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Overall, it’s been a pretty negative day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and ASX shares so far this Monday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has lost around 0.46% of its value. Investors have probably been a little shocked by what happened with the US-listed SVB Financial Group (Silicon Valley Bank) over the weekend.

But when investors are spooked, one area that tends to perform well is gold.

As the classic ‘safe haven’ asset, gold prices tend to appreciate during events that dent investor confidence. And lo and behold, it is gold that is shining on the ASX today.

As my Fool colleague flagged this morning, gold prices charged 1.8% higher on the US markets on Friday night (our time), with the spot gold price climbing to over US$1,867 per ounce. Right now, the precious metal is asking more than US$1,876 per ounce.

This has predictably led to some gains with most ASX gold shares today. The ASX 200’s largest gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) has gained a healthy 3.79% so far this Monday.

Other gold shares are doing even better with Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) up more than 6.64%, and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX: RMS) up more than 9.84%:

But let’s talk about two gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have just hit new all-time record highs today.

Rising gold price lifts gold ETFs to new highs

The first is the VanEck Gold Bullion ETF (ASX: NUGG). This gold ETF represents an investment in gold bullion, backed by physical gold bars produced by Australian gold miners.

Units of this ETF have ballooned today. This ETF is currently up 1.76% at the time of writing to $28.38 per unit, but rose as high as $28.50 per unit earlier this morning. That’s a new record high.

The second is the Global X Physical Gold ETF (ASX: GOLD). This ETF functions in a similar manner to the VanEck Gold Bullion ETF, holding physical gold bullion on behalf of its investors.

The Physical Gold ETF has lifted by 2.1% at present to $26.27 per unit, but climbed as high as $26.49 earlier this morning – the fund’s new all-time high.

So it just goes to show that some ASX shares and ETFs can prosper on the back of bad news. That’s why many investors love gold and gold investments for their portfolios. Let’s see how the rest of the week treats these ETFs — we could well see even more fresh highs if gold continues to rally.

The post 2 ASX gold ETFs hitting record highs today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why Atlantic Lithium, Arafura, Brainchip, and Core Lithium shares are falling
• Should I buy Woolworths shares at $37?
• Here’s how much I’d need to invest in Telstra shares to generate a $200 monthly income
• Down 15% in 2023, why AGL shares could continue to disappoint
• Warren Buffett is invested in IAG shares, should you be?

SVB Financial provides credit and banking services to The Motley Fool. Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Newcrest Mining. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended SVB Financial. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended SVB Financial. 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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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week with a decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.4% to 7,113.1 points.

Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are dropping:

Atlantic Lithium Ltd (ASX: A11)

The Atlantic Lithium share price has dropped a further 9% to 45.5 cents. Investors have been selling this lithium developer’s shares following a short attack from Blue Orca last week. It alleges that Atlantic Lithium obtained key Ghana mining licenses by making secret payments and promises of payment to the immediate family of a high-level Ghana politician. Atlantic Lithium has denied these allegations.

Arafura Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: ARU)

The Arafura share price is down 3.5% to 56.5 cents. This rare earths developer’s shares have come under pressure this month amid comments out of Tesla at its investor day. The electric vehicle giant revealed that it plans to drop the use of rare earths in its future electric vehicle models.

Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN)

The Brainchip share price is down almost 4% to 50.5 cents. Short sellers have been increasing their positions in this struggling semiconductor company. They don’t appear to believe that its sales performance will improve in the near term and justify its crazy valuation. Breaking into the semiconductor market and having big companies trust your largely unproven tech is no easy feat.

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)

The Core Lithium share price is down 4% to 90.7 cents. This morning, analysts at Goldman Sachs reiterated their sell rating and 90 cents price target on this lithium developer’s shares. Goldman has been looking at the lithium market and notes continued weakness in spot prices.

The post Why Atlantic Lithium, Arafura, Brainchip, and Core Lithium shares are falling appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the 10 most shorted ASX shares this week
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Why are ASX 200 lithium shares falling so hard today?
• Why Atlantic Lithium, CBA, Piedmont Lithium, and Pilbara Minerals shares are dropping
• Piedmont Lithium share price sinks following short attack response

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

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The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price has been a good performer in the 2023 calendar year to date. It’s up by almost 10%. That compares to just a 1% rise for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)

I don’t think Woolworths shares are going to keep outperforming the S&P 200 by 9% per month this year. But the supermarket business could still represent a good opportunity at this level.

With that in mind, let’s have a look at one expert’s view on the company.

