In fact, some quality ASX shares have tumultuous moments – as evidenced by these stocks that hit their lowest point in years this week.

2 quality ASX shares hitting long-forgotten lows

Spirit Technology Solutions Ltd (ASX: ST1)

For those unacquainted with Spirit Technology Solutions, the company provides business-focused technology and telecommunication services.

The quality company officially hit the ASX in 2016 with its shares trading at around 12 cents for their first few weeks on deck. From there it garnered enthusiasm, reaching a high of around 43 cents in January 2021.

But the past 17 months have been rough on the telco small cap. Its share price has tumbled around 85% since then to trade at 5.8 cents on Tuesday.

In fact, it closed at a new 52-week low of 5.1 cents yesterday. Today, it's recording a 13.75% gain.

The telco has a market capitalisation of approximately $34 million according to the ASX.

Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN)

Freelancer is another quality ASX share reaching a new multi-year low this week.

The crowdsourcing marketplace floated on the ASX in 2013 after offering new shares for 50 cents apiece under its initial public offering (IPO).

It peaked at around $1.80 in 2016 and, in 2021, it hit a multi-year high of around $1.25.

Today, the stock reached an intraday low of 33 cents, marking its lowest point since March 2020.

Sadly, the quality ASX share has been on a downwards slope for nearly 12 months now. Its tumble was exacerbated by a quarterly update last month.

The Freelancer share price slipped 2.4% when the company announced that, over the three months ended 31 March, its cash receipts had dropped 6.1% on those of the prior comparable period.

That was made worse by the Australian Dollar depreciating against the US Dollar. The depreciation brought the company a 6.3% tailwind last quarter.

According to the ASX, Freelancer has a market capitalisation of $147 million.

The post 2 quality ASX shares trading at multi-year lows this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they are sinking:

A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

The A2 Milk share price has fallen 5% to $6.08. Investors have been selling this embattled infant formula company's shares this week amid concerns over potential regulatory changes in China. This follows sweeping changes to a range of other sectors recently. There are fears that the government may look to favour domestic producers over brands like a2 Milk.

Aurelia Metals Ltd (ASX: AMI)

The Aurelia Metals share price has crashed 16% to 40.5 cents. This is despite the gold miner delivering on its production guidance and beating its cost guidance in FY 2021. Investors may be disappointed with its outlook, which is guiding to a large increase in costs in FY 2022. Its all-in sustaining cost (ASIC) is expected to be $1,500 to $1,700 per ounce of gold, compared to $1,337 per ounce in FY 2021.

Dubber Corp Ltd (ASX: DUB)

The Dubber share price has fallen 5.5% to $3.02 after returning from its trading halt. This morning the call recording technology company announced the successful completion of its $110 million capital raising. Dubber raised the funds through an institutional placement at $2.95 per share. This represents a discount of 7.8% to its last close price. The proceeds will be used to accelerate its growth objectives and advance M&A opportunities.

Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN)

The Freelancer share price has sunk 16% to 95 cents following the release of its first half results. The freelance and outsourcing marketplace provider reported a 5.7% decline in half year revenue to $27.8 million. This ultimately led to a $1.6 million operating loss after tax and weaker cash flows.

The post Why a2 Milk, Aurelia Metals, Dubber, & Freelancer shares are sinking appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At the time of writing, shares in the global freelancing and outsourcing marketplace have tumbled 15.93% to 95 cents.

Why is the Freelancer share price down double digits?

Freelancer revealed 1H21 group net revenue had tipped 5.7% lower on the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $27.8 million.

The slight decline in revenue was underpinned by weak currency movements. This drove a negative impact of 17.4% in the first half.

This trickled down to both negative operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) and operating net profit after tax of -$2 million and -$1.6 million respectively.

The company's net operating cash flow also declined from $6.2 million in 1H20 to $2.7 million in 1H21.

The weaker financial performance could be a reason why the Freelancer share price is experiencing such a heavy sell-off this morning.

Despite a slight decline in revenue, the company experienced a record in gross payment volumes (GPV), the total payments to Freelancer for products and services transacted. 1H21 GPV came in at a record $566 million, up 35.9% on the pcp.

Pleasingly, the company believes it is on track to achieve its milestone of $1 billion in GPV (through bank accounts).

