In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to finish the week on a positive note. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.2% to 6,727.8 points.
Four shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are charging higher:
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
The Afterpay share price is up almost 6% to $127.98. This may be partly in response to a bullish broker note out of Morgan Stanley this week. The broker retained its overweight rating and lifted its price target on the payments company's shares to $136.00. Morgan Stanley notes that app downloads have been increasing strongly in the US and UK. It is forecasting active customers of approximately 13.6 million for the first half of FY 2021. This represents a 37.4% increase from 9.9 million active customers at the end of FY 2020.
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)
The BHP share price is up 2% to $47.00. Investors have been buying the mining giant's shares after the iron ore price climbed higher again. According to CommSec, the price of the steel making ingredient has risen a further 1.4% to US$171.45 a tonne.
Objective Corporation Limited (ASX: OCL)
The Objective share price is up 4% to $13.50. This follows the release of an update by the information technology software and services provider this morning. According to the release, based on unaudited management accounts, Objective is expecting to report a 40% increase in revenue to $46.5 million for the first half. And thanks to margin expansion, the company is guiding to a 74% increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to $11.8 million.
Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME)
The Pro Medicus share price is up a further 6% to $38.81. Investors have been buying this leading health imaging software company's shares over the last couple of days due to a major new contract win. Pro Medicus has signed a seven-year contract worth $40 million with Salt Lake City based Intermountain Healthcare. The deal sees its Visage 7 Viewer and Visage 7 Open Archive products implemented across all of Intermountain's radiology and subspecialty imaging departments.
