In afternoon trade on Wednesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has bounced back from a morning decline and is edging ever so slightly higher. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up a few points to 6,054.1 points.
Four shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are charging higher:
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Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
The Afterpay share price has jumped 6% higher to $101.93 following the release of its first quarter update. For the three months ended 30 September, Afterpay delivered a 115% increase in underlying sales to a record of $4.1 billion. A key driver of this growth was another sizeable increase in active customers across all its markets. Afterpay ended the period with 11.2 million active customers, up 98% on the prior corresponding period.
Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL)
The Blackmores share price has surged 12% higher to $71.40. Investors have been buying the health supplements company's shares since the release of its annual general meeting update this week. One broker that liked what it saw was Credit Suisse. This morning its analysts upgraded Blackmores' shares to a neutral rating from underperform.
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)
The Coles share price has risen 2.5% to $17.65. The catalyst for this was the release of a stronger than expected first quarter update. During the quarter, Coles achieved a 10.5% increase in total sales to $9.6 billion. This was higher than even the bullish analysts at Goldman Sachs were expecting. They had forecast total first quarter sales of $9,365 million, up 7.7% on the prior corresponding period. Pleasingly, all three of the company's segments performed positively and delivered strong comparable store sales growth.
Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL)
The Super Retail share price has stormed 5% higher to $11.73. This follows the release of a trading update this morning. That update reveals that Super Retail has had a sensational start to the new financial year. According to the release, during the first 17 weeks of FY 2021, it delivered 25% growth in both total and like-for-like sales. This was despite the impact of COVID-19 restrictions, including lockdowns in Melbourne and Auckland.
