, investors have watched the share price for this ASX 200 company fall by 65% from a recent peak in October of 2017.

Medical imaging company Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) will also be holding its AGM on Wednesday, on the back of a 5-year contract renewal for $8.5 million.

Thursday

ASX 200 resource companies will be in the spotlight on Thursday. In particular, gold mining giant Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN), and rare earths miner Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX: LYC).  Also, Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) will be holding an investor day. 

Origin Energy has been in the news a lot in recent time. In particular, it has curtailed drilling at its Queensland natural gas operations as a flow-on from COVID-19. The company is also investigating an export level hydrogen project in Tasmania. 

Friday

Friday is of course ‘Black Friday’, a retail sales spectacular. Originating from the US, Black Friday is often such a high volume of sales that it puts retailers ‘in the black’. As part of a newer tradition, it is grouped together with ‘Cyber Monday’.  This is going to prove to be an interesting period in 2020 given the impacts that COVID-19 have had on the discretionary retail sectors of the ASX 200. 

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX continues to climb, despite outage
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• 3 leading ASX dividend shares to buy for income
• Exciting ASX shares rated as buys by top fundie
• How to turn $20,000 into $180,000 in 10 years with ASX shares

Daryl Mather has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Brickworks and Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Crown Resorts Limited, Kogan.com ltd, and Ramsay Health Care Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price is pushing higher on Monday following the release of a trading update.

At the time of writing, the buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares are up 1% to $6.24.

The Zip Co share price was up as much as 5.5% to $6.52 at one stage but has since faded.

How is Zip Co performing?

Zip Co has continued its positive form during FY 2021, with record results being driven across all regions.

According to the release, during the month of October, Zip delivered record transaction volume of $401.1 million. This was up 104% on the prior corresponding period. This means the company now has annualised transaction volume of $4.8 billion.

A key driver of this growth was its Zip US business. The QuadPay brand experienced an acceleration in its growth in October. It delivered a 200% jump in transaction volume to $160.6 million, revenue of $11.4 million, and grew its customer base to over 2.5 million.

Together with its 2.3 million ANZ customers, this took Zip’s customer numbers to 4.8 million globally, which represents a 109% increase since this time last year.

Also growing strongly was its merchant numbers. Zip now has over 36,500 merchants on its platform, which is up 74% year on year.

This underpinned another strong increase in overall BNPL revenue growth during the first four months of FY 2021.

Zip recorded a 91% increase in BNPL revenue to $96.7 million for the period, with approximately $27.6 million being generated in October. Including Zip Business, FY 2021 year to date total revenue on a pro forma basis stood at $100.2 million, with $28.4 million recorded in October.

Pleasingly, the company appears to be making positive progress with its bad debts. Although it didn’t provide any actual loss data for the period, it provided monthly arrears data for Australia. This forward indicator of future losses reduced from 1.33% in June to 0.89% in October. Management commented that this is an outstanding result in the current climate.

Zip’s Managing Director and CEO, Larry Diamond, was very pleased with the company’s performance in October.

He said: “We are pleased to report yet another record month for the Company across all its key metrics, as we accelerate into the final quarter of the calendar year.”

“We finished the October month processing over $400m in transaction volume, with November now seeing annualised volume in excess $5bn per annum. All regions are trading very strongly, and the US is now seeing more than 15,000 downloads per day – more than 5m users have now downloaded our apps worldwide,” he added.

Outlook.

While no guidance has been provided for the remainder of the half or the full year, management advised that November has been a strong month.

It advised that momentum across the company has continued this month and all regions are set to deliver step change month-on-month growth. This is prior to the inclusion of the cyber promotional activity at the end of the month.

Mr Diamond added: “Whilst online trade is expected to be very strong this year, and Zip will enjoy its share, this season Zip expects to significantly lift its instore volumes. Our partnership with Visa and access to Apple Pay and Google Pay wallets, unlocks everyday spend, providing our customers with more utility and choice.”

“Zip is well on its way to becoming the first payment choice everywhere and every day. We would like to wish all our merchant partners a strong trading period over the Black Friday – Cyber Monday weekend and into Christmas and Boxing Day. It has been a very different year for many businesses, large and small, online and offline, and we hope this quarter brings positivity and good cheer throughout,” he concluded.

More reading

• Flight Centre and Webjet were among the most traded shares on the ASX last week
• Is buy now, pay later (BNPL) giving Aussies a headache?
• ASX ends trading early, ASX 200 up 1.2%
• Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price underperforming after ASIC finds more BNPL customers falling behind
• Why does the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price continue to outperform Zip (ASX:Z1P)?

