Last week was a very busy one for investors filled with plenty of updates, results, and broker recommendations.
Three shares that stood out last week are listed below. Here's why they are my stars of the week:
Afterpay rockets higher on Tencent news.
The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price was on fire last week after it revealed that Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings snapped up a 5% stake in the buy now pay later provider. Investors appear optimistic that the US$500 billion WeChat owner will be the key to opening up the Asian market in the future. Afterpay commented: "Tencent's investment provides us with the opportunity to learn from one of the world's most successful digital platform businesses. To be able to tap into Tencent's vast experience and network is valuable, as is the potential to collaborate in areas such as technology, geographic expansion and future payment options on the Afterpay platform."
Pushpay impresses with strong growth and bullish guidance.
Another impressive performer last week was the Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH) share price. It rocketed over 50% higher after investors responded very positively to its full year result release. For the 12 months ended March 31, the donor management system provider reported a 1,506% increase in EBITDAF to US$25.1 million. Pleasingly, the company has not been negatively impacted by the pandemic, quite the opposite, and further strong growth is expected in FY 2021. Management has provided EBITDAF guidance of between US$48 million and US$52 million. This will be a 91.2% to 107% increase, respectively, year on year. Looking further ahead, Pushpay is targeting a 50% share of the medium and large church market in the future. This represents a US$1 billion opportunity and is many multiples the US$127.5 million it achieved in FY 2020.
Zip Co delivers explosive growth despite the pandemic.
Another star share of the week was Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P). This buy now pay later provider's shares jumped over 47% last week after the Afterpay news and the release of a trading update. The latter revealed that business is booming despite the pandemic. During the month of April, Zip Co recorded an 81% increase in monthly revenue to $15.1 million. This was driven by an 86% lift in monthly transaction volume to $181.6 million. Another positive was that its net bad debts came in at 1.99%, which management notes is significantly outperforming the market average.