In addition, Freelancer maintained a solid cash and cash equivalent position of $31.8 million. This was down $2.5 million or 7.4% on 31 December 2020.

The decrease includes the $4 million used to acquire Australia's largest online heavy haulage freight marketplace, Loadshift.

A closer look at today's sell-off

The sharp sell-off in the Freelancer share price comes off the back of significant trading volume.

Approximately 540,000 shares changed hands in the first 30 minutes of trade. To add some perspective, the company's 10-day average volume is only 139,500.

The post Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price dives 16% after first-half results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Below we run through the company's latest announcement regarding the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Awarded NASA task order

Investors are buying up shares in the freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace platform after the company announced it had secured a NASA contract.

According to the release, the contract is for a US$510,000 task order for the United States Bureau of Reclamation project. This seeks to optimise and speed up an equation solver for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. In simpler terms, computer-generated simulations.

Freelancer's platform will be used to crowdsource solutions to the Sedimentation and River Hydraulics challenge. The goal is for a freelancer to devise a stable and fast equation for CFD models that can run on a multi-core personal computer.

Chief Executive Matt Barrie commented on the contract win:

To date, NASA has sourced over 13,000 product designs from more than 6,000 product designers. We're excited to help Reclamation and NASA improve the speed of Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Model using the world's largest online talent in what will be the new largest challenge yet by an order of magnitude.

Furthermore, the prize money allotted to the successful freelancer is US$300,000. This will be split across two stages, paying US$150,000 each. The first stage will consist of the development and demonstration of a new equation solver.

Subsequently, stage 2 will involve running an existing Reclamation model in parallel with the new solver.

Not its first space rodeo

NASA's crowdsourcing approach is not a new phenomenon. The first round of crowdsourcing contracts rolled out back in 2015. Fast forward to late 2020, the space agency launched its second crack with NASA Open Innovation Services 2.

Notably, Freelancer has had its fair share of NASA contracts in the past. Peering over at the company's website, you can see a range of gadgets and gizmos developed by people on the platform.

In this case, the latest contract is not yet live on the Freelancer platform. The company states it will be launched via a microsite at a date to be announced.

Freelancer share price snapshot

The Freelancer share price has performed exceptionally well year-to-date (YTD). Since the beginning of 2021, the company's shares have rallied an impressive 144%. Comparatively, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned 9.2% over the same timeframe.

Lastly, the company's market capitalisation is now $505 million based on the current Freelancer share price.

The post Here's why the Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price is surging 7% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

After reaching an intraday high of $1.08 in early trading, the Freelancer share price plummeted to $1.00 before surging back to $1.05 at the time of writing, up 5%.

Engaged in freelancing, outsourcing services, and crowdsourcing marketplace, Freelancer offers software development, writing, data entry and design services.

Acquisition lifts the Freelancer share price

In today's update, Freelancer announced that its partially owned subsidiary, Freightlancer, had acquired Loadshift for $7.7 million.

Founded in March 2007, Loadshift has grown to become Australia's largest online heavy haulage freight marketplace with 68,837 freight requests for 85.8 million kilometres of freight required in CY 2020. In FY20, Loadshift reported delivering an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of approximately $766,000.

Freelancer owns 53% of its partially owned subsidiary.

New investors, new CEO

The company also advised today that Freightlancer had received a $3.7 million investment from Maas Group Holdings (ASX: MGH) chief executive officer (CEO) Wes Maas, and EMS Group CEO Tom Cavanagh.

Startive Ventures, a venture fund focused on global technology and internet startup opportunities, also participated in investment.

EMS is now a division of Maas, a diversified industrial group with services expanding across construction materials, property, civil infrastructure and underground mining and tunnelling divisions.

Cavanagh will join Freightlancer as chief executive officer, bringing his 20 years of experience in mining, tunnelling, civil construction and technology industries.

The Freelancer share price has been surging

The Freelancer share price has surged more than 70% since the listing of Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART) on 23 March.

Before that, the Freelancer share price had been range-bound, bouncing back and forth between 45 cents and 62 cents since September 2020.

From a financial and operational perspective, the company has also performed strongly with its quarterly results showing an uplift in gross payment volumes and cash receipts.

The post Why the Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price is up 5% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Today's gains add to the company's colossal share price growth this week. So far, it's risen more than 19% since Monday morning.