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 ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) has announced that its Sydney-Melbourne route will resume flights immediately, following the decision by the New South Wales Premier to reopen the state’s border to Victorians starting today. At the time of writing, the Qantas share price has risen by 1.52% in early morning trading to $5.35.

How will this impact Qantas?

The Sydney-Melbourne route was the second busiest domestic route in the world prior to the pandemic, with the Seoul-Jeju route in Korea taking the number one spot. 

The Qantas share price is on the move today after the company announced that today’s flight resumption will increase its domestic capacity to just under 40% of pre-COVID levels. This is up from 30% prior to today. 

From today, Victorians wishing to travel to NSW will no longer have to get government permission or quarantine for 14 days. 

In addition, Qantas Chief Executive, Alan Joyce, today says he’s optimistic that Australia will enter into a number of travel arrangements with other COVID-safe countries, starting with flights across the Tasman as early as the first few months of next year.

He explains:

We’ve always planned that by July next year we will start reactivating our long-haul international aircraft and get a lot of our people back to work. The news about the vaccines is very positive which I think is great for that border reopening plan.

Brief take on Qantas

Qantas commands a market share of around two thirds of Australian domestic air travel. Combined with its low cost carrier brand, Jetstar, the company is also Australia’s largest international carrier, with 25% of Australia’s international traffic. Qantas has defended this leading market share pretty much for the past decade.

Despite its dominance in the domestic route, Qantas has struggled to compete in the international space. This is partly due to geography. Australia is not a natural hub location and, as a result, Qantas operates at a cost disadvantage against its Asian competitors. 

This cost disadvantage on international routes is reflected in the company’s results – where its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) is 4% for its international division, but a much higher 12% for its domestic division. 

However, this apparent Achilles’ heel turned out to be the company’s savior during the pandemic, as international flights were grounded in favour of domestic travel.

Let’s take a look at the Qantas share price in 2020

Like most airlines, the Qantas share price has taken a beating in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. Its share price started the year at $7.11, and dropped to $2.11 in March at the height of the travel restrictions. Since then, the Qantas share price has recovered to its current price of $5.35.

More reading

• Why the Helloworld (ASX:HLO) share price is climbing higher today
• Revealed: Shares that’ll shoot up with a COVID-19 recovery
• Why the Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price is up 48% in November
• Flight Centre and Webjet were among the most traded shares on the ASX last week
• Aussie companies blast ‘knee-jerk’ COVID-19 border closures

Motley Fool contributor Eddy Sunarto has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Helloworld Travel Ltd (ASX: HLO) share price is climbing higher today. This comes after the company released news about an acquisition of CruiseCo and renewed partnership with Qantas Airways Limited  (ASX: QAN). At the time of writing, the Helloworld share price is up 5.2% to $2.83.

Acquisition of CruiseCo

Helloworld advised it has entered into an agreement to acquire cruise wholesale company, CruiseCo.

Founded 20 years ago, CruiseCo is a specialist cruise package wholesaler led by Kevin Dale, Phil Hoffman, and Steve Lloyd. The company has over 250-member travel agencies with access to more than 50 global cruise lines. Prior to COVID-19, the company had an annualised total transaction value (TTV) of $70 million throughout Australia.

The acquisition will align with Helloworld’s strategy of expanding its cruise offerings in Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore, the takeover will compliment Helloworld’s existing cruise wholesale business, Seven Oceans Cruising. The latter recorded an annual TTV of around $110 million before COVID-19 hit the tourism market.

The acquisition will be funded from the company’s cash reserves and the purchase is not considered material.

Commenting on the acquisition, Helloworld executive director Cinzia Burnes said:

These two businesses, when combined, provide Helloworld Travel with a comprehensive range of cruise options for our retail agencies in Australia and New Zealand.

Given the recent demand for some 2022 specials in the market, the positive news around both the development of a vaccine and rapid testing capabilities, we are confident that demand for cruising will come back strongly from 2022 and we look forward to working with our cruise partners and agencies to capture that demand.

Renewed Qantas partnership

The Helloworld share price is also reacting to news today that Helloworld has renewed its partnership with Qantas.

The new commercial agreement will promote and sell the national carrier’s fares and products until 2023. The multi-year deal is said to provide confidence to Helloworld in the recovery of the ailing sector.