The Woolworths share price is ‘fully valued’

Writing on The Bull, Arthur Garipoli from Seneca Financial Solutions pointed out that the recent FY23 half-year result was “marginally ahead of analyst forecasts”.

He noted that group sales were $33.17 billion, before significant items – this represented an increase of 4% on the prior corresponding period. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) grew by 18.4% to $1.64 billion. Garipoli said that food sales were up and the performance of the Big W store performance “improved”.

The supermarket business also pointed out that underlying earnings per share (EPS) grew by 11.7% while the dividend per share went up by 17.9% to 46 cents per share.

While food sales only increased by 2.5%, the food EBIT jumped 18.2%. This was boosted by a 48 basis point (0.48%) increase in the gross profit margin to 30.7% and a 30 basis point decline (0.3%) in the cost of doing business (CODB).

In other words, Woolworths has been able to achieve higher margins on the products it’s selling, despite inflation impacts, and reduce its costs thanks to lower COVID costs.

After analysing these numbers, Garipoli said:

In our view, the company is fully valued at this point.

Outlook

Sometimes, outlook comments can have a sizeable impact on the Woolworths share price.

The Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci said that the business had a strong start to the FY23 second half.

Operating conditions have “continued to stabilise and sales growth has been robust”, he said.

In Australian food, the company reported Woolworths’ sales for the first seven weeks of the second half had increased by 6.5%.

Cost growth in the FY23 second half will “also benefit from the non-recurrence of COVID costs”. It’s also making “good progress on regaining momentum” with its productivity agenda. However, cost inflation in areas like “wages, energy, and supply chain” remains “material and well above recent history”.

Woolworths share price snapshot

At the current valuation, the supermarket business has a market capitalisation of $45 billion according to the ASX.

The post Should I buy Woolworths shares at $37? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Big lesson from reporting season: STAY AWAY from these ASX shares, says expert
• ‘A rocky road ahead’: Expert names 2 ASX 200 shares to thrive in a tough 2023
• Guess which ASX 200 stock has landed 3 substantial shareholders in a week
• Here’s how I would secure monthly dividends in the 2024 financial year with these ASX stocks

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. 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 Scott Phillips.

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The ASX 200 telco Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) has a long history on the ASX as a source of dividend income. Telstra shares have been a staple holding of anyone seeking income from the share market for decades. That reputation continues today.

Over the past few years, the dividends that Telstra has paid out have been remarkably consistent. Unlike many other ASX 200 blue chip shares, Telstra kept its dividends uncut during the tough years of the pandemic.

Telstra paid out the same level of dividends in 2020 as it did in 2019, and did so again in 2021. And in 2022, investors were treated to the first dividend raise that Telstra has given to its investors since 2016. Shareholders received an 8.5 cents per share final dividend last year.

In 2023 so far, Telstra has upped its dividend game again. An interim dividend of 8.5 cents per share will be coming investors’ way later this month. That represents a 6.25% increase over 2022’s interim dividend of 8 cents per share. It also matched the raised final dividend that investors were treated to in September 2022.

So Telstra is a solid ASX dividned share. But how much would you have to have invested in Telstra shares to get a monthly income of $200? Let’s figure it out.

How many Telstra shares would get you to $200 a month in dividends?

Let’s start with the basics: a monthly income of $200 would translate into an annual income of $2,400.

As we’ve just been through, Telstra shares have paid out a total of 17 cents per share over the past 12 months. So in order to receive a total of $2,400 in dividend income over the past year, investors would have needed to own 14,118 Telstra shares (14,118 multiplied by 17 cents per share equates to just over $2,400 in dividend payments).

At today’s Telstra share price of $4.11 per share (at the time of writing), buying 14,118 shares of Telstra would set an investor back approximately $58,025.

So that’s how much an investor would have to spend today to secure a monthly income of $200 from Telstra. That’s assuming the telco doesn’t cut its dividends going forward, of course.

But if our investor bought that same number of shares a year ago, it would have only cost them $55,060 at a share price of $3.90.

At today’s Telstra share price, this ASX 200 telco has a trailing dividend yield of 4.15%.

The post Here’s how much I’d need to invest in Telstra shares to generate a $200 monthly income appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here’s how I would secure monthly dividends in the 2024 financial year with these ASX stocks
• These are the best ASX dividend shares to own: Morgans
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Thursday
• How can I hope to retire rich when the share market is falling?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Telstra Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. 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 AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) share price has been well and truly out of form in 2023.

The energy giant’s shares have lost 15% of their value since the start of the year.