While the company has been silent today, both it and others in its field have had a number of updates recently. The Freelancer share price also passed a significant milestone yesterday.

Let's take a closer look. 

Recent update 

The latest news from the company was released yesterday, leading the Freelancer share price to close 6% higher than the previous session.

Yesterday, Freelancer shared that one of its divisions, Escrow.com, has partnered with eBay.

Escrow is a payment service that, in the instance of purchases on eBay, holds a buyer's funds until a purchased item is received by the buyer in acceptable condition. When the item is received and accepted, Escrow releases the funds to the seller.

The payment service will be accessible to eBay customers buying luxury watches for at least US$10,000.

According to eBay, it is one of the largest luxury watch market places in the world. Since eBay launched its Authenticity Guarantee service in September, it has sold more than 7,000 luxury watches, each worth more than US$10,000.

Airtasker shares also jumping

Interestingly for Freelancer shares, the Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART) share price is also on the rise today.

Similar businesses, like Airtasker and Freelancer, which are both marketplaces for the outsourcing of skills, can sometimes trend in tandem with each other.

At the time of writing, Airtasker shares are up 7.03%, trading at $1.37 apiece.

Airtasker's gains today come following the release of its third-quarter results, which dropped this morning.

The Freelancer share price also received a boost after the company released its own third-quarter results last week.

Milestone closing price

In other recent news, the Freelancer share price reached a coveted milestone late yesterday. For the first time since early 2018, the company's shares closed higher than the $1 mark, ending the day at $1.025. 

Some market watchers believe that when a share price reaches a psychological milestone such as this, it is representative of it breaking through a certain level of investor resistance. Whether or not this is true, and it translates into further gains for Freelancer shares, remains to be seen. 

Freelancer share price snapshot

The Freelancer share price has been performing well on the ASX so far this year.

Currently, it's up by around 120% year to date. It's also up by around 180% over the last 12 months.

With a market capitalisation of around $463 million, Freelancer has approximately 451 million shares outstanding. Of these, its CEO holds more than 40%.

The post The Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price is soaring 8% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Freelancer share price is currently up 5.03% to 84 cents a share. But its gains were far more dramatic earlier in the trading day. Freelancer shares closed at 80 cents yesterday but opened at 82 cents this morning before shooting as high as 93 cents a share soo after open. At the time, that was a gain of more than 16%. It's not just today either. This company has been on a tear for most of the week o far. Since Monday, Freelancer shares are up close to 25%.

So who is Freelancer? and why is this current star of the ASX experiencing such love in a cold market today?

Who is this company?

Freelancer, as you can probably guess, is a company that facilitates freelancing work. Its flagship website, freelancer.com.au, is an online marketplace of sorts that helps connect freelance workers with jobs.

It's not the kind of jobs you might first expect though. There are less 'mow my lawn' or 'pick up my furniture' jobs on Freelancer. More common jobs include 'design a logo', or 'build my website'. Prospective contractors can bid on jobs, either through a lump-sum payment or an hourly fee.

Freelancer operates around the world. In fact, in FY2020, only 8.4% of completed projects that the company facilitated were in Australia. 24.3% came from the United States, but India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada were also strongly represented.

Why is the Freelancer share price rising today?

Today's stellar performance in the Freelancer share price appears to be the direct result of an ASX announcement the company made yesterday morning before the market open. This announcement was a quarterly report covering the 3 months to 31 March 2021.

For this period, Freelancer reported that its gross payment volume had ballooned by 39% compared to the prior corresponding period to US$192.9 million, an all-time high. Cash receipts were also up significantly, rising 32.1% to another all-time high of US$12 million. The company also reported a positive net operating cash flow of $4.2 million for the quarter, up from $0.47 million in the prior corresponding quarter.

Freelancer also told us that the company enjoyed a 51% increase in web traffic in FY2020, as well as a 22% rise in registered users, a 17% rise in posted jobs and a 20% bump in freelancer earnings.

So it's likely to be the contents of this quarterly update that are getting investors attention over to the Freelancer share price today. At the current share price, Freelancer has a market capitalisation of $379.5 million.

