Petrofac (PFC +0.00%)
Petrofac is an energy services firm with a first-class growth record. Since 2007, sales, earnings per share, and dividends at the company have grown year in, year out. In the last five years, earnings at the company have grown by an average of 26.1% per annum. In that time, dividends have increased by an average of 31.3% a year.
This growth has been recognized in the company's share price. Today, Petrofac trades at 1,383 pence versus 654 pence five years ago. And Petrofac's success is expected to continue. For 2013, analysts are forecasting EPS of $1.95, rising to $2.27 in 2014. The consensus prediction is for dividends to rise 5.5% this year to $0.68 before leaping 16.2% to reach $0.79 per share in 2014.
BHP Billiton (BLT +0.00%) (BBY 0.11%)
The last three months have been awful for investors in the large London-listed miners. BHP Billiton shares are down 12% in that time. With more diverse operations than its peers, BHP is regarded as the safer bet. However, falling metals prices on international exchanges have not prevented the shares from falling toward value status.
BHP shares are today available at 7.6 times EPS for 2012 and 11.7 times the forecast earnings for 2013. The historic dividend is equal to a yield of 3.8%. Analyst forecasts are for dividends per share of $1.17 this year. That puts the shares on a prospective yield of just more than 4%. Earnings growth of 18% is expected for 2014.
Standard Chartered (STAN 1.25%) (SCBFF 0.77%)
Until recently, Asian-focused Standard Chartered was London's most highly rated bank. This changed when the company issued a disappointing trading update a fortnight ago. Investors were disappointed with the news that operating profit for the first three months of the year was "slightly down" from 2012.
Despite this, analysts still expect the bank to show solid earnings growth this year. The consensus is for $2.33 in EPS in 2013, rising to $2.53 the year after. Dividends at the company are also expected to rise this year and next. This puts the shares today on a 2014 P/E of 9.7, with an expected yield of 4.1%. It is rare to find shares in such a successful company trading so inexpensively.
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