Results from boohoo should be with us on 26 April and should be good with analysts expecting a 46% rise in EPS. They have further gains above 20% per year pencilled-in for the next two years. But one thing that still leaves me wary is the volatility of the share price — since floatation in March 2014, the shares are actually down 39%. I’m also keenly aware of the ups and downs that ASOS shareholders have faced. Over five years those shares are up 62%, yet if you’d been unlucky enough to buy at their peak in February 2014, you’d be down 53%.

There’s a bit of a “dotcom bubble” feel about boohoo (and ASOS) to me, with boohoo shares on a forward P/E of 25 as far out as February 2018 (though it’s a lot lower than the multiple of 47 for ASOS based on August 2017 forecasts), and that puts me right off. But I’m an old bloke and I buy my shares the way I buy my clothes — conventional stuff that I intend to keep for years — so what do I know?

Shiny shiny

If you’d bought Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) at their low point in September 2015, you’d be sitting on a nice gain of 81% right now as the shares have reached 6600p. That’s on the back of the rising price of gold, which has reached the $1,200 level per ounce from only a little over $1,000 in December.

Buying mining shares is a good way of gearing up the profits you can make over buying the metal itself — every percentage rise in the price of gold represents a bigger percentage rise in a miner’s profits once it has cleared the cost of production. Of course, the same works in reverse and a gold price fall is geared up to a bigger percentage fall in miners’ profits.

What I don’t like about Randgold shares is their high forward P/E of 37, dropping only as far as 31 on 2017 forecasts, because that suggests there’s a fair bit more gold price growth built into the share price. I reckon trying to guess where something as fundamentally useless as gold is going is a waste of time.

Health profits

NMC Health (LSE: NMC) has been a growth star, with a 69% rise since last April’s peak to 1120p, and a 390% gain over five years. And for once, I’m seeing a growth share that I actually like the look of. NMC operates a healthcare chain in the United Arab Emirates, where oil wealth has produced plenty of customers who want top medical treatment — as shown in several years of accelerating earnings growth.

What’s more, we have an EPS rise of 58% forecast this year, followed by 23% next, and that would drop the P/E to just 16. We’re also looking at PEG ratios (which compare the P/E with the growth rate, the lower the better) of 0.3 this year and 0.7 next — and that’s firmly in the territory that would have excited the growth investor in a younger me.

The post Can Boohoo.Com PLC (+73%), Randgold Resources Limited (+81%) And NMC Health PLC (+69%) Keep On Soaring? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended ASOS. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

But that does include a $133.5m impairment due to the downgrading of the firm’s intangible exploration assets, compared to an impairment of $76m in the same period last year, all due to the ongoing cheap-oil environment. And the company remains upbeat, pointing out that it had $108m of cash on the books at 31 December, and no debt.

By 29 March, there was approximately $100m of that left, and BowLeven should have around $40m coming in from its farmout agreement for its Etinde project in Cameroon, so it shouldn’t be facing any funding squeeze any time soon. Is BowLeven a good investment today? I’m not one for oilies in their loss-making phases myself, but I see it as one of the less risky ones.

Transformational

Shares in Learning Technologies (LSE: LTG) have shot up by 81% since a recent low on 1 December, to 37.25p. Acquisitions, including a couple announced in January, have helped, but the rise has surely been mainly in anticipation of the e-learning firm’s maiden full-year pre-tax profit.

With revenue up 33% to £19.9m in a year that has been dubbed as “transformational” by chairman Andrew Brode, that pre-tax figure came in at £1.55m compared to a loss of £127,000 a year previously. Adjusted EPS doubled to 0.756p, and the dividend was lifted by 50% to 0.15p per share, albeit for a yield of only 0.4%.

Looking forward, a “landmark” contract, in alliance with KPMG UK, to provide the UK Civil Service with learning facilities for 400,000 staff over three years could well mark a real turning point for the company.

Volatility

Shares in Circle Holdings (LSE: CIRC) have had a very erratic 12 months, reaching 57p in May 2015 before crashing as low as just 9p in January this year. As I write today they’re back up at 21.25p, though that is after a 4.5% fall on the day of the company’s 2015 full-year results.

The healthcare services group saw revenue rise by 15% to £127.8m, with EBITDA losses reduced by more than half to £4.9m — and we heard that all segments of the business, excluding Head Office, are now EBITDA positive. Chairman Michael Kirkwood CMG opines that the company is “well poised to realise its potential through a sustainable business model while generating consistent returns for our shareholders“.

He may be right, but with no profit yet and no forecasts, I’d hold off a little while longer myself before making any commitment.

The post Should You Buy BowLeven PLC, Learning Technologies Group PLC And Circle Holdings PLC After Today’s Results? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

What’s SpaceandPeople (LSE: SAL) all about then? It does promotional space at more than 750 shopping centres, city centres, retail parks and the like — offering things like promotional kiosks and other marketing services. And it’s just released full year results for 2015.

