So it should not surprise you that there are a few bargains that you may not have thought of yet.

Red Leaf Securities chief John Athanasiou suggested two such ASX shares that you may want to consider picking up:

Can this airport hit the jackpot like Sydney did?

Now that Sydney Airport shareholders have been paid out after its private buyout and delisting, Auckland International Airport Limited (ASX: AIA) has become the big aviation infrastructure play.

Athanasiou sees excellent upside for the airport in New Zealand's biggest city.

"A positive for Auckland International Airport is the New Zealand Government bringing forward its plans to re-open the country's borders to international travellers," he told The Bull.

"The return of international travel may encourage AIA management to resume dividends."

According to The Motley Fool website, the company has not paid out a dividend since 2009. However, CMC Markets forecasts a 5.8 cents per share payout in 2023 and a 15.3 cent yield in 2024.

The resumption of dividends would be a massive catalyst, said Athanasiou. Maybe it will even end up with the same fate as its Sydney cousin.

"If the company starts paying dividends, AIA is likely to attract interest from global funds seeking yield from quality infrastructure assets."

Auckland Airport shares have dipped more than 4% for the year so far. The stock price hasn't yet approached its pre-COVID peaks.

Cashed-up Aussies spend big on pets

Online marketplace Mad Paws Holdings Ltd (ASX: MPA) only listed 13 months ago, hoping to ride the huge interest in growth stocks.

The company claimed at the time the initial public offer was oversubscribed four times over.

The recent market rotation to cyclicals has unfortunately meant the stock price has merely gone sideways from its IPO price of 20 cents per share.

But Athanasiou is upbeat after his team visited the business in real life recently.

"The pet chemist business is potentially the most lucrative segment of the company's operations, as it's able to sell pet pharmaceutical products at an attractive premium to repeat customers," he said.

"There's plenty of room for growth for the pet chemist business, as it uses the Mad Paws platform to sell their products."

Athanasiou told The Motley Fool in February that Australians are "not shy" of spending big on their fur (or feather) children.

"We all know tailwinds in the industry of increased levels of pet ownership. Everyone bought a pet during lockdown to have some company."

The post 2 ASX shares to buy you haven't thought of: expert appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Motley Fool chats with fund managers so that you can get an insight into how the professionals think. In this edition, Red Leaf Securities chief executive John Athanasiou explains why he loves the themes driving his 2 favourite ASX shares.

Hottest ASX shares

The Motley Fool: What are the 2 best stock buys right now?

John Athanasiou: Well, the two best buys are Singular Health Group Ltd (ASX: SHG) and Mad Paws Holdings Ltd (ASX: MPA). 

I'll kick off with Mad Paws, which is actually raising equity now as we speak. The reason why we love Mad Paws is it's the leading online participant in Australian pet care. And we expect them to make significant earnings over the medium term. 

We all know tailwinds in the industry of increased levels of pet ownership. Everyone bought a pet during lockdown to have some company. And they're not shy about spending a dollar when it comes to pets.

Now, Mad Paws has got a growth-by-acquisition strategy and they're currently in the process of buying a business as we speak that we believe is very value creative. They're acquiring Pet Chemist, which happens to be Australia's leading online supplier of pet health care products. They're raising $5.5 million at 18 cents as an SPP [share purchase plan] attached to that. So we'll be telling existing shareholders to participate in that.

There are not many pet service companies out there and that's why we really like it, because it's one area we think is going to really grow.

MF: It only listed March last year, didn't it?

JA: Yeah. The reality is, it hasn't done anything. It IPOed at 20 [cents]. It fluctuated around 25, 18, 17. It hasn't done too much. But we do believe that the market will come around.

MF: Did your team buy during the initial public offer?

JA: Yeah, we participated in the IPO. When it pulled back, we picked up more, so we've been big supporters of it.

And Singular Health Limited, we believe that metaverse is a long-term trend. Now, obviously, that gained investor attention thanks to [Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) chief] Mr Zuckerberg. There are only about half a dozen of these metaverse companies on ASX. Obviously, that'll probably grow.

