Today I am looking at three Atlantic-spanning superstars set to deliver exceptional earnings growth.
Apple
For those seeking unbeatable quality in the tech sector, I believe that Cupertino-based Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL.US) is the one stock that is impossible to ignore. The business made both product innovation and brand development an artform long before the launch of the iPhone back in 2007, gifts which have given it a stranglehold on the phone, tablet PC and now smartwatch sectors. As such, the US firm has little to fear despite signs of market saturation in its key markets, in my opinion.
Indeed, Apple continues to grow market share at an exponential rate in both China and the US — the world’s number one and two largest phone markets — the company’s ability to steal customers from rivals like Samsung allowing shipments to keep on rocketing along at record levels. Just this month Kantar Worldpanel announced that ‘phablets’ made up more than a fifth of all smartphones sales in the States in January-March, driven in no small part by Apple’s larger iPhone 6 Plus handset. This is up from around 6% during the corresponding 2014 period.
Such performance is hard to ignore, which is why the City reckons Apple’s earnings are on course to grow 39% in the year concluding September 2015, and by a further 7% in fiscal 2016. Consequently the tech titan changes hands on P/E multiples of just 14.7 times for this year and 13.7 times for the following period — any number below 15 times is considered brilliant value.
BT Group
With investment at BT (LSE: BT-A) rolling along at a rate of knots, I believe that investors can look forward to bubbly earnings growth in the coming years. The London firm has splashed the cash for many years to take on the likes of Sky and cement its place at the top of the telecoms tree, exemplified by its successful, multi-year fibre-laying programme which has wired more than three-quarters of the country into its grid.
Combined with shrewd cross-promotion of its services — like offering its BT Sport channels for free to its internet customers — retail turnover has leapt in recent times, and total revenues at its BT Consumer division rose 3% in the year ending March 2015, to £1.1bn. And I expect the planned £12.5bn acquisition of mobile operator EE to blast revenues still higher as ‘quad-play’ cross-selling takes off.
The City expects BT’s massive investment scheme to weigh on earnings in the more immediate term, however, and a 4% slide is currently anticipated for fiscal 2016. But the bottom line is anticipated to skip 6% higher in the following year, pushing an already-attractive P/E ratio of 14.5 times for current year to just 13.8 times. I reckon the entertainment giant is a steal at these levels.
Persimmon
I am utterly convinced that Britain’s housing shortage should continue to power earnings at the likes of Persimmon (LSE: PSN) through the roof. The homebuilding sector is enjoying the fruits of an improving UK economy on employment figures and buyers’ income levels, while increasingly-attractive mortgage products and supportive government initiatives are providing a further boon to homes affordability.
In this environment house prices are only heading one way, in my opinion, and latest Nationwide figures showed prices rise 1% in April, the biggest jump since last summer. Against this positive backcloth Persimmon is expected to record an 18% earnings bump in 2015, and a further 13% improvement is pencilled in for next year.
Accordingly the construction play carries ultra-low P/E multiples of just 13.3 times and 11.6 times for 2015 and 2016 correspondingly. And PEG readouts below the value benchmark of 1 underline Persimmon’s terrific value relative to its growth potential — the business boasts figures of 0.7 for this year and 0.9 for 2016.