The post ASX stock of the day: Freelancer (ASX:FLN) shares shoot higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they are pushing higher:

Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)

The Accent share price is up 3.5% to $2.54. This is despite there being no news out of the footwear retailer today. However, earlier this month analysts at Bell Potter spoke positively about the company. According to the note, its analysts have put a buy rating and $2.65 price target on Accent's shares.

Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ)

The Bank of Queensland share price has pushed over 2% higher to $9.11. This follows the announcement of a correction to its earnings per share figures from its half year results earlier this month. In addition to this, this morning Morgan Stanley upgraded the bank's shares to an overweight rating with a $10.00 price target.

Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN)

The Freelancer share price has surged 6% higher to 81.5 cents. Investors have been buying the freelancing marketplace provider's shares following its first quarter update. Freelancer reported Gross Payment Volume of US$192.9 million for the quarter. This was a record quarterly high and up 39% on the prior corresponding period.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

The Zip share price has risen 2% to $9.15. This morning rival Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) released its third quarter update and advised that it was looking into a US listing. There have been rumours swirling around that Zip was planning to do the same. Doing so could open the company up to US fund managers and give its greater access to capital markets. Investors appear to believe Zip will follow suit in the near term.

The post Why Accent, Bank of Queensland, Freelancer, & Zip shares are pushing higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At the time of writing, the Freelancer share price is down by 5.34%, trading at 62 cents.

Let's look further into Freelancer's new listing.

Freelancer on the OTCQX

In the announcement, the company stated that listing on OTCQX market will enhance its visibility and ease of access for US-based investors.

Generally, a company listing on OTCQX is in itself a good sign of health. To be eligible for the market, a company must meet high standards including having open and proper corporate governance, complying by US securities law, and quickly disclosing company happenings.

Ordinary shares in the company will still continue to trade on the ASX.

Freelancer also said it is in the process of making its shares eligible for Depository Trust Company (DTC).  DTC manages the clearing and settlement of publicly-traded company shares across the US and 131 other countries. It simplifies and accelerates the settlement process of share market trades.  

Commentary from management

Freelancer's CEO Matt Barrie commented on the company's new listing:

We are pleased to reach the milestone of trading on OTCQX, as this will make it easier for our U.S. investors, employees and customers to invest in Freelancer by reducing the requirement of having an Australian share trading account.

Freelancer share price snapshot

The drop caused by today's news still leaves the Freelancer share price well and truly in the green on the ASX.

Currently, the Freelancer share price is up by 20% year to date. It is also up by 100% over the last 12 months.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $295 million, with approximately 453 shares outstanding.

The post Why has the Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price has fallen 8% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

There's no doubt plenty of excitement surrounding the company. The five times oversubscribed IPO is clear evidence of that. Even Airtasker's own select group of 'taskers' and staff subscribed for more than 10 times more shares than originally anticipated.

With all the excitement it's easy to forget that Airtasker still has competitors. So, how do they stack up against each other?

ASX-listed Airtasker competitors

Unsurprisingly, in the world of digital innovation, the old employment model is giving way to something more flexible and nimble. There is a proliferation of people working for themselves, using online platforms to offer their services anytime, anywhere, for anything.

Airtasker is now publicly listed among other such ASX shares as Hipages Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: HPG) and Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN). At face value, these companies are very similar. All three provide a website and/or mobile app to find people in your area capable of completing tasks you may require.

Both Airtasker and Freelancer offer an extensive range of services. This includes everything from computer programming to mowing your lawn. However, Hipages differs by being focused on trade-based services – think home renos and air conditioning installation.

Another point of difference between these companies is their service base. For instance, Hipages relies on mostly physical labour, so its operations are predominantly carried out within Australia. The same is somewhat true for Airtasker, while Freelancer operates extensively outside of Australia, due to its services being highly focused on remote digital work.

Money matters, and so do visits

When looking at online businesses, it can sometimes be handy to compare website traffic between peers. Referring to SimilarWeb, it can be seen that in the last month Freelancer has commanded 8.1 million visits, while Airtasker and Hipages were both around 1.3 million. However, this doesn't quite paint the entire picture considering the ASX's fresh face, Airtasker, is commonly used through an app.

