Schroders plc, Interserve plc and easyJet plc are all on a winning streak.
The FTSE 100 (UKX) briefly hit a 52-week high of 6,118 points yesterday, before closing down on the day at 6,101. But today it's back up at 6,114, having gained 12 points on the day so far. If it stays at this level, it will achieve a new closing high price.
And we're a long way up now from the FTSE's 52-week low of 5,230 points. Will we ever see it as low as that again? Surely not!
When the FTSE indices are reaching new heights, some of their constituents inevitably will be, too. Here are three pushing new records today:
Schroders
Asset management and banking firm Schroders (LSE: SDR) saw its shares reach a new 52-week high of 1,810p today, before dropping back a little to 1,800p. That's 21p (1.2%) up on the day, and takes the shares up 55% from their May 2012 low of 1,163p. That's pretty good going for a FTSE 100 company.
The price gain appears to reflect confidence in the next few years, as 2012 expectations put the shares on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of a relatively high 18, and that only falls to 14 by 2014 forecasts, bringing it back close to the long-term FTSE average.
Interserve
Interserve (LSE: IRV), the construction support services company, has made a cracking start to the new year, with its shares soaring by 8.7% since the start of January to reach a 52-week high of 434p today.
And even after that impressive run, the price don't look stretched -- forecasts put the shares on a P/E of under 10, with well-covered dividends of over 5% forecast for 2012 and the next two years.
easyJet
Another big winner of the past 12 months has been easyJet (LSE: EZJ), whose shares have more than doubled since the start of 2012. The price has been hovering around a new closing high of 840p all week, having just broken that level at 841.5p at the time of writing today.
Since a revolt led by founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet has focused on providing shareholder value, and more than doubled its 2012 full-year dividend to 21.5p per share. Payouts of around that level are forecast for the next two years, with the shares on a P/E of about 12.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
