What: Last week the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) gained 0.7% to close at 5,968 points. The strong market sent a number of leading ASX stocks to new 52-week highs.
Amongst the gainers were Ansell Limited (ASX: ANN) which touched a new high of $29.84, Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) which jumped to a new high of $3.37 and Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE) which hit a new high $5.65.
So what: The new highs mean shareholders who have owned these three stocks for 12 months have now enjoyed gains of 59.5%, 182% and 50% respectively, which is huge outperformance compared with the index's gain of 10%.
In contrast, there were also some stocks which are not currently popular with investors and are hitting new 52-week lows. One stock which could be of interest to value seekers is Salmat Limited (ASX: SLM), which has touched 89 cents which is not only a one-year low but also a decade low.
Now what: According to data from Thomson, consensus estimates for financial year 2015 have Ansell earning 156.8 cents per share (cps), that equates to a forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 18.7x; the consensus estimate for Qantas is 29.2 cps, implying a PE of 11.4x; Treasury Wine is forecast to earn 21 cps, implying a PE of 27.4x; finally, Salmat is forecast to report a loss this financial year making the FY 2016 forecast of 4.6 cps more appropriate – on this basis the stock is on a forward PE of 19.3x.
Each company is of course deserving of a different PE multiple given they all have different risk and growth profiles. While Salmat's multiple doesn't make the stock appear immediately appealing, the company's plan to improve profits makes this a turnaround play worth monitoring.
