Company news is starting to come in thick and fast next week, with a number of FTSE 100 giants bringing us interim results or other updates. It’s a very mixed bag, too, with news spread across the various sectors — and by the end of the month we should have a pretty fair idea of how most of the FTSE is doing.
Here are three of our biggest and best that should be spilling beans next week:
GlaxoSmithKline, Wednesday
Wednesday will bring us first-half results from pharmaceuticals giants GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) (NYSE: GSK.US), a constituent of the Fool’s Beginners’ Portfolio. Glaxo shares have had a good run since the start of 2013, and are up around 20% over the past 12 months to 1,717p, which is really quite nice from a company that is forecast to deliver a dividend yield of 4.3% for the year to December.
For the first quarter, group turnover fell by 2% with core earnings per share (EPS) down 6%, but that did include results from divested parts of the business — excluding divestments, sales grew by 2%. And chief executive Sir Andrew Witty pointed out that “2013 is a key year for R&D pipeline delivery“.
So what does the full year promise? Well, apart from that dividend, City analysts are forecasting a modest 3% rise in earnings per share, putting the shares on a forward P/E of a fraction under 15.
SSE, Thursday
On Thursday we’re due an AGM-day update from electricity supplier SSE (LSE: SSE), and again this is a share that has rewarded shareholders well — the price is up around 15% over the past 12 months to 1,601p, with the firm having coughed up a 5.7% dividend for the year to March 2013.
That was after adjusted pre-tax profit rose by 5.6% to £1.4bn with a 4.7% rise in adjusted earnings to 118p per share. The dividend was lifted 5.1% from the previous year, and the company reiterated its aim to boost its payout each year at least in line with RPI inflation.
Some utilities companies have seen their valuations pushed up, as some institutional investors are placing high value on predictable income these days. But SSE shares are on a forward P/E of a still-modest 13.5 or so, with a dividend yield of 5.5% expected. Could the shares still be a bargain? They don’t look too stretched to me.
Anglo American, Friday
If we want to see a FTSE 100 share that has done pretty much the opposite of the two above, we need look no further than Anglo American (LSE: AAL), whose shares are down more than 30% over the past 12 months — though they have recovered a little to 1,345p since the start of July.
It’s been a torrid time for miners in general, but with upbeat production reports starting to come in, it’s possible we’re near a tide-turning moment just now. And as far as Anglo American is going, we’ll have first-half results on Friday. The full year is expected to bring in a 15% fall in EPS, but the shares are still on a P/E of only a little over 10, falling to 9.1 with an EPS rise forecast for 2014.
At first-quarter time, there were mixed results, but production of one of the firm’s key products, iron ore, was up 2% over the first quarter of 2012, and up 15% over 2012 Q4.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
