With the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) practically flat over the past 10 years it's obvious that just achieving the market average has not given you a reasonable return on your share portfolio.
Successful stock picking is the key to achieving market outperformance.
Finding shares with good growth prospects that are available at a fair price is one sensible investment approach which many investors choose to follow.
Here are two stocks which have both just hit new all-time highs. They also have solid growth prospects and are arguably available at reasonable prices.
APN Outdoor Group Ltd (ASX: APO) is one of Australia's leading outdoor advertising businesses, operating billboards and transit assets across both Australia and New Zealand. One of the key growth opportunities for APN Outdoor is the ability to convert the group's current static billboards (such as large road side billboards) into digital screens, which can lead to a significant upswing in sales generation.
Having reported growth in revenues and earnings of 20% and 83% respectively for 2015, further growth is forecast over the next two years.
According to analyst consensus estimates from Reuters, earnings per share (EPS) of 37 cents per share (cps) are forecast in 2017.
With the share price at $7.34, this implies a price-to-earnings ratio of just under 20 times.
REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) operates Australia's leading online real estate sales portal. Importantly, REA is well advanced in its attempt to replicate its domestic success in numerous other overseas regions.
For the six-month period ending 31 December 2015, revenues expanded by 20% and net profit after tax increased by 28%.
According to analyst consensus estimates from Reuters, EPS are forecast to hit 168 cps in financial year (FY) 2016, growing to 206 cps in FY 2017.
With REA's share price at $62.33, this implies a price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 30 times which could be considered reasonable considering the quality of the business and its growth prospects.