This compares to unfavourably to a modest 0.9% gain by the ASX 200 index over the same period.

Why is the AGL share price under pressure?

The main driver of this weakness has been the release of its half-year results from last month.

AGL reported underlying net profit after tax of $87 million, which was a 55% decline on the prior corresponding period. And on a statutory basis, the company posted a loss after tax of $1.1 billion. This includes $706 million of impairment charges from the company’s accelerated decarbonisation plans.

This poor first-half performance led to AGL downgrading its FY 2023 underlying net profit after tax guidance to between $200 million to $280 million from between $200 million and $320 million.

Pain may not be over

A recent note out of Morgans reveals that its analysts are wary about AGL’s performance in the second half and are doubting its ability to achieve its guidance.

It notes that the company’s full-year EBITDA is skewed 46% to the first half and 54% to the second half. However, in the three years prior to COVID, it was skewed the opposite way.

In light of this, it has been named among a collection of shares that could disappoint in August when they release their results. Morgans commented:

Consensus industrial estimates suggest a second half earnings skew (49%:51%) which is curious given the economic backdrop and is at odds with the typical preCOVID first half skew (56%:44%). More specifically, 49% of companies are expected to be skewed to 2H, well above the 25% in pre-COVID times.

Morgans currently has a hold rating and $6.89 price target on AGL’s shares.

The post Down 15% in 2023, why AGL shares could continue to disappoint appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Morgans warns that these ASX shares could disappoint in FY23
• The AGL share price sank 10% in February. What’s next?
• Don’t be deceived by ASX dividends
• 6 ASX 200 directors buying up their company shares in the past week
• 6 asset-rich ASX 200 shares to buy for their takeover potential: expert

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

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The Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price is an interesting investment proposition in the current environment.

It claims to be the largest general insurance business in Australia and New Zealand. Its businesses underwrite over $13 billion of premiums per annum, selling insurance through a number of different brands.

In Australia, its brands include NRMA Insurance, CGU, SGIO, SGIC, Swann Insurance, WFI and ROLLiN’, while in New Zealand it owns the brands NZI, State and AMI.

As reported by my colleague Brooke Cooper, IAG created a strategic relationship with Berkshire Hathaway in 2015. Berkshire Hathaway invested $500 million for a 3.7% stake and agreed with IAG its stake would remain between 3.7% to 14.9%. However, it was recently announced that the strategic relationship agreement and equity ownership subscription previously they had made won’t continue.

However, a lot of the whole of account quota share (WAQS) was renewed with Berkshire Hathaway, while most of the rest was renewed with other reinsurers.

Berkshire Hathaway is also allowed to offer reinsurance to other competitors in the Australian industry.

Time to buy IAG shares?

The FY23 half-year result showed growth in a number of financial metrics. Gross written premium (GWP) grew by 7.5% to $7 billion. The net earned premium increased by 3.8% to $4.1 billion. IAG’s net profit after tax (NPAT) jumped 170.5% to $468 million, while cash earnings increased 26.7% to $223 million.

In FY23, the company is expecting to achieve FY23 GWP growth of around 10%. Last year it was expecting mid-to-high single-digit growth of GWP.

However. The business is only expecting its FY23 reported insurance margin to be around 10%, compared to the previous range of 14% to 16%. IAG put this largely down to the expected higher natural perils costs from the Auckland flood event.

I think IAG shares are in a good place at the moment, with rises in insurance premiums and the benefit that its bond investment portfolio gets from higher interest rates.

The business is currently trading at 14 times FY24’s estimated earnings with a dividend yield of 5.6% excluding the effect of franking credits.

On the one hand, I think it probably could be a good investment today. But, I’m wary of how often a damaging storm or an investment crash can hurt its earnings, so it’s not the type of business that I’d look at as a long-term holding with compounding potential.

The post Warren Buffett is invested in IAG shares, should you be? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• How I’d generate a $10,000 second income from IAG shares
• Why is the IAG share price sliding lower on Thursday?
• 3 ASX 200 shares trading ex-dividend before the end of this week

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Berkshire Hathaway. 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 great thing about falling share prices is that it boosts the dividend yield on offer from ASX income stocks.

Choosing the right businesses could lead to a resilient cash flow for investors during uncertain times.

Dividends and distributions are not guaranteed, but some look more stable to me than others.

With that in mind, I like the look of these two income stocks.

Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)

Rural Funds is one of the most interesting real estate investment trusts (REITs) in my opinion.

It owns a portfolio of farms across Australia. Diversification is important, so it’s good to know that the farms are diversified across climactic conditions and by farm type. It owns almond farms, macadamias, cattle, vineyards and cropping (sugar and cotton).

