With the end of winter and yet another earnings season now firmly behind us, we asked our Foolish contributors to compile a list of some of the ASX shares experts are saying to buy in September.
Bernd Struben: Smartgroup Corporation Ltd (ASX: SIQ)
Smartgroup Corporation is a salary packaging and fleet management solutions provider.
Not-for-profit organisations, healthcare, education and the public service sectors make up roughly 96% of Smartgroup's salary packaging customers. The company is well established in Australia and trades at a relatively modest price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 20.5 times.
It delivered strong half-year results, with a 53% boost in net profit after tax (NPAT). Smartgroup also declared a 7.5 cent interim dividend, fully franked. That brings its trailing dividend yield to around 6.2% based on the current share price. The company has a market capitalisation of just under $1.1 billion.
The Smartgroup share price has climbed by around 16% year to date and around 38% over the past twelve months.
Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben does not own shares of Smartgroup Corporation Ltd.
Sebastian Bowen: VanEck Video Gaming and Esports ETF (ASX: ESPO)
Video games and e-sports are sectors without too much presence on our own S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). And yet these are two of the fastest-growing industries in these modern times. Luckily, this ASX exchange-traded fund (ETF) gives investors an easy way to access some of the companies that are benefitting the most from the growth of gaming and e-sports.
Some of its largest holdings include names like Activision Blizzard, Tencent Holdings, Nintendo Co and Nvidia Corporation. The VanEck Video Gaming and Esports ETF charges a management fee of 0.55% per annum. It has delivered a return of almost 12% since its inception in September last year.
Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen does not own shares of the VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and Esports ETF.
Mitchell Lawler: Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX: JIN)
Jumbo Interactive is an online lottery operator with roots dating back to 1995. Since then, it has grown to become an international online lottery retailer, processing transactional volume of $487 million in FY21.
Following its recent full-year results release, the Jumbo share price has taken a ride to the downside. This is despite growth across revenue and underlying profits as well as the announcement of another acquisition.
The latest acquisition opens the Canadian lottery market to this ASX share. Based on its full-year earnings, Jumbo is currently trading on a P/E ratio of around 35 times.
The Jumbo Interactive share price has climbed almost 10% year to date and around 15% over the past twelve months. That's despite falling by around 14% in the past week.
Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns shares of Jumbo Interactive Ltd.
James Mickleboro: NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
NextDC is a leading data centre operator that has been benefitting greatly from the cloud computing boom. Thanks to the ever-increasing amount of data being generated by consumers and businesses, demand for capacity in its data centres has been increasing strongly.
This led to NextDC reporting a 23% increase in revenue to $246.1 million and a 29% lift in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to $134.5 million in FY21. Pleasingly, more of the same is expected in FY22, with management guiding to EBITDA growth of 19% to 23%.
Goldman Sachs remains very positive on this ASX share. It currently has a conviction 'buy' rating and a $14.40 price target for NextDC shares.
At Tuesday's close, the NextDC share price was trading at $13.24.
Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of NextDC Ltd.
Tristan Harrison: VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (ASX: MOAT)
This is an ETF invested in businesses that are deemed to have strong economic moats which are expected to endure for many years into the future.
These businesses are selected by analysts from Morningstar. Companies only make it into the portfolio if the analysts believe they are trading at an attractive price compared to their estimates of fair value.
At the latest disclosure, some of the biggest positions held by the Wide Moat ETF were Salesforce.com, Corteva, Dominion Energy, Emerson Electric, Facebook, General Dynamics, Gilead Sciences and Alphabet (Google).
The Wide Moat ETF share price has rallied by around 30% so far in 2021.
Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison does not own shares of the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF.
Brendon Lau: NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
The market didn't react well to the data centre operator's latest profit results. The NextDC share price fell by 5.4% last Friday on the day the company released its FY21 earnings. But most brokers are sticking to their 'buy' recommendation on the shares.
While NextDC's FY21 revenue was at the low end of guidance, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) believes the company's structural growth story remains intact.
The broker sees further potential upside for this ASX share from enterprise and government market segments, while development activity continues to accelerate. Macquarie reiterated its 'outperform' recommendation and its 12-month price target on the stock is $14.05. This represents an upside of around 6% on the current NextDC share price.
Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau does not own shares of NextDC Ltd.
