The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) is dipping again today, down 30p to 6,541 by early afternoon, led lower by energy firms whose shares have reacted badly to Labour’s plans to cap prices. Centrica and SSE are both down around 5%, but National Grid is holding up. Markets are also likely to remain jittery until we have firmer direction from the US Federal Reserve.
But which shares are doing well today? Here are three from the top index hitting record prices:
Vodafone
Vodafone Group (LSE: VOD) shares have been rocking up and down a bit since their initial leap on news of the Verizon deal. And today they’ve hit another new 52-week high, of 217.2p, before dropping back a little to 216.9p by midday. That takes the mobile phone giant’s shares up 20% over the past 12 months, which is a pretty good performance especially when added to the 5.5% dividend yield paid for the year to March 2013.
There’s going to be a drop when the Verizon special dividend is paid, so we might be around Vodafone’s highest point for a little while now, but the shares are still only on a pretty average forward P/E of 13.5 based on current forecasts. And I don’t think that’s overpriced at all.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LSE: RBS) (NYSE: RBS.US) have been doing well, no doubt helped by the government’s recent sale of a stake in Lloyds Banking Group, and today broke into new territory to hit a 52-week peak of 380.6p. The price is staying pretty close to that level, at 376.4 as I write.
Shareholders who bought a year ago would now be sitting on a gain of 40%, with a return to pre-tax profit of around £1.1bn expected for the year to December 2013. And if you think you’ve missed the boat, forecasts for 2014 still only put the shares on a P/E of 12.
International Consolidated Airlines
International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE: IAG) shares have more than doubled over the past 12 months. And the firm, formed from the merger of British Airways and Spain’s Iberia, saw its price climb to a 12-month high of 343.7p this morning before settling around 340p.
The company reported a loss for the year to December 2012, but is set to make a pre-tax profit of around £230m this year if the latest forecasts are to be believed. Valuation is tricky at a turnaround time, but forecasts for 2014 suggest a P/E of about 9. The dividend is on the way back too, but it’ll be some time before it reaches meaningful levels — we have a yield of 0.1% expected this year, rising to just 0.3% next.
