The last couple of months have been good for shareholders of Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC), Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) and Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL) with all three stocks posting fresh 52-week highs last week.
Since the 1st of February, the share prices of these three stocks have gained 13.5%, 10.2% and 6.4% respectively. With the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) rallying a mighty 6.6% over the same time frame, Amcor and Aristocrat have outperformed by a handy margin.
Amcor and Sonic both reported financial results during February while Aristocrat held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in January. With all three companies boasting significant US operations, shareholders are set to benefit from a currency tailwind which could help their share prices trend higher still.
Amcor reported a half year profit of US$321.3 million which was up 6.7% on the prior half. The dividend was increased by 9.2% which in Australian dollar terms resulted in a 25% increase. Other good news included a US$500 million on-market share buyback that was announced. Given the tailwind of a weaker Aussie dollar which benefits the dividend for shareholders, coupled with the group's capital management initiative and guidance for another year of higher profits, the share price momentum looks good for this blue-chip company.
Aristocrat's AGM was held after reporting a strong set of full year results back in November (the group operates on a September year-end). Amongst the highlights were double-digit earnings growth in 2014 and a forecast for a further lift in 2015 including benefits from the VGT acquisition. Given the group's exposure to the US economy and the popularity of its games, the outlook for Aristocrat's share price appears good too.
Sonic reported half year results in February that weren't overly exciting however management did note that earnings growth was strongly weighted to the second half including currency movements which were expected to augment reported results for the period. With approximately 21% of group revenues drawn from the USA and shareholders receiving a 2 cents per share (cps) increase in the interim dividend to 29 cps (55% franked),investor support for Sonic looks set to continue.
