The Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX) share price is soaring today following the release of a positive Q1 update.

The animal health company's shares broke its share price record today, up 12% at a high of 70 cents at close of trade. The robust quarterly performance represents a 52-week high share price for Apiam.

Continued momentum

Apiam reported that momentum has continued on from the strong results achieved in the second-half of FY20.

For the period ending 30 September, the company recorded revenue of $29.6 million, an increase of 14% on Q1 FY20. Gross profit also grew to $16.6 million, up 21.2%.

This was supported by a robust performance in its companion animal and dairy segment, as well as its pig segment. The surge in demand offset a fall in revenue from its feedlot services. Apiam said fewer cattle were on feed compared to the comparative period due to higher feeder cattle prices.

Underlying conditions in the company's regional areas also improved due to the recent rainfall. This led Apiam to focus on its growth strategy which saw new implementations of business initiatives. Launching the ProDairy consultancy program, and Best Mates program delivered organic growth through new customer acquisitions.

Management advised Apiam is generating operating cost efficiencies and leverage, and expects a strong second-half to FY21.

COVID-19 impact

As COVID-19 related lockdowns have restricted movement, Apiam said it has had a bumper six months in its animal business. The contributing reasons were stated as people have further time on their hands and in-turn were seeking companionship.

The favourable conditions allowed the company to launch its Best Mates annual subscription, which grew 64% in its membership base. The program covers unlimited health checks cover for animals among other services.

Apiam managing director, Chris Richards commented on pet ownership. He said:

We're seeing a trend towards pets being more a part of the family and treated as such. This has been a trend we have been observing in regional areas for some time, where traditionally it was more of a trend we saw in the cities. It is now more widespread with regional communities willing to invest more in the health and wellbeing of their companion animals.

In addition to the program, Best Mates has recently launched a TV advertising campaign to promote its services. The advertisement is being shown across regional towns in Victoria and southern New South Wales.

The post Apiam (ASX:AHX) share price soars 12% on strong Q1 update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO)(ASX: XJO) and ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) indices finished higher on Thursday.

Here's a short recap of the Australian market:

• S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) higher 0.23% to 6.866.70
• ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) higher 0.24% to 6,967.40
• AUD/USD at US 68 cents
• Gold at US$1,456.23 an ounce
• Brent Oil at US$63.85 a barrel

One of the best-performing ASX 200 shares today was the Service Stream Limited (ASX: SSM) share price which rose 5.5%.

The NBN change and the investor day has sent the Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price up another 3.8%.

The share price of Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) dropped 0.6% after it announced that some investors would be able to exit the capital raising because of the AUSTRAC issues.

The Gentrack Group Ltd (ASX: GTK) share price was flat today after it reported its result to investors.

The Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX) share price went up 6% after the company held its AGM.

Another business to rise on its AGM is Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1), its share price has gone up 3.7% today.

An announcement of showcasing its offering in the US wasn't enough to stop the Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price falling 2.8%.

Finally, the share price of Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT) increased by 1.7% after the healthcare business released trial results of its DENSE breast screening.

Here are some of today's top stories:    

• Parents should stop doing THESE 6 things to financially help kids
• Telstra shares up on possible InfraCo spin off
• How to retire a millionaire
• Here are some must-know terms for investing in ASX shares

The post ALL ORDINARIES finishes higher Thursday: 8 ASX shares you missed appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Are the share prices of Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS), Paragon Care Ltd (ASX: PGC) and Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX) too cheap to ignore?

One of the best ways to beat the market is to invest in shares when they're trading cheaply.

The three ASX shares below are seemingly trading cheaply:

Apiam

Apiam is a rural veterinary business, it's trading at 9x FY19's estimated earnings with a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.6%.

Unlike its capital city focused veterinary peers, a large part of Apiam's earnings are generated by serving the large livestock population in regional Australia. This could be an attractive source of organic growth if Australia's livestock exports keeps growing.

Other growth strategies for Apiam include opening veterinary businesses in regional Petstock retail stores. It is also slowly acquiring regional standalone veterinary clinics.

Paragon

Paragon is a healthcare product distributor, it's also trading at 9x FY19's estimated earnings with a grossed-up dividend yield of 7.1%.

It sells a variety of products such as beds, surgery equipment and devices to clients, primarily hospitals and aged care facilities. With the ageing population there should be a supportive tailwind for revenue growth over the coming years.

Paragon's purchasing platform allows clients to order their products, which should lead to growing efficiencies and profit margins over time if Paragon can take advantage of the systems that it is setting up.

