Sometimes it only takes a couple of hot growth shares to noticeably boost a portfolio’s performance. Right now, I see a lot of opportunities in AIM-listed stocks. Here are two of them to consider buying in October.
A play on Starlink’s growth
The first stock is Filtronic (LSE:FTC). This advanced communications specialist has been on fire — the share price is up nearly 700% in the past two years!
However, this surge is understandable given the growth the company has been enjoying after signing a landmark contract with SpaceX in 2024. This involves supplying critical components for its Starlink satellite constellation to boost signals between satellites and ground stations to deliver high-speed internet.
In the year ended 31 May (FY25), Filtronic’s revenue skyrocketed 121% to £56.3m, while operating profit jumped 272% to £13.4m. Cash at bank doubled to £14.5m, giving a healthy net cash position of £12.3m.
The stock isn’t conventionally cheap, trading at 43 times forward earnings. And there’s significant customer concentration risk, with SpaceX contributing 83% of revenue last year.
That said, it’s worth noting that the company is having success broadening its customer base. It has recently announced new space order wins with Viasat/European Space Agency and Airbus. In aerospace and defence, it has contracts with customers like Leonardo, BAE Maritime and QinetiQ.
With both space and European defence markets expected to expand rapidly over the next decade, Filtronic is perfectly positioned to pick up a lot more contracts. And the firm has significantly expanded its manufacturing capacity to capitalise on the opportunities ahead.
With a robust order book, world-class talent, and a clear innovation strategy, we are well-positioned to lead in the converging sectors of communications, aerospace and defence, and space.
Filtronic.
Growing financial cloud provider
Another company enjoying real commercial momentum right now is Beeks Financial Cloud (LSE:BKS). It’s a cloud computing and connectivity provider for financial markets, with an extensive global network of data centres strategically located next to major financial exchanges.
Back in August, Beeks picked up $7m worth of new Private Cloud contracts. And then earlier this week, it signed a major Exchange Cloud partnership with TMX Datalinx, part of Canada’s TMX Group (the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange).
Using Beeks’ solution, TMX Datalinx will offer high-performance trading and data analytics to its large base of financial services customers in Canada and worldwide.
The deal is structured as a revenue share, adding to Beeks’ fast-growing base of recurring revenue. Other contract wins include the stock exchanges of Australia and Mexico, as well as crypto exchange Kraken.
Another positive here is that the £143m-cap company is already profitable. For this fiscal year (FY26), the City expects earnings per share (EPS) growth of 15%.
Now, this is another stock that isn’t obviously cheap. Based on the current EPS forecast of 8.74p, it’s trading at 24 times forward earnings. Were growth to disappoint, or its cloud solutions fail to live up to clients’ expectations, then there might be valuation risk here.
On balance though, I think this is a high-quality small-cap that’s worth digging into. The firm is tapping into the trend of financial markets moving to flexible, secure, low-latency cloud infrastructure.
What’s more, the stock is still 34% off a high set back in February.