A more useful comparison is the businesses' finances. However, Freelancer reports on a different timeline to Hipages and Airtasker, so some calculations were needed to get it on comparative terms. With that being said, for the half-year ended December, revenue and earnings for each company are as follows:

• Airtasker: $12.61 million revenue; $2.06 million loss
• Hipages: $26.9 million revenue; $1.5 million profit
• Freelancer: $29.3 million revenue; $493,000 loss

In revenue terms, Airtasker is certainly the smallest by a substantial margin.

Lastly, knowing the company's revenue and earnings, it's worthwhile comparing market capitalisation between these three ASX shares. These are as follows:

• Airtasker: $441.6 million
• Hipages: $266.5 million
• Freelancer: $253.03 million

Foolish takeaway

Based on a simple price to sales (PS) ratio Airtasker looks expensive, trading on a PS multiple of 35. Whereas Hipages and Freelancer are trading at 10 times and 9 times respectively. Potentially investors are pricing in higher growth for the newly listed company.

Whether the listed competitors will surge to meet Airtasker's rich valuation or Airtasker's ASX parade will be rained on, remains to be seen.

The post How does Airtasker (ASX:ART) stack up against its peers? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

On September 19 Goldman's updated its numbers on the online marketplace and came up with a higher valuation. 

Redbubble is a Melbourne-based digital business that lets artists or other creative types sell unique products online that are considered outside the mainstream. It also acquired the TeePublic website in November 2018 that contributed $14 million in sales over the quarter to June 30, 2019.

For example artistically designed smart phone cases are popular, alongside trendy T-shirts, wall art, adult apparel, baby wear, stationery, or more general home decor.

Its growing nicely and is popular in California or other regions with more demand for independent products and the household wealth to back it up.

Over FY 2019 it posted an EBITDA (operating income) loss of $4.7 million on "marketplace revenue" of $257 million as it continues to invest heavily in new products and marketplace growth.

It also missed some analysts' expectations over fiscal 2019 due to a slowdown it blamed on changes by Google to its search algorithms affecting organic traffic to the site. 

Goldman Sachs notes it has launched five new products recently and expects all its new products to drive stronger growth over the second half of 2019 that includes important shopping periods such as Thanksgiving, back to school, and Christmas. 

Goldman's thinks it can deliver a "23% FY19-FY22E revenue CAGR " thanks to "content partnerships, strong app downloads, and focus on membership experience," among other factors.

If achieved this would be impressive and Redbubble should have some operating leverage as revenues rise faster than what should be relatively fixed operating costs. 

In fiscal 2019 Redbubble delivered gross transaction value of $328 million and has an aspirational target of delivering $1 billion down the line. It's balance sheet is also reasonably sound. 

The company has 256.6 million shares on issue to give it a market value around $390 million that isn't actually that high versus more popular digital marketplaces such as REA Group Limited (ASX: REA), SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) or another junior rival in Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN).

Goldman's has a $1.65 price target on the shares, although they have room to run higher if the group executes on its medium-term objectives of sales and profit margin growth. 

I'm not a buyer of shares myself, although it looks one of the better up-and-coming digital or tech businesses on the local market. 

The post Goldman Sachs tips Redbubble share price as having more upside appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What were the highlights from Freelancer's result?

In its first-half 1H 2019 results, Freelancer reported further strong growth in both registered users and jobs posted on its platform.

Freelancer's total registered users rose to 3.3 million, while 0.9 million jobs were added to the group's platform during 1H 2019.

The company's results presentation also noted the Freightlancer segment, with major customers such as Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) among the 7,000+ operators using the service.

During the half-year period, Freelancer generated unaudited gross payment volume of $400 million which represents a 10% increase on 1H 2018 figures.

The company recorded revenues from ordinary activities of $28.67 million, up 16.1% on prior corresponding period (pcp), while net profit after tax (NPAT) climbed 120% to $157,000 for the group.

Gross profit came in at $24.3 million for the year, up 15% on pcp due to higher revenues, while the company's 85% grow margin was slightly down on pcp due to higher cost of sales coming from its enterprise services revenue

While admittedly off a low base, at the very least it shows that the company's profitability is moving in the right direction even as it continues to build out its operations.

The Aussie growth stock did not declare a dividend as it continues to reinvest in the company and focus on its medium to long-term growth prospects.

Freelancer reported record 1Q 2019 gross GPV from its Escrow.com platform of $158 million, up from 29.2% on pcp.