Telstra

Telstra is Australia's biggest telco, it's trading at close to 14x FY19's estimated earnings with a trailing grossed-up dividend yield of 10.8%. However, some bearish estimates have predicted a sizeable cut to the dividend, so its forward grossed-up yield may only be 8.4%.

The telco seems to be betting all future growth on the future of 5G. There is a danger that it gets sucked into another low-cost war with competitors over time once every telco can offer 5G services. I'm not sure that consumer budgets could actually afford a major increase in their monthly bills at the moment.

Foolish takeaway

All three shares have their positives and negatives. I can see decent organic growth potential for Paragon and Apiam, which would make their current valuations very cheap indeed.

However, Telstra doesn't look like cheap to me – it could be a value trap if its earnings keep falling.

The post Are Telstra shares and these 2 ASX stocks too cheap to ignore? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL) share price is up more than 1% after the Federal Court of Australia approved the convening of a meeting of Greencross shareholders to vote on the takeover.

Private equity firm TPG has bid $5.55 cash per Greencross share to take over the company. Independent expert Grant Thornton Corporate Finance has concluded the offer price is fair and reasonable, and is therefore in the best interests of shareholders in the absence of a superior offer.

Grant Thornton said that the full underlying value of Greencross is between $5.05 and $5.67 per share, meaning that the potential cash payment of $5.55 per share is within the top quartile of this range.

Shareholders will meet on Wednesday, 6 February 2019 to decide whether to vote for the takeover to go ahead or not. If that's approved the takeover scheme will be implemented on 27 February 2019 with the special dividend date set at 20 February 2019.

If the takeover goes ahead there one will be one less veterinary business on the ASX, two of the remaining players are National Veterinary Care Ltd (ASX: NVL)

Greencross shareholders will need to decide if they want to re-invest their money back into other ASX shares.

The post Greencross share price rises after receiving court approval for the takeover appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

I'm always on the lookout for ways to diversify my portfolio with ASX shares whilst maintaining strong returns. If you can mitigate risk whilst also beating the market then that's a powerful combination.

Diversification usually means investing into different industries and perhaps businesses that offer geographical diversification away from Australia.

Here are three shares that I think would offer good diversification:

Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)

Goodman is one of the largest property businesses on the ASX. It develops, owns and operates industrial and commercial properties all over the world.

It has warehouses, large logistics facilities and business & office parks. It's quite likely that there is a Goodman site near to where you live if you're in a major city.

Distribution and logistics facilities are very important in today's technological world, particularly with e-commerce. Amazon and many of Goodman's tenants are there for the long-term, it has a very high quality list of tenants at its facilities.

Goodman has grown its operating earnings by an impressive high single-digit amount each year.

It's currently trading at 22x FY19's estimated earnings with a distribution yield of 2.6%.

Auckland International Airport Ltd (ASX: AIA)

The key international airport gateway to travel to New Zealand, Auckland Airport, is operated by this high-quality business.

Every month it reports of more international passengers travelling through its terminal compared to last year. In September 2018 it revealed that international passengers grew by 6.4% and total passengers grew by 7.3%.

Westerners in their golden years and Asians want to explore the country with majestic scenery in bigger numbers every year.

However, it's valued at a high price, it's trading at 31x FY19's estimated earnings with a dividend yield of 3%.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

This small cap vet operator has suffered from the de-rating of the other major veterinary clinic operators on the ASX.

However, it's a fairly different business with a lot of its earnings relating to livestock in regional areas. The only comparable clinic earnings it generates is locations in regional cities. For example it is setting up vet clinics inside regional Petstocks – one recent location addition is in Bendigo.

It won't shoot the lights out but, with Australia's growing agricultural export industry and its expanding network of clinics, it could be trading at attractive value at 9x FY19's estimated earnings with a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.4%.

Foolish takeaway

I think all three of these businesses are good quality and could form part of a diversified portfolio. At the current prices Goodman and Auckland Airport don't look cheap, I'd much rather buy shares of Apiam.

The post Buy these 3 ASX shares to instantly diversify your portfolio appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

'Value' ASX shares that are cheap could soon be the best ones to own.

There has been an increasing amount of discussion about whether 'growth' or 'value' is the best way to go for share investing.

I'm not sure there is such a thing as 'value' investing. Surely we are all trying to buying shares for cheaper than what we think they are, no matter if they have a current price/earnings ratio of 10 or 40?

It is true to say that shares with high(er) p/e ratios have been the strongest performers on the ASX over the past year or two such as Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC).

Investment returns are decided by: the dividends paid, earnings growth and the price the market is willing to pay for those earnings. The market has decided to pay a much higher price for those earnings of businesses that display good earnings growth.

