Looking over the companies reporting this February, some hot stocks have shot up so much over the past month that an investor would be happy to get that share price rise over a whole year. Like any earnings season, it's not just what the companies did in the recent past, it's also what changed for their future that sets them soaring.
G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM), the childcare service provider, announced that it bought up 63 childcare centres, which brings its total to 296. Then several days later, it released its full-year results showing its underlying net profit after tax shot up 64% to $32.3 million. The share price is up about 25% since late January.
It's growing quickly, but will be getting some competition from Affinity Education Group Ltd (ASX: AFJ), which has also been acquiring childcare centres, picking up the last of 72 buys in December.
Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) reversed its fortunes somewhat by surprising the market with news that all of its mines have all-in sustaining costs for gold production below its average realised sale price. That along with the change in direction of the gold spot price from a recent low of US$1,200/oz up to its present US$1,336/oz has helped.
Its share price rose over the past month by about 21%, and if gold starts ascending more regularly, so will Newcrest.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd. (ASX: DMP) is wowing the stock experts and investors alike, breaking $20 a share, climbing about 30% over the past month and doubling over the past year. This goes to show what an investor could do by buying what they eat.
It gobbled up a 75% stake in Domino's Pizza Japan last year and the growth potential for many more stores there will add to its holdings of Australian and European pizza takeaways.
Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ), owner of domain.com.au and newspapers like The Australian Financial Review, has been selling off several non-core businesses to focus on building up its online real estate listings portal, as well as creating a joint venture with UK-based Adzuna employment portal to win back market share from both REA Group Limited's (ASX: REA) realestate.com.au and jobs listings portal SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK).
The print and digital media company shot up 39% in share price over the past month, reporting a 48.5% increase in underlying net profit to $86.4 million.
Foolish takeaway
One great reporting season doesn't make a fantastic long-term investment, but investors can see a progression of previous business plans and strategies and can better gauge how those have performed.