Freelancer remains free cash flow negative, with net cash used in operations of $987,000 for the half year, down from a net receipt of $1,038,000 in 1H 2018.

This was despite falls across all major cash expenses as the company's receipts from customers nearly halved compared to pcp.

On the balance sheet side, Freelancer reported a minor increase in cash and receivables as total assets climbed to $75.88 million during the year.

The post Results: Freelancer share price falls 8% despite 120% profit increase appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Freelancer is a global crowdsourcing marketplace website where organisations and individuals can advertise jobs that freelancers can compete to complete. Freelancer also runs Escrow.com, which it describes as the leading provider of secure online payments and online transaction management for consumers and businesses with over US$4 billion secured. You can see how the two services would work well together.

The combined business generated an all-time record in the first quarter for cash receipts of $14 million, which was up 15.8% on the prior corresponding period. The total gross payment volume (GPV) was also an all-time record of $204.3 million – up 25.6%.

The Freelancer segment delivered a GPV record of $45.9 million, which was up $45.9 million.

Overall, Freelancer generated positive operating cash flow in the first quarter of FY19 of $2 million and ended the quarter with cash of $35.1 million.

On the operational side of things, Freelancer said the major development work in deploying a new front-end technical stack continued, which aims to improve the user experience, site speed and hopefully improve conversion & retention.

The company also announced Arrow Electronics as the first commercial enterprise customer from Freelancer Enterprise. The new platform allows Fortune 500 companies and 'innovative technology creators' to design and build hardware products through access to over half a million skilled electronic and electrical engineers.

Freelancer also announced that Freightlancer was licensed to operate in the US as a freight broker (marketplace). It was also integrated into Escrow.com so that freight options are provided via checkout on direct transactions created from Escrow.com.

Foolish takeaway

Continuing positive operating cashflow is a great milestone for Freelancer because it means it can fund its own growth. The great thing about technology businesses like Freelancer is that because the platform already exists a lot of additional revenue falls to the bottom line apart from a (likely) small rise in operating expenses.

It would have been better to buy Freelancer shares a year ago when they were half the value they are now, but I'd be happy to buy a small parcel today on the positive updates.

The post The Freelancer share price has rocketed 18% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Your lifetime's earnings can vary significantly depending on your annual income, so you want your pay to be as high as it can be.

Wage growth has slowed significantly in recent years, so it may take a savvy negotiation to bump up your wages a decent amount.

Here are three ways to get a pay rise at work:

Do well at your job (& prove it), and ask for the pay rise

It sounds very obvious, but unless you show through your work/skill that you're worth a pay rise then there is less chance of it happening.

Your employer might not be tracking your performance closely and they may not proactively give you pay rises even if you deserve it. You should bring your own proof that you've done well such as key performance indictor reports, client feedback or other records you can show of your work.

After you've gathered your evidence you should ask your boss for a meeting and outline why you're worth more because of X. All they can do is say no.

Market research

One of the best things you can do is research and compare your experience and position to others being advertised on Seek Limited (ASX: SEK), Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) and various other employment sites. Recruitment specialists and colleagues could also be sources for comparing your pay.

If you can show that the market average is higher than what you're currently being paid then you may have a key selling-point for your pay rise request, however don't threaten to quit, as that would be counter-productive during the conversation.

Stick to the facts in the meeting, prove to your boss why you deserve a pay rise – not just because you need more money for personal reason XYZ.

Move job

If you've done your research, had the chat and you didn't get a pay rise, then it could be worth considering moving jobs. Definitely don't make the switch without having something concrete lined up first though. Security of income is imperative.

Studies these days show that workers, on average, get pay rises quicker by moving job to job rather than sticking with the same employer. Loyalty seemingly doesn't pay it seems, just like with energy bills.

Foolish takeaway

Good luck getting your pay rise. One of the best things you can do with your pay rise is to pretend in your budget that you didn't get it. If you don't allow lifestyle inflation then you will just be saving more money to build wealth.

The post How to get a pay rise at work appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Here's a short recap of the Australian market:

• S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) lower 0.07% to 6,175.20
• ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) lower 0.03% to 6,265.10
• AUD/USD at US 71 cents
• Gold at US$1,298.91 an ounce
• Brent Oil at US$67.22 a barrel

The best-performing ASX 200 share today was heavy rental equipment business Emeco Holdings Limited (ASX: EHL) which rose 6.4%.