However, with rising interest rates and high valuations of 'growth' businesses, it may be time for businesses with low valuations to outperform. Indeed, those same high-flyers are now registering some of the biggest losses over the past few months.

It can be fairly hard to find shares that are trading at low valuations and are still growing. Sometimes those low p/e shares can actually be a trap. The price may have fallen first, but the earnings may then be reported lower, bringing the p/e back up a reasonable level.

Foolish takeaway

Two of the low valuation shares that I feel could be good medium-term buys at the current prices are: regional livestock & pet veterinary business Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX) which is trading at 9x FY19's estimated earnings and healthcare product distribution business Paragon Care Ltd (ASX: PGC) which is trading at 10.5x FY19's estimated earnings.

The post Are cheap value ASX shares about to create the best returns? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The share market, and most other asset classes, have reached continuous highs over the last couple of years.

We've seen other types of valuations used, like a multiple of sales, to justify a high valuation.

Anyone paying for a businesses valued at over 100x the last year's earnings, or even next year's earnings, are pricing in some big expectations.

Some of the shares to trade with those huge triple digit valuations in recent history include Kogan.Com Ltd (ASX: KGN), Medical Developments International Ltd (ASX: MVP) and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT).

I may have cherry picked those examples, but they have all fallen significantly since their all-time highs. If you buy at an extremely high valuation the growth expectations are priced in for years.

That means there's a period of several financial years where the market may decide your hotshot stock isn't worth as much as you think.

Rising interest rates mean that only the worthiest of fast-growing businesses can command such a multiple. WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) has fallen more than 25% since September yet it still trades at 81x FY19's estimated earnings. It's trading at 39x FY21's earnings, which is still a hefty price.

Electronic PCB software market darling Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) is 'only' trading at 40x FY19's earnings – it seems like a bargain compared to WiseTech!

Of course, the same can be said in reverse. A business that is trading with a very low valuation and achieves profit growth will eventually be too cheap for the market to ignore. I thought Zenitas Healthcare Limited (ASX: ZNT) was too cheap to ignore for a business growing nicely organically.

Foolish takeaway

Two shares that seem to be trading very cheaply to me are Paragon Care Ltd (ASX: PGC) and Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX). They are both achieving decent organic growth and are trading at around 10x FY19's estimated earnings.

The post Here's why all insane valuations will eventually become sane one way or another appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The small cap world is full of undiscovered businesses that could become the next blue chip or mid-cap.

Small businesses have more growth potential simply due to their size, they can grow many times before size becomes a limiting factor. They also usually trade on a lower valuation because they aren't followed by many analysts or fund managers.

I particularly like finding small caps that could fit into every portfolio. I like to find shares that are growing at a decent rate, that are nicely valued and have an attractive dividend yield.

Here are two small caps that I'm excited by:

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is one of the largest veterinary businesses in Australia. However, it is quite different to its listed peers in that it's based in regional areas and derives a significant part of earnings from attending to livestock.

Livestock prices can act like commodity prices – unreliable, with little price control. However, Apiam could be a good way to get indirect exposure to Australia's growing food export economy without the volatility.

It grew revenue by 8.8% and gross profit by 9.1% in FY18. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 10.7%. Apiam is improving its profit margins, a good sign for a growing business.

However, it is also heavily investing for future growth, which is why the bottom line wasn't so good. But, the investments should be long-term boosts for revenue growth and efficiencies.

I am also attracted to the co-location strategy of putting Apiam vets inside Petstock stores and the continuing acquisitions adds to its scale too.

Apiam is trading at around 10x FY19's estimated earnings with a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.1%.

Paragon Care Ltd (ASX: PGC)

Paragon is my favourite small cap idea with Zenitas Healthcare Limited (ASX: ZNT) now being taken over. Paragon is a supplier of healthcare items like beds and devices for clients such as hospitals and aged care facilities.

I like that Paragon is a general diversified play on the whole healthcare sector. It generates a large amount of its revenue from public healthcare facilities, so it isn't at risk as much compared to private hospital operators due to private health insurance affordability.

Paragon has a single purchasing platform for clients to utilise, which should mean improved margins and efficiencies over time. It is steadily acquiring more healthcare distribution businesses so it can sell more products to that same client and win new clients.

The amount of recent corporate activity makes it hard to get a feel for the currently value of the business, particularly on a per-share basis.

However, it seems attractive trading at under 11x FY19's estimated earnings with a grossed-up dividend yield of 6.4%. Management are targeting organic growth of 10% this year.

