AVST.L Share Chat (AVST)

Avast was always on the up and nice Dividends

the Gen Digital dividend is about 20% of the AVAST one, and the stock about 20% lower than when it was taken over.

Still the experts knew best and the shareholders are much better off in the merged company ( Sarcasm )

End of another week AVST up 4P on the week, Norton down 47p the Offer gets to look worse and worse

@cr888 I think October or November

When will Avast investors be paid ?

NOW the CMA has in principle given approval the offers are both looking poor the mainly shares 1 is 1/7 less than the open market value of the shares. The mostly cash offer is about 0.5% above the share price

When It was announced I looked and the difference between the 2 was about £25 per 100 shares, now it's nearer £125.

I am getting tempted to change which way I want to go to the higher cash offer

Message from HL saying all previous elections cancelled

When the offer was made option 1 was 2% market value option 2 was 7% below ( But I anticipated a 10% rise in NLOK )
Currently option 1 is 1% above market value option 2 is 14% below

As always DYOR

Wonder about this 28m transaction for £28m @ £6.30 does not seem like was today as the price opened lower nor does it seem to have been the day before as price was always higher.

What are you opinions... is it a good time to sell

Just sold mine @ 600.5p

Same here, I'll wait till the meeting on Thursday and probably sell soon after if it looks like nothing else will happen.

Yep, but you'll only get £6.05p after the acquisition. Hardly covers the fx costs of $ to £ on dividends or the 15% withholding tax.
So unless they improve the offer I'm out at a profit and may use to acquire Avon Protection given what's happened there.

595p today, that's more like it.

Might be because of the hassle , eg you can grab it at 5.65 today or wait for £6.05 but ~ 50p of that is tied up with Norton. Thus you would have to sell to realise it, facing both trade costs and FX. To many, that's just not worth it plus of course there is the 15% withholding tax on dividends.

OSI yesterday RNSed some useful research on ransomware, which is of relevance to AVST:

08/09/2021 07:00 RNSNON Osirium Technologies PLC Release of findings from Osirium Ransomware Index

"Osirium research finds UK businesses vulnerable to ransomware attacks

Osirium Technologies plc (AIM: OSI), a leading vendor of cloud-based cybersecurity software, has today released findings from a research report it has undertaken, suggesting many UK businesses are not sufficiently protecting their critical IT recovery systems should a cyber-attack occur.

The Osirium Ransomware Index surveyed 1,001 IT managers in the UK and found that 80% of businesses rely on backups (whereby a copy of computer data is taken and stored elsewhere) as a plan of recovery should a cyber-attack occur. Yet despite this reliance, only a minority take extra precautions of using privileged access management to protect their backups, leaving the bulk of UK businesses vulnerable to attack, as our report highlights.

Key findings of the report:

- Overall, 79% (4 in 5 businesses) surveyed admitted that they have experienced at least one ransomware attack, with 68% of these stating the attack occurred in the past year.

- Despite 98% of respondents saying they were aware that backups are a target of ransomware attacks, over half do not keep offline backups and only 35% take extra precautions to protect access to backups and backup management systems.

David Guyatt, CEO of Osirium, commented: "Cyber-attacks on UK businesses remain a very real threat and unfortunately is an everyday occurrence for organisations across all sectors with potentially profound consequences. Our report highlights the degree of vulnerability that persists, with 58% of UK businesses surveyed only feeling 'somewhat prepared' for the eventuality of a ransomware attack. M any businesses know they need to bolster their backup protection, and this awareness continues to drive new opportunities for our privileged access management solutions."

Further information on the Osirium Ransomware Index can be found here:
https://www.osirium.com/documents/osirium-ransomware-index

https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/osirium-technologies-OSI/share-news/Osirium-Technologies-PLC-Release-of-findings-from/86001225

When the market opens and the US investors see what a great deal they have secured we should get another few percent here imv.

When the USA market wakens up we should see a spark of interest. Norton life lock has a turnover of 2.6 billion dollars in 2020 and shares trade at over 26dollars

Look up TERN plc, currently available at 18p a share at a 60mil mcap.

They hold a majority stake in several companies, most notably a 60% holding of Device Authority, which provides some of the best in class security in the IoT space.

