The Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price has been on form again on Tuesday.
So much so, in afternoon trade the business and accounting software platform provider's shares climbed 2% to a record high of $106.68.
When the Xero share price reached that level, it meant it was up 34% since the start of the year.
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Why is the Xero share price at a record high?
Investors have been fighting to get hold of Xero's shares over the last few months following a positive annual general meeting update and the announcement of a new acquisition.
In respect to the former, at its annual general meeting in August, Xero revealed that it has continued its subscriber growth in FY 2021 despite the pandemic.
Since the start of April and through to 31 July, Xero recorded 96,000 net subscriber additions to its platform. This lifted its subscribers to a total of 2.38 million at the end of the period.
Pleasingly, this was driven by positive net subscriber additions in all geographies during the four months.
As for its acquisition, earlier this month Xero completed the acquisition of Waddle for up to A$80 million.
Waddle is a cloud-based lending platform that helps small businesses access capital through invoice financing. Its platform allows a range of banks and financial technology companies to more easily lend to small businesses by leveraging their accounting data and automating many of the manual processes typically involved in invoice financing.
Management notes that the acquisition aligns with its strategy to grow its small business platform and to address critical small business financial needs.
Waddle's best-in-class cloud-lending platform, combined with small businesses' invoice data, is expected to enable the delivery of tailored invoice financing solutions to small businesses.
Xero's CEO, Steve Vamos, commented: "The acquisition of Waddle is an important step in our strategy to help small businesses better manage cash flow and gain access to working capital. Waddle's lending platform has the potential to enable a wide range of banks, fintechs and other lenders to better support small business financial needs. We're excited about the benefits Waddle can bring to many of our customers and banking partners."
Is it too late to invest?
While Xero's shares are certainly not cheap after this strong run, I still see value in them for long-term focused investors.
This is due to its very positive long term outlook thanks to the shift to online accounting and its evolution into a full service small business solution.