With the termination of one of the firm’s agreements, UK operations fell back a little as expected, and gross revenue dropped from £31.6m in 2014 to £26.5m. But pre-tax profit before exceptionals stayed approximately the same at £1m, and with no non-recurring costs the company reported a basic EPS rise of 82% to 4.26p. The dividend  was lifted 10% to 2.2p per share, to yield 3.5%, and there was net cash of £0.7m on the books.

The shares have been up and down a little all morning, and at the time of writing I’m seeing a 2.5% rise to 61.5p, so what are the prospects for the future? Well, there’s a 54% rise in EPS forecast for the current year, with the dividend expected to grow to yield 4.3%. And that puts the shares on a forward P/E of just 10.

Chairman Charles G Hammond told us “We believe that SpaceandPeople is creating a solid platform for growth and a sustainable future“, and though it’s a very small company with a market cap of only £11.65m and comes with the commensurate risk, I’d be cautiously optimistic.

Egyptian healthcare bargain?

Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (LSE: IDHC) is an altogether bigger company, with a market cap of close to £500m, though that’s a little down from its value at flotation in May 2015. Priced in US dollars, the shares dropped as low as $3.85 in February this year, but since then we’ve seen a 34% recovery to today’s $5.15 — with  no change so far on the day full year results were released.

The Jersey-registered company bills itself as “Egypt’s largest fully integrated private-sector provider of medical diagnostics services“, and saw revenues grow 18% to 1,015 Egyptian Pounds (approximately £80m), with adjusted net profit up 18.4% and earnings per share up 9% — and the firm declared a dividend of six US cents per share for a modest yield of 1.2%.

Should you buy? Well, the combination of an AIM listing, an overseas registration, and operating in Egypt will add risk for sure. But that’s offset by forecasts of 47% EPS growth this year and 25% next, which would drop the P/E to 13 by the end of 2017 — and dividends are predicted to yield 3.7% by then.

Potash potential

Potash is in the news of late with Sirius Minerals‘ York Potash project looking increasingly promising, and today we have interim results from African Potash (LSE: AFPO). It’s another tiddler, with a market cap of £14m, and is registered in Guernsey this time. As I write, the shares are down 14% to just 1.45p, but that still represents a quadrupling over the past 12 months — so how did the results go?

The company realised its first revenue from the fertilizer trade in December, of $59,000, and has a trading agreement in place with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. But there’s obviously some way to go yet before they see any profit, with a pre-tax loss of $716,000 reported, together with a cash balance as of 31 December of $509,000.

I think it’s fairly obvious that means a fair bit more cash (and the corresponding dilution) will be needed in the coming few years to fund the company’s development — and in January this year we’ve already seen a $1.18m share placing. There’s potential here, but it’s too risky for me.

The post Should You Buy SpaceandPeople Plc, Integrated Diagnostics Holdings PLC And African Potash Ltd After Today’s Results? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Equipment rental firm Ashtead Group (LSE: AHT) has grown its earnings remarkably strongly over the past five years, and the 27% EPS growth forecast for the year to April 2016 would put the shares on a modest P/E of 11.6 and give us a PEG of only 0.4. And 2017 forecasts drop the P/E to under 10 and maintain the PEG at 0.5.

The shares had perked up a bit ahead of today’s third-quarter update and the firm did report a 20% rise in pre-tax profit for the nine months, to £482m, after rental revenue grew by 17%. The full year should be in line with expectations. But the share price was down 13% to 800p by mid-morning, hit by the company’s plans to reduce capital expenditure next year.

There may still be weakness in Ashtead’s US markets, but at today’s price the shares look oversold to me.

Healthy growth

Another that keeps showing up is NMC Health (LSE: NMC), which has yet to release 2015 results. But with the shares priced at 885p, expectations of a 33% rise in EPS put them on a P/E of 22.4 — and a PEG spot on that sought-after 0.7 level. And it gets better — a forecast for 2016 of a further 42% EPS growth would drop the P/E to 16 and the PEG to 0.4. For 2017 we’d end up with a P/E of 13 and a PEG of 0.6. So what does it do?

It’s a healthcare chain in the United Arab Emirates and benefited from demand led by the oil boom of the 80s. Today it has more diverse interests too, with 50% of its turnover in 2014 coming from distribution and other services. Unless the UAE runs out of oil in the next few years, NMC looks like a safe growth prospect.

Poised for the future

WS Atkins (LSE: ATK) counts a role as a contractor to the London Underground among the diverse support services it offers to a number of sectors. It has seen its share price dip by 23% since its recent peak in December, to 1,282p. That’s despite several years of earnings growth already under its belt and with three more forecast.

There’s only a 1% EPS rise forecast for the year to March 2016, but for 2017 there’s a 15% uptick pencilled-in, which would put the P/E on around 11 and give us a PEG of 0.8 — a fraction outside the traditional 0.7 cutoff, but still attractive.

A Q3 update on 10 February told us of “headwinds” in some of Atkins’ markets, but the firm reckons that operating margins are improving, and it’s in some key markets that it should benefit from the ongoing economic recovery.

The post 3 Great Growth Picks For 2016? Ashtead Group plc, NMC Health PLC And WS Atkins PLC appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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• Is there any value left in Lloyds shares now they’re over £1?
• How much would I need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to target £19,036 a year in second income?
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Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.