LONDON -- The FTSE 100
But that's just the average performance of its constituents, and it's heavily weighted by big fallers like Barclays
But at the other end of the scale, we have companies in the FTSE indexes hitting new 52-week highs every day. Here's a look at three of them.
Booker Group
Booker Group
Booker is a food wholesaler, and after a disastrous couple of years to 2008, it's been seeing profits steadily recovering. Earnings per share have been rising by more than 20% a year, and the dividend of around 3% has been doing even better, with annual increases in excess of 30%.
Perform Group
If you think Booker has had a good year, take a look at Perform Group
Perform operates in the world of digital sports media, providing platforms for advertising and other commercialization of sporting events -- and you don't need to be told how important that is!
The company has only been listed for a couple of years, but it's making nice profits and is forecast to see EPS rise by 77% this year and 50% next. It's a classic growth share, with a price/earnings-to-growth ratio of 0.5 for 2013 and 2014 (anything less than 0.7 is considered good).
Berkeley Group
Third today is Berkeley Group Holdings
There's no real dividend expected, but as the U.K.'s homebuilding industry starts to recover, analysts are forecasting EPS growth of 22% for the year ending April 2013 and 31% for the year after.
Other U.K. homebuilders have also had a good year, including Barratt Developments, up 20%, and Bovis Homes, up around 8%. This looks like a sector you may want to get into now.
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