The Rural Funds share price has dropped around 30% since early June 2022, which has pushed up the prospective distribution yield.

Rural Funds expects to pay a total distribution of 12.2 cents per unit in FY23. That translates into a forward yield of 5.7%.

The ASX income stock has a goal to increase its distribution by 4% per year for investors. This growth is funded by a combination of organic rental increases at the farms and productivity improvement investments at the farms.

It’s currently trading at a 23% discount to the adjusted net asset value (NAV) of $2.78 at 31 December 2022, which gives investors a good margin of safety.

Nick Scali Limited (ASX: NCK)

Nick Scali has been hit very hard since it reported its half-year earnings in early February this year, down 26%. Shares in the furniture retailer have also fallen more than 40% since November 2021.

The ASX income stock reported a 70% increase of earnings per share (EPS) to 74.8 cents, while the interim dividend per share increased 14.3% to 40 cents per share.

But, for January 2023, Nick Scali said that its Nick Scali brand written sales orders were 12.1% below January 2022 and 22.9% above pre-COVID-19 January 2020.

The company expects to open four new Nick Scali stores in the second half of FY23, in addition to the two that opened in the first half of FY23.

I think the business has a number of positive tailwinds including a store rollout, range expansion and growth of profitable online sales.

It’s not a surprise to think that sales and profit are going to be lower in the 2023 calendar year compared to 2022. But, I don’t think pessimism will be widespread forever, so I think this time of fear is a good time to consider investing.

Commsec numbers suggest Nick Scali could pay a total dividend of 59 cents per share in FY24, translating into a grossed-up dividend yield of 9.2% despite expectations of a large cut.

The post I reckon these are 2 of the best ASX income stocks to buy in March appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 3 ASX All Ords directors buying up their company shares recently
• Top ASX small-cap shares to buy in March 2023
• How I’d aim to replace an entire salary with passive income from ASX dividend shares
• Buy Westpac and this high-yield ASX dividend share: analysts
• Buy these ASX dividend shares now: analysts

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in Rural Funds Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Rural Funds Group. 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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US futures, including S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP: .INX) futures, have jumped in response to a plan to save depositors of the failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)

Readers unfamiliar with the recent SVB collapse can check out today’s article from the Motley Fool’s Scott Phillips article here.

Basically, SVB is a United States-based bank with a niche working with tech companies and others of that nature. It also provided loans to start-ups. It reportedly worked with about half of US venture-backed tech and life science businesses.

SVB was one of the largest 20 banks in the US. Last week, the bank collapsed and US officials took over its operations. This reportedly represents the largest US bank failure since the GFC.

Investor confidence returns

According to reporting by CNBC, futures – which give an indication of whether the share market is going to open up or down – have reacted positively to the news that all depositors of SVB are going to get their money back. S&P 500 futures are up 1.4%.

All the SVB depositors will get access to their funds on Monday, according to a joint statement from the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

In order to provide confidence to the rest of the banking system, regulators are making additional funding available to other banks with a new bank term funding program. It will offer loans of up to one year to banks, savings, saving associations, credit unions and other associations, according to CNBC.

Regulators also stepped in to close Signature Bank – reportedly one of the main banks for the cryptocurrency industry. At 31 December 2022, it had US$110.4 billion in total assets and US$88.6 billion in total deposits.

Depositors of Signature Bank will get their money as well. But, it was noted by regulators that no losses would be borne by taxpayers.

In other words, shareholders and bondholders at both Signature Bank and SVB are being “wiped out”, according to a Treasury official, CNBC said.

Early ASX share market reaction

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price is up around 0.3%, while other ASX bank shares have dipped slightly in mid-morning trade.

At the time of writing the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price is down 0.17, the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price has slipped 0.32% and the ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price is 0.59% lower.

As a whole, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down around 0.6%.

It will be interesting to watch whether other small-to-mid US banks are facing similar issues. Various stakeholders will want to understand why SVB collapsed, and so rapidly.