Foolish takeaway

Both of them seem like attractive opportunities. If Paragon can achieve organic growth of around 10% this year then today's share price could be very good value considering the long-term tailwinds it would appear to have.

The post Why I'm excited by these 2 ASX small caps appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

On Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) gave back Monday's gains and sank 0.4% lower to 6,161.5 points.

Will the market be able to bounce back on Wednesday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX futures pointing higher.

The Australian share market is expected to open the day higher on Wednesday. The latest SPI futures are pointing to the S&P/ASX 200 opening higher by 0.45% or 28 points following a positive night of trade on Wall Street. The Dow Jones pushed 0.7% higher, the S&P 500 rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq climbed 0.8% higher after trade tensions eased.

Oil prices surge higher.

Oil prices bounced back during overnight trade. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price rose 1.25% to US$69.77 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price rose 1% to US$78.83 a barrel. News that Saudi oil inventories have continued to decline appears to have been the catalyst for the gains. This could give the shares of Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) a boost during trade on Wednesday

Shares going ex-dividend.

A number of shares will go ex-dividend this morning. These include animal health business Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX), dentist operator Pacific Smiles Group Ltd (ASX: PSQ), and online travel agent Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB).

Mining giants set to climb higher.

The shares of BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) could be strong performers on the market today. The mining giants' US listed shares climbed 2.5% and 1.7%, respectively, during overnight trade. An increase in base metal prices seems to be behind these solid gains.

Healthscope property auction begins.

According to the AFR, private hospital operator Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) has pulled in UBS to pitch its property portfolio to potential buyers. Analysts estimate that the portfolio could be worth upwards of $800 million to $850 million.

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX on Wednesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

I'm always on the lookout for ways to diversify my portfolio whilst maintaining strong returns. If you can mitigate risk whilst also beating the market then that's a powerful combination.

Diversification usually means investing into different industries and perhaps businesses that offer geographical diversification away from Australia.

Here are three shares that I think would offer good diversification:

BETANASDAQ ETF UNITS (ASX: NDQ)

One of the most impressive growth stories of the past decade has been the rise of the American FAANG tech shares. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google (Alphabet) have all been strong performers. You can also throw Microsoft and Nvidia into that list as well.

This exchange-traded fund (ETF) provides exposure to all of the above names and the rest of the 100 of the biggest tech shares listed on the ASX.

Despite already achieving strong growth for the past decade, many of the largest constituents like Facebook and Alphabet are still growing revenue at impressive double digit rates.

I don't think there's another group of blue chip shares, outside of Asia, that offer as much potential growth as the FAANG shares. I think every Aussie investor should have some portfolio exposure either directly or indirectly to these tech giants. This ETF could be the best way to do it.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Diversifying your portfolio can also mean investing in small caps.

Apiam is a small cap veterinary business that operates in regional areas, it specialises in offering services to farm animals.

I like this aspect to Apiam because it provides exposure to the growing Australian food export business in a less-volatile manner compared to food prices. Apiam is also setting up vet clinics inside regional Petstock locations such as Bendigo.

In FY18 it revealed underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 17.3% and organic revenue growth of 4%. It could turn into one of those slow-and-steady growers over time.

The beaten-down share price offers good value in my opinion, it's currently trading at 17x FY18's earnings with a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.1%.

Propel Funeral Partners Ltd (ASX: PFP)

Propel is another small cap, it's the second largest funeral operator in Australia and New Zealand, although it is a lot smaller than its large rival InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC).

One of main things that attracts me to Propel is its ultra-long-term tailwind of the number of deaths due to Australia's ageing population. Death volumes are expected to grow by 1.4% per annum between 2016 to 2025 and then increase by 2.2% per annum from 2025 to 2050.

However, Propel also plans to rapidly expand its business by making well-chosen acquisitions to expand into geographical areas that it doesn't currently operate. It plans to grow in Australian capital cities.

It's currently trading at around 22x FY19's estimated earnings.

Foolish takeaway

I believe all three of these shares will deliver ASX Index-beating returns over the next two or three years at the current prices. Apiam could be trading at around 10x FY19's estimated earnings, so it definitely looks the cheapest. But the other two could make very good investments over the next decade.

The post Buy these 3 stocks to instantly diversify your portfolio appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Writing in its July monthly update, the top performing Flinders Emerging Companies Fund said it is wary of strongly growing yet excessively priced small companies.

Nevertheless, it says there are still excellent and undervalued growth opportunities in the share market, feeling that many may be highlighted in this August reporting season.

One of the fund's top 5 active positions is mining services company Mineral Resources Limited (ASX:MIN).

