With all the focus on Slater & Gordon Limited's (ASX: SGH) plunging share price, BHP Billiton Limited's (ASX: BHP) will-they won't-they dividend policy, and the Big Four banks' peaking profits, it's easy to overlook a number of other companies with substantially greater prospects than any of these headline names.
Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL), for example, is a vet clinic and pet retailing business that has lost 26% of its value in the past twelve months, and now looks substantially undervalued.
Operating in a growing market and growing same-store sales, Greencross already stands out from the pack. Combined with its plan to co-locate stores and expand to capture a wider portion of the local pet market it's easy to see a significant amount of growth ahead.
Company research shows that customers that use all 3 Greencross 'propositions' (vet, retail and grooming) services spend 5x as much as those that only shop in a retail store, and 2.2x as much as those that just use Greencross vets. Additionally, Greencross hopes to expand its store footprint to capture 20% of the Australian pet market, of which it has 8% currently.
There are some risks including whether the company can successfully self-fund its expansion from 2017 like it says, but a ballpark calculation (using conservative assumptions) shows Greencross could be worth north of $7.50 per share, and I would invest a hypothetical $3,000 into this stock.
Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX: CAR) spends most of its time bouncing between $9.50 and $11, and shares are currently down 1.7% for the year. So while it's not cheap in the sense that its price has fallen, the company has a very lengthy growth runway ahead of it, and could become substantially larger over the next decade.
In addition to its flagship carsales.com.au in Australia, Carsales operates similar websites in Korea, Mexico and Brazil that are growing at a decent clip and taking baby steps towards transitioning to profitability.
Nothing is guaranteed, but replicating carsales.com's success in these much larger markets could be a game-changer for investors. The company is also growing into parallel services such as automotive financing (for private sales), vehicle inspections, and tyre retailing, these being easy value-adds for private car buyers and sellers. As these investments mature I expect Carsales' network effect will strengthen and it will be able to deliver substantial value to shareholders.
Carsales also owns 20% of the as-yet unprofitable iCar Asia Ltd (ASX: ICQ), which is developing websites in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. I would invest a hypothetical $4,000 into Carsales.Com.
Don't be put off by the recent price weakness and increased competition for Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX:TLS), as this high quality stock has a lot to offer investors. While hotshots like Vocus Communications Limited (ASX: VOC) and M2 Group Ltd (ASX: MTU) attract the headlines, they also command a substantially higher price premium.
Telstra is not without its growth avenues and the company's dominant position in the Australian mobile and data market are complemented by its plans to expand in Asia. Telstra aims to have one-third of all its sales generated in Asia over the next five years, and should experience more rapid growth from the booming middle class in these nations.
Telstra's ambition is backed by a track record of success in markets like Hong Kong, and investors could do a lot worse than to build a position in Telstra at these prices. I would invest a hypothetical $3,000 into this stock.