Singular Health is our preferred company in this space, given its low market cap and its disruptive radio technology, which converts 2D medical images into 3D models that you can view on your mobile desktop, virtual reality devices. So very clever technology with plenty of upside there. We all know that the health sector will continue to grow, so it benefits from that as well.

MF: So Singular Health is using the metaverse to perform diagnosis?

JA: Correct. Correct.

The post 2 small-cap ASX shares the market hasn't woken up to yet appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At the time of writing, the Mad Paws share price is trading hands at 19 cents, up 11.8%.

What's lifting the Mad Paws share price?

Investors have been scrambling to buy shares in the pet services company today following its announcement this morning.

According to the release, Mad Paws has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Waggly Club. The company being acquired is described as "one of Australia's largest dog treats and toys subscription businesses"

Waggly was launched by founder Kate Herbert in 2016, providing dog owners with an assortment of treats and toys monthly. These subscription boxes range in value from $45 to $52 per month and are tailor-made based on the dog's age, chewing needs and size.

Waggly's founder and CEO, Kate Herbert stated:

As we look to our next horizon, my aim is to scale Waggly and reach more and more dogs and their fur parents each month. To this end, I feel Mad Paws and Waggly are a perfect match.

The details

Mad Paws has agreed to acquire 100% of Waggly Club through a combination of cash and shares. Total cash consideration of $2 million will be paid upon completion of the acquisition, along with $1 million worth of Mad Paw shares. The issuing Mad Paws share price will be at 25 cents per share.

Furthermore, another $0.5 million will be payable dependent on Waggly Club achieving agreed revenue-based performance hurdles up until 31 December 2022.

Regarding Waggly's financial performance, the company currently serves roughly 2,000 orders per month. Around 70% of the company's revenue is subscription-based. From Fy20 to FY21, Waggly nearly doubled its revenue to $1.5 million.

The Waggly Club acquisition is not subject to conditions and is expected to be completed today, 8 June 2021.

The post Mad Paws (ASX:MPA) share price wagging its tail on acquisition news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Mad Paws Holdings Limited (ASX: MPA) is enjoying its first day on the ASX today. Particularly, as its pre-IPO investors included ASX heavyweight Qantas Airways (ASX: QAN) as well as Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART) founder and CEO, Tim Fung.

We don't know much about Mad Paws' ASX listing as yet. Though, we do know it has a market capitalisation of around $45 million. And also that its IPO, which raised $12 million, was more than four times oversubscribed.

The IPO was made up of high quality institutional and sophisticated investors and a number of retail shareholders. Also included in the IPO were more than 400 users of the company's service, who were eager to invest alongside Tim Fung and Qantas.

At the time of writing, the Mad Paws share price is trading 17.5% higher at 23.5 cents, having also fallen by around 17% from its opening price of 28.5 cents. Anyone who managed to invest in the Mad Paws IPO will still be sitting pretty, as they could have snapped up the company's shares for 20 cents apiece.

More about Mad Paws

Mad Paws launched in Australia in 2015, connecting pet owners with pet sitters, walkers and other pet service providers.

Mad Paws is currently purely a proprietary technology platform, but the company plans to expand beyond pet care services. It has recently launched a pet food subscription product, Dinner Bowl. It also plans to introduce a pet insurance product in the first half of 2021.

The company has over 19,000 pet service providers using its marketplace across Australia and over 450,000 user sign ups. More than 180,000 services have been booked through Mad Paws since launch. 

Commentary from management 

Mad Paws chair Jan Pacas said the company has been extremely happy with the ASX's response to its IPO.

…the IPO capital raise [was] 4x oversubscribed, which allowed us to build a strong investor base from both the institutional as well as the retail side. We are particularly excited about the take up from our customer and pet service provider base, with the priority offer being significantly oversubscribed for a total final allocation of $1 million of the $12 million IPO raise.

The post Mad Paws (ASX:MPA) IPO hooked Qantas and Airtasker appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.