Shares of Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) fell 5.8% after answering a price and volume query.

Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL) shares rose 4.1% today, it is been a strong month for the organic infant formula company so far.

The A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price ended the day down 2.3%, with a supplier's announcement a possible cause.

Gold miners had a rough day today with the gold price declining. The worst of the falls belonged to Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) which dropped 4.3% and shares of Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) declined 3.6%.

The worst performer of the day in the ASX 200 was Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) which declined 6.1% after yesterday's gains.

Finally, the Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) share price rose 1.25% after announcing a joint service with Arrow Electronics.

Here are some of today's top stories:

• 4 common investing mistakes to avoid
• My No.1 investing mistake to avoid
• How an emergency fund can help you invest better
• The Splitit share price has been on a rollercoaster this week

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

Many believe Australia is already in a recession on a per-person basis. Total GDP is influenced by Australia's rising population, which has risen quite fast compared to most western countries due to the higher level of immigration.

However, on a per capita/per person basis the GDP figures released today may show that Australian households are in a recession due to two consecutive quarters of GDP per capita declines.

Many of Australia's biggest blue chips benefit from total GDP growth like Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), but the average Australian is seeing very limited wage growth.

Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) CEO Matt Barrie recently said to the AFR that "In Australia every indicator is blinking red. It's a house of cards. We're highly dependent on China (we're on par with the Congo for how reliant we are) and they are in a trade war. We have the housing market falling off a cliff, and this is happening from Vancouver to Auckland too."

Australia's dependence on China is not new. During the GFC it was Australia's link with China that kept us going where other regions like North America and Europe particularly struggled. But this time, a Chinese slowdown could be a factor in an Australian recession.

Mr Barrie wasn't finished, he said "The royal commission will be a catalyst for the collapse of the Australian housing market, with the other catalyst being China coming off the boil and regulations to stop the flow of capital out of China. We should never have let the property bubble get this big. People can't afford the homes and wages haven't kept up. I worry the next government will launch populist policies and we'll be on the way to being the next Argentina."

Clearly not a fan of Labor's election pledges, it seems. Did he see any silver lining? "The bright spark is iron ore … but if that comes off the boil we're in a world of hurt."

Foolish takeaway

As Motley Fool Chief Investment Officer Scott Phillips likes to regularly point out, the worst case scenario seldom eventuates. So perhaps Mr Barrie is feeling a bit too pessimistic about the situation.

The post CEO says Australia's economy is a "house of cards" appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What happened?

Despite increasing revenue by 3.1% year-on-year to $51.85 million, Freelancer reported a $1.48 million loss, albeit this was an improvement on last year's $4.77 million loss. While gross profit rose 1% to $44.2 million, the company's gross margin saw some significant compression, down 2.6% to 85.2% in FY18.

When excluding share-based payments expense, Freelancer's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at -$0.7 million which translated to a net loss after tax of $0.9 million.

To make matters worse, the company's net tangible asset per security fell into the red, down from 0.32 cents per share (cps) in 1H18 to -$0.01 per share as at 31 December 2018.

The big worry for Freelancer was the alarming drop in New Jobs posting, down 13% to $2.1 million, despite a 16% increase in Total Jobs Posted throughout the year as it added 4.7 million New Registered Users.

Gross Payment Volume (GPV), a preferred performance metric of the company's, increased by 26% on prior corresponding period to a record $740.7 million in FY18.

This was in large part due to a $570 million (+33.3% on pcp) result from the group's Escrow section, while Freelancer also recorded a take rate at 13%.

The company's cash position remained largely unchanged, with cash and cash equivalents up marginally to $33.2 million for the year.

Freelancer has had a difficult couple of years, as investors have seen its share price slide from $1.699 in August 2016 to just $0.64 per share at the time of writing.

Foolish takeaway

Things aren't looking good for Freelancer for the year ahead based on the full-year results released this morning. The nature of the Freelancer business model does leave it exposed to the economic cycle and any downturn could hit listings numbers hard and see the share price plummet further.

While the Freelancer share price is up 40% since mid-September, I would rather steer clear of the employment platforms and head towards a non-cyclical company such as AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL) in the meantime.