They are used by Microsoft, Entrust, Dell, Medigate and many others to name a few: https://www.deviceauthority.com/ecosystem/our-partners

Device Authority's competitors are valued at about 4-8bil and recently it was recognised as offering a better solution than its competitors: https://www.deviceauthority.com/news-article/device-authority-leader-spark-matrix-iot-identity-and-access-management-iot-iam-2021

Device Authority's Keyscaler is the only solution that can delivery security steps 1 to 5, at scale and with zero touch in the IoT device security sector. Hence why it is used by the biggest mammoths in tech.

Do your own research of course, but this company is going to be worth magnitudes more than it is worth now and TERN's share price will re-rate into the pounds. The largest holders expect this.

You can currently buy TERN shares for less than the recent placing which was 18.8p. It'll soon head back to the high 20's and break 30's as it is going to be listed in the US within the next few weeks.

Not a ramp, just a tip. :)

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/954118/cybersecurity-how-to-invest-in-a-thriving-sector-amid-rising-cybercrime-954118.html

hasn't done so since 1st of Feb when it crossed down.

EMA 20 crossed upwards EMA 50 this looks like a bullish signal

https://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2021/microsoft-darktrace-partner-for-cloud-cybersecurity/

news on company Darktrace Plc to challenge Avast in the Cybersecurity market.

Apendragon.
When I first saw your name I thought you were something to do with the car dealer.
You seem to be negative on any share I look at.
Are you buying shares or trading via CFDs/SBs ?
AVST has some issues to deal with but with a divi coming soon, and a recent fall in SP, seems to offer better chance on the long side than the short side.
Just my opinon, but WDIK, my name is CSDI - Crap Share Dealing Ideas
I have a short term target of 520, from entry at 486p.
A drop down to 420 would see my add a little more.
I think most brokers have TPs of 550-600, but prob not worth using that as an basis.
Cheers - CSDI

and back down again - huge seller around, every rise is massively sold into.

decided to sell out first thing this morning at 460. Will only keep dropping - next support is at 422.

good luck

Bought in today at 457 - ridiculous drop

will keep adding

Maybe the name is better.
Ye “Darktrace” mhm fits a little with all the problems the major stakeholder and founder in his antitrust lawsuit.

At the end of the day, I like to have the numbers do the talking...
Dark trace is not profitable and it’s revenue is quiet small. The cyber security space is very crowded and therefore I do have my doubts about their growth ability.

Petty though it is, I don't think the name Avast is very marketable, it sounds foreign and boring in comparison to Darktrace which sounds like it is something from 007. Just saying :0)

Dark trace revised their ipo down to 2.4£bil.
For me even that is a little too much. And also high compared to avasts poor valuation.
Cannacord the broker gave 550p recommendation on avast and stated that it would yield a PE ratio of 21x on 2021 results. They stated that although profits margins are very high for avast compared to rest of uk IT, avast only average growth of 6% compared to industry of 10% weighs their valuation down. The uk it industry as average PE ratio of 34x atm while avast is only 18x.
If avast again impresses on q2 on revenue growth we could see a big breakthrough.

What might the effect of the Darktrace IPO be? Might some monies get diverted or shares sold from AVST to fund purchases there or will it lead to renewed interest and an upswing in price?

I think it’s just the fact that overall today the market isn’t too great.
I think there may be uk economic data coming out?
We will see, this should rise in near term.

Seems like a while since someone has been active on here.

Darktrace ipo is on the horizon and there is a lot of chitchat about £3bil valuation. I know it could have potential but for a company that apparently made £200mil revenue last year, it seems a little excessive compared with where Avast is at the moment.

Does anyone have any information on darktrace as a company and future potential? I found it hard to get some actually useful info.

Maybe a good time to top up then?

Just checked the shorting list, but nothing (above 0.5%) is shown, so hopefully there’ll be a rebound fairly quickly.

Also the PE ratio of US companies is much higher than Europeans/UK

Avast dividend rate is 2.8 percent much higher than bond yield or inflation. Certainly much higher than bank interest rates haha.

I think its just tech stock pricing dropping following correction sell off in US last week.
Concerns over inflation impacting earnings on high p/e stocks.
Personally think its overdone and have added more.
Rich

Absolutely no idea but it allowed me top-up at 4.26
But the shares are down more than £ 1 from January for no apparent reason.