A backdoor play on the lithium stock boom, it has just reported full year profits jumped 35 per cent higher, rewarding shareholders by increasing its full year fully franked dividend by 20 per cent to 65 cents per share.

With the Mineral Resources share price at around $15, MIN shares trade on an attractive fully franked dividend yield of 4.3 per cent, or 6.2 per cent when grossed up for franking credits.

One traditionally expensive company it does hold is Appen Ltd (ASX:APX).

The Appen share price fell almost 19 per cent in July as many US exposed tech stocks sold off with their Nasdaq listed counterparts. Flinders says it remains confident in the growth outlook for the company's services,  which are currently experiencing structural tailwinds.

Two "clobbered" vet stocks set to rebound

The fund holds two veterinary related stocks in the portfolio, and both got clobbered in July.

The Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX:AHX) share price fell 20 per cent in July, with National Veterinary Care Limited (ASX:NVL) shares falling 21 per cent in the month.

Both companies issued soft profit guidance for the current financial year, citing lower activity in the past quarter.

The fund feels that both stocks will rebound with their excellent growth opportunities and solid underlying markets. While Apiam has much greater agricultural exposure, National Vet is exposed to growing urban pet expenditure.

In the past 12 months to July 31 2018, the Flinders Emerging Companies Fund has gained 31.7 per cent, outperforming the 22.6 per cent gain in its benchmark S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index.

Read more

• This is why people lose money on the stock market
• Here's how the Domino's Pizza (ASX:DMP) share price may easily double from here

Three more cheap ASX stocks

Combining countless hours of research with over 30 years of hands-on stock market investing experience, The Capital Club's founder Bruce Jackson has just published his definitive list of 3 Cheap and Good ASX Stocks for 2018.

The names of the three companies are revealed in a brand new investing report. But you will have to hurry, as these stocks are already on the move. Click here now to get this FREE report.

The post Why one top fund manager thinks these two "clobbered" vet stocks will rebound appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Australia is one of the richest countries in the world. However, diversification is not utilised by a lot of Australian investors. Most people have a lot of their wealth tied up in one or a handful of properties plus bank shares. Arguably, the bank shares are also heavily linked to the property market.

Therefore, I think it's very important for every investor to diversify away from these two areas.

Here are three ideas to do that:

Magellan Global Trust (ASX: MGG)

This is a listed investment trust (LIT) that aims to give investors exposure to some of the highest quality businesses in the world like Alphabet (Google), Facebook, Visa and MasterCard.

Magellan has a track record of beating the market consistently whilst also providing downside protection. The Magellan Global Trust has outperformed its benchmark after fees since inception.

Many Aussie investors have too much of their portfolio weighted to Australia, so this LIT could be a good way to provide that diversification away from the domestic market.

It's currently trading at a slight discount to its net asset value (NAV) and aims to pay a distribution yield of 4%.

MNF Group Ltd (ASX: MNF)

MNF Group provides voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to a variety of customers including government as well as commercial clients such as Uber and Skype.

The business has been growing organically impressively for a number of years, yet the plan to diversify earnings with over-50 brand Pennytel has gone down like a lead balloon with investors.

Whether Pennytel is successful or not, the rest of the MNF business is going well and it's trading at around 27x management's estimated FY18 organic earnings. Cheap voice services will likely continue to become more popular.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is a veterinary business that is located in the regional areas of Australia. It is benefiting from the growing livestock sector and it is also opening vet clinics inside regional Petstocks, such as Bendigo, which should allow for good referrals.

The company recently reported that it had achieved year to date organic growth of 4.3% and group revenue growth of 8.9% to the end of May 2018. It also said that the underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin is expected to increase as well.

Apiam is trading at around 10x FY19's estimated earnings.

Foolish takeaway

I believe all three shares look like good opportunities at the current prices. Apiam is clearly the cheapest, but the current drought issues may have an impact on livestock-related earnings in the near future. Magellan has proven to be a sound global fund operator, so I would be happy to buy shares today.

The post Who else wants to diversify their portfolio? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The best time to buy is when the share price is low, right?

To buy low you have to be financially brave and purchase shares when they seem unloved despite their promising long-term futures.

Here are three shares that you could look at next week:

National Veterinary Care Ltd (ASX: NVL)

National Vet Care is the second largest vet operator in Australia and New Zealand, yet has seen its share price fall by around a third since the start of the year.

Some of this is down to negativity surrounding peer Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL), however National Vet Care also came out with an update that the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin will be lower than expected for FY18.

However, it is still predicting strong revenue growth of more than 25% into FY19, so now could be a good time to buy shares and hold for the coming years.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is another vet operator that has also suffered falls. However, Apiam is a regional operator with livestock animals being a major source of earnings. So it's quite different to city vet businesses.