The post S&P 500 futures lift as regulators shore up SVB deposits appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 3 reasons the 8% NAB dividend yield looks safe to me
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Buy Westpac and this ASX dividend share next week: analysts
• How to make $50,000 of retirement income with ASX shares
• Here’s how I would secure monthly dividends in the 2024 financial year with these ASX stocks

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Westpac Banking. 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 the start of each week, I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) remains the most shorted ASX share despite its short interest easing to 11.8%. Revenue margin headwinds may be causing concerns.
• Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) has seen its short interest ease slightly to 11.2%. This may be due to competition and cash burn concerns.
• Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has 10.4% of its shares held short, which is down slightly week on week. Falling lithium prices have been weighing on the sector.
• Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has short interest of 9.7%, which is down week on week. The sustained weakness in spot lithium prices appears to be spooking investors.
• Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) has short interest of 9.3%, which is up week on week. This may be down to short sellers doubting Zip’s ability to achieve its profitability goals.
• Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) has seen its short interest ease to 9%. Short sellers will have been pleased to see this network as a service provider’s shares sink last week after the shock exit of its CEO.
• Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) has short interest of 8.5%, which is up week on week again. This appears to be due to major cost blow outs at the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project and lithium price weakness.
• Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) has returned to the top ten with short interest of 7.2%. Concerns about the sports betting company’s cash burn could be behind this.
• JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) has arrived in the top ten with 7% of its shares held short. This may be due to fears over the impact of the cost of living crisis on consumer spending.
• Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT) has also entered the top ten with short interest of 6.8%. There may be fears that the economic environment could delay major contracts for this data centre operator.

The post Here are the 10 most shorted ASX shares this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Betmakers Technology Group, Megaport, and Zip Co. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Betmakers Technology Group, Flight Centre Travel Group, and Megaport. 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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March is becoming an eventful month amid the drama created by the failed US Silicon Valley Bank. I think in this environment, there are a number of All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO) shares that could be ones to watch.

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse represents the largest US bank failure since the Global Financial Crisis. Time will tell how this plays out.

However, there are some All Ordinaries ASX shares that could be compelling buys this month.

MyState Ltd (ASX: MYS)

MyState describes itself as a diversified financial services business, consisting of MyState Bank and TPT Wealth, a trustee and wealth management company.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see this business hit a 52-week low this week amid all the banking uncertainty.

The business recently announced its FY23 half-year result for the six months to 31 December 2022, which showed net interest income rose 21.3%, while earning per share (EPS) increased 18% to 18.6%. New to bank customers increased 54% on the prior corresponding period.

It’s benefiting from the higher interest rate environment. The All Ordinaries ASX share currently offers a grossed-up dividend yield of 8.8%, which is a solid dividend return in my opinion.

The business is focused on growing its market share on a “profitable and sustainable basis”, with a target of “reducing its cost to income ratio to less than 60% in the medium term and creating cumulative return on equity (ROE) and EPS growth of 30% over the next three years”.

Best & Less Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: BST)

Best & Less describes itself as a leading value apparel specialty retailer with an omnichannel sales network comprising 245 physical stores and an online platform. It aims to be the “number one choice” for mums and families buying baby and kids’ ‘value apparel’ in Australia and New Zealand, both through its own brand in Australia and Postie in New Zealand.

In an environment where household budgets are tightening, I think Best & Less could be one of the businesses that may see resilient demand, or even growth.

The business is planning to keep opening new stores to help its growth, while investing in the business in a number of ways which should help the business become more efficient in the next few years.

In the first seven weeks of the second half of FY23, the All Ordinaries ASX share saw total sales growth of 3.8%, which is useful for the company in my opinion.

Commsec numbers suggest the Best & Less share price is valued at 8x FY23’s estimated earnings and 6x FY25’s estimated earnings. The prediction is that the grossed-up dividend yield could be 12.9% in FY23.

Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)

Volpara says it makes software in a bid to protect families from cancer. The idea is that healthcare providers use Volpara’s software to better understand cancer risk and guide recommendations about additional imaging, genetic testing, and other interventions.

The AI-powered image analysis enables radiologists to quantify breast tissue and help technologists produce mammograms.

A new US federal regulation has just been finalised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “requiring mammography facilities across the country to inform patients whether their breasts are composed of dense tissue”.

Within the next 18 months, by September 2024, all patient reports and summaries must include certain language about breast density.

I think this is very positive for Volpara considering it’s one of the leaders of breast screening technology in the US. This could enable ongoing average revenue per user (ARPU) growth, which is useful considering the gross profit margin is above 90%.

The business is aiming to achieve positive cash flow as soon as possible, which could be a boost for investor sentiment about the All Ordinaries ASX share. The Volpara share price is down 55% since early February 2021.

The post 3 ASX All Ordinaries shares I’m watching like a hawk in March appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why Arafura, Myer, Volpara, and Xero shares are zooming higher
• Best & Less share price soars 10% on result, improving outlook

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Volpara Health Technologies. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Volpara Health Technologies. 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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