It is fair to say that blue chip shares tend to steal all the limelight. But the Australian Stock Exchange has some fantastic options for investors if they are willing to look beyond shares like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES).
In fact, I would be surprised if the two small cap shares I'm going to talk about today didn't outperform both CBA and Wesfarmers over the next few years.
Perhaps they are not destined to become $100 billion companies, but I do believe they certainly have the potential to provide investors with fantastic returns.
The two shares are as follows:
Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR)
Dicker Data is a founder-led wholesale distributor of computer hardware, software and related products with a market capitalisation of $292 million. Despite the fact that the first quarter is generally its weakest, the company smashed its own expectations by producing year-on-year revenue growth of 11% to $268 million recently. CEO David Dicker put this down to the company being able to realise full value from new vendors introduced in the last fiscal year.
Because of this result, the company has upgraded its full year guidance to net profit growth of 11% to $24.5 million. This means the shares are currently trading at just 12x estimated FY 2016 earnings. The second quarter is notoriously the company's strongest quarter, so all eyes will be on that for another beat that I believe could send the share price beyond the $2 mark.
All in all, I believe Dicker Data would be a great addition to most portfolios.
Nick Scali Limited (ASX: NCK)
Nick Scali is one of Australia's leading furniture retailers operating predominantly on the east coast of Australia under its two brands. The eponymous Nick Scali brand is targeted towards the premium end of the market, whereas its Sofas2Go brand is geared towards the entry-level side of the market, where it competes head on with Fantastic Holdings Limited (ASX: FAN).
I've been very impressed with its growth and profitability in the last few years. Earnings have grown by around 9% per annum for the last 10 years, and I believe the current housing market boom will help sustain this level of growth for some time to come. One headwind that investors should take into account though is a weaker Australian dollar. As the company imports its furniture, the falling Australian dollar is likely to result in higher cost of goods sold and price increases.
Despite that I expect Nick Scali to provide strong returns for shareholders over the next few years, especially whilst the housing market continues its boom.
There is another share which investors looking for strong growth prospects might be interested in. I believe this one has what it takes to produce high levels of growth that will give any portfolio a boost.