New holder here - 1500 at 439p. Seemed a fair set of results with a decent outlook to me.

Thanks Contrarian, I agree, crazy not to hedge. Puts a real damper on the results and future results until it's hedged. Not surprised to see the sell off. :(

Hey Cliff I make it 62.1 M according to the below. In my simple mind they should have hedged knowing the volatility of EURUSD and EURGBP pairs. Why they don't seem to have is beyond my comprehension!

he Group further reduced its term loan by the repayment of $200m from the USD tranche in June and September 2020 (see Note 27 Term Loan). As of 31 December 2020, the total Gross debt13 of the Group was $901.0m and the total Net debt13 was $725.6m. The decrease in gross debt since 31 December 2019 is attributable to $(200.0)m voluntary repayment of borrowings, $(61.9)m of mandatory repayment of borrowings, and $(0.3)m decrease in lease liabilities, offset by negative unrealised FX loss of $62.1m on the EUR tranche of the loan.

Any idea of the size of the " significant unrealised FX loss arising from Euro denominated loan" ?
SP is spooked this morning. Hopefully support around 440

Flat start. Think everyone waiting for budget announcement. Fingers crossed no on line tax

Glad you are not my Financial Adviser, Mr.Smarty

Think we will be over 500 tomorrow. Good day ahead :-)

I feel numbers will be inline with guidance, therefore any positive price action will be driven by FY 2021 guidance/forecasted growth.

Whichever way you try to pick to spin, this is a very good entry.

Anything positive IMO would give this a clear run to 510-550 range and still would be cheap for a growing tech/cyber company.

Of course there is always downside risk, however, company is stable and in a good sector.

GLA for tomorrow

Any thoughts on what you guys think will happen tomorrow?
I bought quiet a lot yesterday, seeing the price won’t drop further.
Can’t really read anything from EMA graphs and no technical price indications on the graph. So everything hangs on tomorrow’s results.

Only really positive thing I can think of is the new potential in Latin America from direct billings.
And also the fact that hopefully they grew paying customer base.

Expecting some solid results reported Wednesday. Hopefully get the SP back up where it belongs

Glad the brokers are on the same page as us private investors

Yes nice RNS with potential to add 400m customers!

I also like the 2nd RNS - appointment of joint brokers. Now why would AVAST need 2 brokers? Hmm LOL
Rich

The partnership means that Avast's subscription-based solutions will be available via direct carrier billing for over 400 million customers of PMovil worldwide.

That’s a lot of potential new customers!!!

Honestly you can see a quick shift from tech sector, like all US tech stocks including Apple, Microsoft. I think this is a big opportunity.
Avast isn’t a COVID stock like zoom is. The virus market is expanding, and therefore this company should do well after all lockdowns are lifted. Also they are reducing their liabilities.
The upcoming dividend is also a very positive note.
PE ratio is below 20 very cheap compared to US stocks in tech sector.

Markets moving money into bombed out stocks eg travel, based on economy reopening..
Quick trade for some, taking money out of solid stocks that have performed well eg BOO, CLG, AVST, BME etc for quick trade into recovery stocks.
Personally I know what I would rather own longterm..
Opportunity to buy more sub 450p tomorrow??
Rich

I added yesterday. Markets currently moving money from solid stocks like BME, BOO, AVST, CLG back into bombed out travel companies etc., for quick bounce trade, in and out.
I know what I would rather own long term..
Worth taking advantage to buy more at low prices. Will take next bite sub 450p.
Rich

The usual sector issues. Some drag expected on earnings from last few months, but work at home is expected to become part of 'return to normality.' Looks over sold to me so adding again

I have brought. Done some analysis and I am hoping net income for FY 2020 will be around 300m, assuming a 20 P/E that's gives a MC of 6bn but near term target will be 550. Rather than a run up to earnings this looks to be pricing in the worse i.e. company coming out and saying their revenues might affected as stay at home stops, however, its still a growing industry. As long as there is some positive comments in the ER then it could bounce. GLA and DYOR

wondering exactly the same - full results out on 03/03 - has anything leaked?

Anybody have any information or know possibly why the fairly steady drop in SP over the last week?