The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is up around 0.4% at 5,492.0 points in afternoon trading, with most sectors in the green.
While we don't usually pay much attention to one-day moves in a company's share price, it can be an indication that there may be more to the move than the usual market ructions – especially during reporting season.
These 4 companies saw their share prices rise strongly…
Austal Limited (ASX: ASB) rose 11.9% to $1.48
Boat builder Austal continues to rise, following yesterday's 12.8% gain as the share price rose from $1.17 to $1.32. That came despite a 44% fall in underlying profit with the market expecting strong earnings in the years ahead thanks to an order book worth $3.4 billion. Due to the nature of the company's business, financial results can be lumpy and differ materially from year to year.
iSelect Ltd (ASX: ISU) saw its share price rise 8.7% to $1.44
Insurance comparison website iSelect has returned to growth and saw net profit for the 2016 financial year (FY16) rise 34% to $12.9 million as revenues rose 9% to $171.9 million. The company says it has no debt and a cash balance of $87.6 million – or around 43 cents per share in cash. The outlook also appears good with strong earnings growth expected in FY17.
Select Harvests Limited (ASX: SHV) share price was up 7.6% to $6.98
Almond producer Select Harvests is still under pressure, and the company's share price is still down 9% compared to a month ago and 20% compared to the start of this year. Not surprisingly after the company reported a 53% fall in net profit last week for FY16, despite a 28% increase in revenues. Bargain hunters may have decided to jump in now, after the big falls.
Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) soared 6.9% to $80.78
The hospital operator continues to go from strength to strength, after reporting an 18% rise in revenues to $8.7 billion and a core net profit after tax of $481.4 million – up 16.8% compared to the prior year (FY15). It seems clear that investors are happy to continue paying up for quality with Ramsay's shares trading on a trailing P/E ratio of around 34x – and likely to deliver again next year.
