I like buying ASX shares when they offer me a chance of either capital growth or dividend income. But I absolutely love buying ASX shares that offer the chance of both growth and income. These shares are rare but highly lucrative. Remember, paying out dividends as income structurally weakens a company — so it's usually only the strongest ASX shares that can afford to offer investors both growth and income opportunities. Here are 2 ASX shares that I think offer such a package deal.
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2 ASX shares to buy for both growth and income today
Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC)
Ramsay Health Care is one of the ASX's best healthcare shares, in my view. This company is in the business of running private hospitals, with a large portfolio in Australia, as well as across a few other countries like France and Indonesia. I think healthcare is a great sector to invest in, simply because it's a 'need' rather than a 'want'. This kind of certainty goes a long way in the world of investing. Ramsay has also proved it has what it takes to deliver long-term growth to its shareholders. This was a $15 share a decade ago, which looks pretty good against Ramsay's current share price of $66 (at the time of writing).
Unfortunately, Ramsay broke a 20-year streak of annual dividend increases in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. But I think the company is well placed to turn the income tap on again next year. As such, I would happily buy Ramsay shares today for both growth and income prospects.
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
Altium is our second growth and income share today. this company is in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business. Its Altium Design suite helps electrical engineers design and manufacture printed circuit boards. Printed circuit boards are an essential ingredient in any moderately complex electronic device. As you can imagine, this is a very high-growth industry these days, and Altium is sitting right in the tailwind. That's partly why the Altium share price is up nearly 800% in the past 5 years alone. But what most investors overlook with Altium is its dividend.
On the surface, Altium's current trailing yield of 1% doesn't look that impressive. But if you dig a little deeper, you'll find that the company has been increasing its dividend dramatically every year. Since 2016, Altium has pretty much doubled its payouts from 20 cents per share to 39 cents per share in 2020. If this trend continues (which I think it will), Altium looks to be able to deliver both growth and dividends in spades into the future.