Helloworld CEO and managing director Andrew Burnes welcomed the deal, saying:

We have had a longstanding partnership with Qantas and the continuation of that was an important component in securing our position as their leading travel agency partner and ensures our owned businesses and agency networks can continue to sell Qantas with confidence.

Qantas global sales and distribution executive manager Igor Kwiatkowski said the agreement helped cement a long-standing relationship with Helloworld Travel “as their number one airline supplier in Australia”.

Despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the industry, we’re starting to see really positive momentum from the trade as domestic travel restrictions start to ease.

We are pleased to be working together to focus on opportunities that benefit our businesses – including joint marketing and sales activities – as the travel industry starts to recover.

Helloworld share price summary

The Helloworld share price has been soaring since the start of November. Its shares reached from a low of $1.67 to now $2.79, representing a gain of 67% in just 3 weeks. However, the Helloworld share price is still down on a high of $5.03 in January before the onset of COVID-19. The company fell to an all-time low of 67 cents in March.

More reading

• Revealed: Shares that’ll shoot up with a COVID-19 recovery
• Why the Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price is up 48% in November
• Flight Centre and Webjet were among the most traded shares on the ASX last week
• Aussie companies blast ‘knee-jerk’ COVID-19 border closures
• The Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price soared 12% higher last week

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Helloworld Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Shares in IT services provider, Empired Ltd (ASX: EPD), are soaring this morning after the company announced record first half revenue guidance for FY21 of between $87 million and $89 million. This is up from $84 million for the same period last year. At the time of writing, the Empired share price is up 14.06% to 73 cents following the the announcement which was made during the company’s annual general meeting (AGM).

What else is driving the Empired share price?

The Empired share price is rocketing higher after the company also advised it expects record earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and ammortisation (EBITDA) of between $15.8 million and $16.5 million, compared to $7.8 million last year.

Empired says it expects to pay out an interim dividend in February 2021 in the range of 30% to 40% of earnings.

On its full year outlook, the company says it will continue to perform strongly for the rest of FY21, with no material adverse changes to trading conditions due to COVID-19.

FY22 growth will be underpinned by a full year contribution from Western Power managed services and asset refresh contracts, combined with additional forecast revenue from the recent Western Power systems integrator contract win.

Empired Managing Director, Russell Baskerville, said:

We have been delighted with the progress made in ramping up services relating to a number of key contract wins over the prior six months. In the face of challenging conditions our team has transitioned and commenced service delivery ahead of time and in line with anticipated financial performance.

Over the coming 12 months, the company will contest a number of multi-year strategic deals that, if successful, will provide a material uplift in earnings in FY22 and beyond.

What does Empired do?

Empired provides IT services ranging from business consulting to applications systems development and support. 

Only two weeks ago, the company won a master IT supply contract with Western Power to provide a range of systems integration services. This was the second contract awarded by Western Power, and followed the managed services and preferred infrastructure services contracts awarded to Empired in April 2020.

Empired also counts Aussie Home Loans as one of its clients. The company first listed on the ASX in 2007, and its biggest shareholder is Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL).

How did Empired perform in 2020

The Empired share price has been one the clear winners in 2020, gaining more than 108% year to date. The Empired share price began the year at 35 cents and, based on today’s price, now commands a market capitalisation of $102 million.

More reading

• 2 very reliable ASX dividend shares to buy
• 3 leading ASX dividend shares to buy for income
• ASX 200 ends flat on Friday
• ASX stock of the day: Japara Healthcare (ASX:JHC) share price soars 23%
• Why the Oil Search (ASX:OSH) share price is the worst performer today

Motley Fool contributor Eddy Sunarto has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Christmas came early for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) with the index rallying more than 10% in November. While a majority of ASX shares are still below pre-COVID highs, these companies have managed to push higher into record territory. 

1. Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY) 

The Galaxy Resources share price has lifted more than 50% in this month alone to hit an 18-month high of $1.80. This comes off the back of President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to lead a transition to renewable energy. This includes a promise to eliminate federal subsidies to the oil industry and move to net-zero emissions by 2050. His plans have lifted sentiment for renewable related sectors including lithium miners. 

2. Lifestyle Communities Limited (ASX: LIC) 

Lifestyle Communities is involved in developing and managing affordable communities for working, semi-retired and retired people. It operates as land lease communities, which is a very different model to retirement villages. 

There has been a broad recovery in the real estate sector ranging from retail REITs such as Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) and Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX) bouncing off lows to industrial REITs such as Goodman Group Ltd (ASX: GMG) making new record all-time highs. 

