Commonwealth Bank of Australia
With Aussie interest rates seemingly on the way down, many investors are understandably on the lookout for top quality yield plays. One example is Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), which currently yields a very appealing and fully franked 4.4%.
Furthermore, CBA offers relative stability for investors that are concerned about the performance of the ASX in the coming months. For example, it has a beta of just 0.79 and this means that, in theory, its share price should change by just 0.79% for every 1% movement in the wider ASX. As such, CBA offers a less volatile shareholder experience, which could be a major pull moving forward.
And, with CBA having such an excellent track record of dividend per share growth, with it having risen at an annualised rate of 12% in the last five years, it seems to be a stable stock that could easily provide a real terms increase in dividends moving forward.
Crown Resorts Ltd
Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN) has been something of a surprise package year-to-date, with the entertainment company seeing its share price rise by an impressive 14% while the ASX is up 8% in 2015. Part of the reason for this is, of course, the fact that it may stand to benefit from a lower interest rate, both in terms of a weaker Aussie dollar boosting foreign profits and also increased tourism spending in Australia.
However, Crown Resorts also stacks up as an investment because it has been a strong performer in recent years and, looking ahead, this could continue. For example, in the last five years Crown Resorts has been able to increase its bottom line at an annualised rate of 17.6% and, with the potential for improving macro-economic conditions, it could continue its strong performance over the medium term.
Cochlear Limited
It's understandable that a considerable number of value investors are put off by Cochlear Limited's (ASX: COH) exceptionally high valuation. For example, while the ASX has a price to book (P/B) ratio of 1.29, Cochlear's is a whopping 15.3. However, it could be a surprisingly strong performer this year and may continue to deliver the kind of performance that has pushed its share price up by 59% in the last year.
That's because Cochlear has a very bright future ahead of it, with it planning to release a number of new products in five separate categories that have all received regulatory approval. As well as their potentially positive impact on sales and earnings, the releases could also provide a boost to investor sentiment in Cochlear and that means that its shares could have another strong year. As such, they seem to be worth buying right now.