In a recent update to May 2018 it revealed reasonably impressive organic growth of 4.3% across all segments and group revenue growth of 8.9%. The company also predicted a rising underlying EBITDA margin for FY18.

Another growth driver could be its new co-location strategy of putting a vet inside a regional Petstocks.

Perhaps the drought will have a negative effect on Apiam, but the fall in share price could represent a good opportunity long-term.

Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)

Rural Funds is only one of two real estate investment trusts (REITs) on the ASX that invests purely in agricultural properties and leases them to tenants.

Its share price has been steadily falling in recent weeks, it's now $1.99. Rising interest rates and the recent capital raising seem to be dampening the mood about the landlord.

However, I believe it's one of the best income choices on the ASX due to its long-term contracts with rental indexation increases built into them. If you've been watching Rural Funds for a while, now could be the time to buy some shares.

It's trading with a pleasing FY18 distribution yield of around 5%.

Foolish takeaway

All three shares are more attractive than they have been for some time. At the current prices I am drawn to National Vet Care as a medium-term buy and Rural Funds Group as a long-term buy.

The post 3 shares to buy next week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Getting diversification right for your portfolio is one of the best ways to deliver strong returns. Diversification can mean spreading your investments across industries and geographies.

It's a good idea to expand your portfolio into companies that operate in different industries. If you invest like everyone else, then you'll get similar results.

Here are three shares that I think would help diversify a portfolio:

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is a regional veterinary business that owns 42 clinics and one joint venture equine clinic.

There are three ways that Apiam is growing.

It is growing nicely though organic growth which it reported was 4.3% to May 2018. This is being helped by a growing market for livestock services, which could increase as food exports rise.

Apiam is growing through acquisitions, it added six clinics during FY18, which was a 17% increase in the number of clinics.

The final growth avenue is opening vet clinics inside regional Petstocks, such as in Bendigo.

Apiam has provided guidance that FY18 revenue will be 8.7% higher and the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin is going to increase from 9% to 9.4%.

MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF)

MFF Capital is an international-focused listed investment company (LIC). It has been one of the highest-performing LICs by investing in some of the world's best businesses.

Its top holdings are likely to continue to perform for MFF Capital. For example, Visa and MasterCard together made up 27.4% of MFF's assets at the end of June 2018. The world is increasingly going cashless and this is going to help the two card companies continue to grow.

I think nearly every Australian investor needs more exposure to international shares.

MNF Group Ltd (ASX: MNF)

MNF is a leading voice over internet protocol (VoIP) provider that is winning important, long-term customers to its systems. Two of its major customers includes Skype and Uber.

The company is experiencing impressive organic growth but it is also making moves to expand into other areas. It recently acquired a Singapore business so that it can expand there and it's launching an over-50 telco brand called Pennytel.

Investors don't seem to like the Pennytel idea, but it could turn into a good segment for MNF if it takes off and generates a profit.

Foolish takeaway

These three shares are very different to the normal holdings you'd find at the large end of the ASX index. I believe all three will soundly outperform the index over the next five years due to the relatively little growth on offer by the index's largest constituents.

The post Who else wants to diversify their portfolio? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO)(ASX: XJO) and ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) indices finished lower on Monday.

Here's a short recap of the Australian market:

• S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) lower 0.27% to 6,177.80
• ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) lower 0.26% to 6,273.30
• AUD/USD at US 74 cents
• Gold at US$1,253.80 an ounce
• Brent Oil at US$78.50 a barrel

The best-performing ASX 200 share today was Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE), it went up by 5%.

At the other end of the performance table the worst ASX 200 performer was Sigma Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SIG) it dropped 40% after losing the Chemist Warehouse contract.

Pharmacy business Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API) seems to have caught some of the negativity, it dropped by 6.8% today too.

Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL) shares dropped by 3.9% today, which wasn't a good start to FY18 for the infant formula company.

Vet business Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX) fell by 9.3% today after giving market guidance for the FY18 result.

The share price of logistics software business WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) was one of the best ASX 200 performers, it increased by 3.1%.

Things continue to get worse for Blue Sky Alternative Investments Ltd (ASX: BLA) shareholders, it fell by nearly 15% today.

Finally, Automotive Holdings Group Ltd (ASX: AHG) fell by 8.8% after the sale of its refrigerated logistics business was terminated.

Here are some of today's top stories:

• The chart that has Shane Oliver suggesting rates might stay on hold until 2020
• Bubble Trouble? This 'new paradigm' brings huge risks for share market investors
• Australian house prices are officially heading lower
• Time to sell the big banks?