The Lifestyle share price has soared past its previous record all-time highs of $9.90 set in January 2020 to close at $10.98 last Friday. 

3. Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SVW) 

Seven operates a diverse portfolio of industrial services, media, property and other investments. Its recent share price run is reflective of the rotation from tech and growth to cyclical and value stocks. Seven’s last closed share price of $22.59 represents not only a 52-week high but also is cents away from a new all-time record high.  

4. Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)

The Wesfarmers share price has also enjoyed the benefits of the recent rotation into value and cyclical ASX shares. Its push this month to the $49 level represents record all-time highs for the company. 

Wesfarmers has experienced significant demand growth across its businesses including Bunnings, Officeworks and Catch with respective FY21 year-to-date sales growth of 25.2%, 23.4% and 114.4%. 

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX continues to climb, despite outage
• 2 ASX blue chip dividend shares to buy this month
• ASX 200 rises again on Tuesday
• Macquarie (ASX:MQG) picks best ASX stocks to buy for 2021 post-COVID recovery
• Aussie companies blast ‘knee-jerk’ COVID-19 border closures

Motley Fool contributor Lina Lim has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Wesfarmers Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post ASX shares that made 52-week highs last week appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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In more than 10 years of investing, I’ve never experienced anything like 2020. The ups, the downs, the twists! Markets have been changing so quickly that thinking about anything beyond this year, and beyond COVID-19, feels like crystal ball gazing.

That goes for our investing too. However we can’t let the short-term events of 2020 derail the most important vehicle we have for growing our money over long periods: compounding returns.

Compounding is where earnings (or dividends) get reinvested, and those earnings start to produce their own earnings. Over time, this can turn an ordinary portfolio into spectacular, life changing wealth. So here are some quick tips to get that compounding back on track in 2021.

Reinvest those dividends!

Plenty of companies are paying out great dividends to shareholders. For compounding to happen, we need to put those dividends back to work.

For example, global packaging company Amcor CDI (ASX: AMC) pays a quarterly dividend which currently yields around 4.2% per annum (unfranked). In the 2020 financial year, strong cash flows allowed Amcor to increase its dividend by almost 10%. The company also has a dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) which can allow dividends to be automatically invested back into the company, without brokerage, commission or other transaction costs.

But there’s more. In November, the Amcor board of directors approved a $150 million buy-back of ordinary shares. When buy-backs reduce the number of outstanding shares, earnings and dividends are shared between fewer shares, increasing their value.

Rail freight operator, Aurizon Holdings Ltd (ASX: AZJ), also increased its final dividend by 10% after a strong full year result where underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) increased 12%. Like Amcor, Aurizon is planning to buy back $300 million of shares in the 2021 financial year. This is in addition to $400 million of shares repurchased during the 2020 financial year which sweetens the deal for investors. Both companies are currently rated as ‘buy’ by The Motley Fool’s expert dividend analysts.

Consistency is the key…

Compounding is about consistency, repetition and investing regularly over time. If you’re good at setting habits, this will be easy. If not, no problem! The trick is to automate your investing as much as possible. Set up automatic payments to regularly deposit money into an investment account and sign up for company dividend reinvestment plans to take the hassle out of the process.

…but don’t get complacent with investment risk

We need to give companies time to grow, but that doesn’t mean we can be complacent with risk.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that to sleep well at night we want to build a resilient, unshakeable portfolio. Owning shares in companies in different industries, that earn revenue across different regions, is a good start. For example, 47% of Amcor’s revenue comes from North America and another 24% comes from Western Europe. Aurizon earns almost all of its revenue in Australia, so between the two companies there is an element of diversification. 

Finally, if you’re managing your own portfolio, it’s important to keep up with company news and results. The compounding process is far more effective if earnings and dividends are growing regularly. Combined with a long-term perspective and some good habits, you can focus on leaving 2020 behind and turn 2021 into a great year for compounding your wealth.

More reading

• Leading broker warns that US dollar could face bear market crash in 2021
• Latest 3 “buy” recommendations from top brokers
• Amcor (ASX:AMC) share price rising after strong Q1 results
• With interest rates near zero these ASX income shares are in focus
• 3 ASX dividend shares rated as buys by brokers

Motley Fool contributor Regan Pearson has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter @Regan_Invests.

The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Amcor Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Aurizon Holdings Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post How to compound your way to wealth in 2021 appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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