Today I am looking at three stock market stars that are expected to deliver stunning earnings’ expansion in the future.
Vodafone Group
Investors should not be under any illusions that Vodafone Group (LSE: VOD) (NASDAQ: VOD.US) is set to deliver rip-roaring growth any time soon. The telecoms play has suffered dearly from mounting competition and regulatory pressure in its critical European marketplaces, while the vast sums churned out to counter these problems has ‘bookended’ pressure on the bottom line.
City analysts expect these problems to send Vodafone’s earnings shuttling 64% lower in the year concluding March 2015. Still, the business is expected to turn the corner from fiscal 2016 onwards — indeed, current forecasts point to a 2% recovery next year before earnings rocket 23% higher in 2017.
Vodafone has chucked huge amounts of money into revamping its fortunes on the continent, and is embarking on a $19bn organic investment scheme to improve its European network and, more specifically, to ride the wave of surging demand for fast and reliable 3G and 4G.
In addition, vast sums are also being doled out to improve its operations in lucrative emerging markets — the mobile operator saw organic sales revenues from the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific region leap 5.7% in the first half to £5.8bn, underpinned by strong demand for super-fast data.
Vodafone is also shelling out billions to fund acquisitions in red-hot growth areas. Most notably the business has aggressively entered the triple-play market — a sector which is not only lucrative in its own right but also offers Vodafone the chance to bolster its existing operations by cross-selling its mobile packages — by acquiring Germany’s Kabel Deutschland and Spain’s Ono for £6.6bn and £6bn respectively. I believe that the business is gearing up to enjoy resplendent growth in coming years.
SABMiller
The double whammy of reduced consumer spend in emerging markets, combined with significant weakening of all major currencies against the US dollar, has seen broker sentiment towards beverages giant SABMiller (LSE: SAB) take a thumping in recent times.
The company sources more than 75% of earnings from developing regions, so signs of rising cyclical problems in these places is of course dampening sentiment towards the stock. However, I believe that SABMiller has plenty in its armoury to deliver resplendent long-term returns from these lucrative regions.
Indeed, SABMiller still managed to enjoy a 2% uptick in organic net producer revenues during April-September despite a difficult trading environment, helped by the tremendous pricing power of international brands such as Miller and Peroni. And the company’s commitment to innovation across these labels has helped volumes and revenues to keep ticking higher despite wider industry weakness.
Meanwhile, SABMiller is also engaged in a huge restructuring programme to boost earnings in the coming years, and is aiming to deliver savings of $500m per year by 2018 as back office functions are streamlined and the supply chain is improved.
SABMiller is anticipated to see earnings slip 2% in the 12 months concluding March 2015. But the brewer is expected to get the bottom line moving again from next year with a 9% improvement, and an extra 10% rise is pencilled in for 2017.
Persimmon
British housebuilders like Persimmon (LSE: PSN) have fallen out of favour with investors in recent weeks, owing to fears of a cooling housing market. Although weaker housing prices are now widely expected, I believe that a chronic shortage of new homes in Britain should maintain a robust market and keep the bottom line growing across the construction sector.
Indeed, earlier this month Persimmon announced that the number of legal completions surged 17% during 2014, up to to 13,509 new homes. And a 7% uptick in the firm’s forward sales, to £973m, bodes well for this year and beyond.
The UK’s major banks and building societies are locked in an intense battle to attract mortgage customers and are slashing their mortgage rates left, right and centre. With interest rates also likely to remain at record lows through the whole of 2015 and potentially beyond, and the Chancellor slashing stamp duty for 98% of all home sales in the autumn, conditions remain supportive for housing demand.
As a result, Persimmon is expected to see earnings jump 21% this year, and by a further 13% in 2016, according to City projections. And I expect to see profits continue to rise further out as Britain’s housing crunch intensifies.