The post ALL ORDINARIES finishes lower Monday: 8 shares you missed appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The smaller end of the market has a number of businesses that are profitable and rewarding shareholders by paying a dividend.

Small caps also offer the potential of more growth because it's easier to grow a small business compared to a large business.

With that in mind, here are three small cap dividend ideas:

Duxton Water Ltd (ASX: D2O)

Duxton Water is company which owns water entitlement rights and leases them to agricultural businesses. Water is a very valuable commodity, particularly in a drought-prone country like Australia.

According to the company at the end of May, 55% of Duxton's portfolio is leased with a weighted average yield of 6.2% and a weighted average lease duration of 5.1 years.

It's likely trading at a slight discount to its NTA right now and currently has a partially franked dividend yield of 3.9%.

Paragon Care Ltd (ASX: PGC)

Paragon is a small cap healthcare business that supplies medical equipment, devices and beds for customers like hospitals and aged care facilities.

It is steadily acquiring other healthcare product suppliers, which expands Paragon's offering and hopefully leads to growing economies of scale.

Paragon is currently trading with a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.9%.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is a vet business that operates in the regional areas of Australia. It has recently set up a partnership with Petstock to co-locate vets inside regional Petstocks like Bendigo.

Currently, its main source of revenue comes from servicing farms with its high-quality vets.

Apiam has a grossed-up dividend yield of 3.2%.

Foolish takeaway

With all three shares offering more income than you can get in the bank and with plenty of growth potential, I'd be happy to buy them at the current share prices.

If I had to pick one at the current prices it would be Paragon because I believe it is the one that could generate the most organic growth over the years thanks to the ageing population of Australia.

The post 3 small cap dividend shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Getting diversification right for your portfolio is one of the best ways to deliver strong returns. Diversification can mean spreading your investments across industries and geographies.

It's a good idea to expand your portfolio into companies that operate in different industries. If you invest like everyone else, then you'll get similar results.

Here are three shares that I think would help diversify a portfolio:

Domain Holdings Australia Limited (ASX: DHG)

Domain is the owner of the second most popular property website in Australia, Domain.com.au. It has significant pricing power because most properties that are sold in Australia are listed on the site. The more properties it has advertised on its site, the more buyers it attracts, which attracts more sellers and so on. This is a good moat to have.

According to reports in the media, there are actually more properties coming onto the market in recent times. All of those vendors may have to spend a little more on the premium Domain advertising to make their property stand out.

Domain is currently trading at 35x FY19's estimated earnings.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is a regional veterinary business that services farm animals as well as typical pet animals. I believe it's a decent way to get exposure to the 'food bowl of Asia' theme, whilst perhaps having less volatility than cattle prices or other animal prices.

The company is also expanding into regional cities by opening vets inside Petstocks in places like Bendigo and other hubs on the edge of Apiam's geographical operations.

Apiam is trading at 14x FY18's estimated earnings.

Lifestyle Communities Limited (ASX: LIC)

Lifestyle Communities is one of the largest retirement village operators in Australia with 15 communities.

It describes its locations as secure & gated, with 5-star resort-style facilities and modern & low-maintenance homes.

There is a growing number of people reaching above 50 in age and housing affordability is also a big issue in Australia. Both of these themes could boost Lifestyle Communities over the coming years. Lifestyle Communities offers residents homes that are typically 20% less than the local suburb.

Lifestyle Communities has large institutional backing of its strategy, with Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL) one of the substantial shareholders.

Foolish takeaway

I like the idea of owning all three shares. However, if I had to narrow it down to one I'd pick Apiam because it's attractively priced for how much it could grow over the next two to three years. Domain is probably too expensive for me, whilst rising interest rates could make Lifestyle Communities better value in the coming years.

The post Who else wants to diversify their portfolio? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The share market is full of interesting businesses but some have an advantage over others. The biggest companies are already nationwide businesses, it becomes very difficult to grow from a market capitalisation from $50 billion to $100 billion.

It's a lot easier for a business with a market capitalisation of $250 million to double it to $500 million.

That's why small caps can generate outsized returns compared to large caps. With that in mind, here are three ideas:

Paragon Care Ltd (ASX: PGC)

Paragon is a small cap healthcare business that provides equipment, devices and other items to aged care facilities, hospitals and other healthcare providers.

It is steadily acquiring more healthcare businesses so that it can supply more of the needs of its clients. Hopefully growing in size through acquisitions will lead to bigger economies of scale.

The ageing tailwinds of Australia and New Zealand will likely lead to growing earnings over time.