The post Freelancer share price plummets 8% lower on full-year earnings result appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Here's a short recap of the Australian market:

• S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) lower 0.37% to 5,864.70
• ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) lower 0.23% to 5,937.30
• AUD/USD at US 73 cents
• Gold at US$1,318.99 an ounce
• Brent Oil at US$62.18 a barrel

The best-performing ASX 200 share today was Xero Limited (ASX: XRO), the cloud-based accounting software company's share price increased by 8.8% as positivity continues to return with growth shares.

Shares of Beach Energy Limited (ASX: BPT) increased by 5.6% after the oil company increased its guidance for FY19 production.

The Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) share price plunged another 10% today as investors reacted negatively again to yesterday's December quarterly report.

Infant formula business Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB) saw its share price rise more than 23% today after impressing with strong sales growth.

The share price of Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) fell by 2.5% after Optus announced a 5G-enabled broadband plan.

Shares of Duxton Water Ltd (ASX: D2O) went up 4.3% after the company announced its dividend intentions for 2019.

The Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) share price went up 9.4% after revealing a record December 2018 quarter.

Finally, the Getswift Ltd (ASX: GSW) share price dropped 11.1% today as investors reacted to its latest quarter result, which was announced yesterday after the market closed.

Here are some of today's top stories:

• 3 ASX shares rated as strong buys by brokers
• The Royal Commissioner is ready. Is your portfolio?
• 3 ASX midcap growth shares to buy in February

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

Four shares that have climbed more than most today are listed below. Here's why they have pushed higher:

The Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price is up a solid 6% to $1.81 following the release of the energy producer's second quarter update. A strong production performance during the quarter led to management increasing its full year production guidance from between 25 and 27 MMboe to the range of 28 to 29 MMboe. It also narrowed its capital expenditure guidance for FY 2019.

The Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB) share price has zoomed 11.5% higher to 48 cents after the goats milk infant formula producer released its quarterly update. Investors appear to have been impressed to see Bubs achieve gross revenue growth of 499% year-on-year and 35% on the previous quarter to $12.1 million. The company's infant formula range was its biggest seller with a 279% increase in sales compared to the prior corresponding period and a 107% lift on sales during the last quarter.

The Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) share price has jumped 8% higher to 69 cents following the release of the freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace operator's quarterly update. In the fourth quarter Freelancer delivered all-time record cash receipts of $13.3 million, up 8% on the prior corresponding period. Management also advised that its Freelancer segment recorded all-time record Gross Marketplace Volume of $33 million during the period.

The Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price is up 7.5% to $42.93 despite there being no news out of the business and accounting software provider. A number of shares in the information technology sector are storming higher today following a strong rise by the Nasdaq index overnight and Facebook's impressive results release.

The post Why Beach, Bubs, Freelancer, & Xero shares pushed higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

As you might expect, those shares were the exception on a very bleak day of trade. Three small cap shares that have gone the other way with the market are listed below. Here's why they have plunged lower:

The Argosy Minerals Limited (ASX: AGY) share price has plunged 8% lower to 23 cents despite the lithium company providing a positive update on its Rincon lithium project in Salta Province, Argentina. According to the release, Argosy Minerals has upgraded its indicated mineral resource estimate to 245,120 tonnes of lithium carbonate at a vertical depth of 102.5 metres. Management believes the new indicated resource will support its "project production targets and long-term mine life estimates", which will be outlined further in its upcoming Preliminary Economic Assessment. I suspect its shares have sunk lower today due to investors going into risk-off mode.

The Audio Pixels Holdings Ltd (ASX: AKP) share price is down almost 7% to $17.90 despite there being no news out of the digital speaker developer. But considering high risk and high PE tech shares have been sold off today, I can't say I'm surprised to see the Audio Pixel's shares price tumble lower. The company has been developing its speakers for many years and has little to show for it other than a large number of capital raisings and significant shareholder dilution.

The Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) share price has fallen 8.5% to 80 cents after getting caught up in the tech selloff. Despite this sharp decline, the crowdsourcing marketplace operator's shares are up by 67% since the start of the year. Investors have been fighting to get hold of Freelancer's shares since its third quarter update revealed a significant improvement in its performance. Both its Freelancer.com and Escrow.com businesses were EBITDA positive during the quarter.

The post These small cap ASX shares have plunged lower on Tuesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.