It's currently trading at 15x FY18's estimated earnings.

Propel Funeral Partners Ltd (ASX: PFP)

Propel is the second largest funeral operator in Australia. It sadly has a good future due to the rising death rate of Australia because of Australia's ageing population.

As the saying goes, there's only two things certain if life: death and taxes. And you can't invest in the Australian Tax Office.

Propel could perform well over the next few years because it's likely to go on an acquisition spree to quickly ramp up its market share and earnings.

Propel is currently trading at 25x FY18's estimated earnings.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is a small cap veterinary business that services the rural areas of Australia. It isn't just about treating pet cats and dogs, but also pigs, cattle and other animals. It has a somewhat growing tailwind with livestock as Australia's food exports are growing.

It is also starting to set up co-located vets in Petstock retail stores in regional locations like Bendigo. Apiam will own 80% and Petstock will own 20% of this enterprise.

Its shares have fallen to $0.75 from $0.93 in recent times. It's currently trading at 15x FY18's estimated earnings.

Foolish takeaway

I believe all three shares will generate sizeable returns for investors over the next five to ten years, although they might be a bit more volatile because they're small caps.

It's hard to pick a winner. The acquisition strategy could go wrong for Propel and Paragon, whilst there is no guarantee of success for Apiam with its co-location strategy. I'd personally go for Paragon, due to its more-defensive earnings.

The post 3 small caps with big potential appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Australia is one of the richest countries in the world. However, diversification is not utilised by a lot of Australian investors. Most people have a lot of their wealth tied up in one or a handful of properties plus bank shares. Arguably, the bank shares are also heavily linked to the property market.

Therefore, I think it's very important for every investor to diversify away from these two areas.

Here are three ideas to do that:

iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV)

This exchange-traded fund gives investors exposure to the S&P 500, which is one of the most diverse and successful indexes in the world. In its top holdings it has Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet (Google), JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson and Exxon Mobil.

The S&P 500 has steadily become more tech-focused over the years but that's how the world is changing. That's why it's such a good index because its holdings change to fit the world we live in.

This ETF has a very low management fee of 0.04% per annum and is offered by Blackrock, one of the biggest fund managers in the world.

Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF)

Challenger is the clear annuity provider for Australians looking for a secure source of income from their capital.

The number of Australians over the age of 65, which is retirement age, is expected to increase by 75% over the next 20 years. This should lead to a large increase in demand for annuities and a good increase in management fees for Challenger.

It's also a good sign that Challenger is working with Japanese providers to offer products, it creates another source of growth for the annuity company.

Challenger is currently trading at 15x FY19's estimated earnings.

Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX)

Apiam is a small cap that describes itself as Australia's leading rural veterinary practice. It provides expert vets that can help pigs, cattle, sheep, horses as well as cats and dogs. This could be a good idea alone because Australia is building up its agriculture sector with more farm exports.

However, Apiam also recently announced that it would be working with PETstock to co-locate vets inside regional PETstocks such as a Bendigo location. This gives it two good sources of growth.

Apiam is trading at around 19x FY18's estimated earnings.

Foolish takeaway

All three would be really good ways to diversify a portfolio. I think the S&P 500 could be a bit expensive to buy today, but Challenger is a good large cap option and Apiam could be a good small cap option.

The post Buy these 3 stocks to instantly diversify your portfolio appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

With earnings season now seemingly in overdrive, it is understandable that a number of results may have slipped under the radar today.

Two which I think are worth taking a look at are listed below. Here's what they delivered:

The Apiam Animal Health Ltd (ASX: AHX) share price climbed almost 8% to 77.5 cents after the veterinary products provider posted full-year underlying EBITDA of $8.3 million on revenue of $98 million. This hit the upper end of the guidance the company provided in May and came courtesy of a strong second-half.

Pleasingly, management has a positive outlook for FY 2018 and believes that it has moved beyond the industry issues that impacted the company's performance in the first-quarter of FY 2017. Whilst things do look to be improving, I would sooner invest in Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL) or National Veterinary Care Ltd (ASX: NVL) at this point.

The Regis Healthcare Ltd (ASX: REG) share price tumbled almost 2% to $3.69 after the aged care operator announced its full-year results. Investors clearly weren't overly impressed with the company's 8% increase in net profit after tax to $61.1 million.

Profit growth was far slower than that of rival Estia Health Ltd (ASX: EHE) which reported an impressive 47% increase in net profit after tax yesterday. But given the tailwinds of Australia's ageing population, both companies could be in position to deliver a solid FY 2018 in my opinion.

The post 2 earnings results you might have missed on Friday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.