Although the US Federal Reserve didn't lift rates this week, Janet Yellen's hawkish rhetoric has many economists believing that the stage has been set for a rate rise in December.
If this happens the US dollar is likely to strengthen against almost all major currencies, including our very own Australian dollar. In my opinion this makes it a great time to start thinking about investments that will get a lift from a weaker Australian dollar. Here are three:
Ardent Leisure Group (ASX: AAD)
Following a 40% gain in the last three months its valuation may be getting a little stretched now at 32x full year earnings. But a weaker Australian dollar could certainly give its already explosive earnings growth an even bigger lift. Ardent Leisure's lucrative US-based Main Event family entertainment centres accounted for 49% of total EBITDA on a pro forma basis in FY 2016. With a pipeline of new high‐yielding Main Event centres planned throughout the United States, I feel there is a significant amount of growth ahead for the company.
Hansen Technologies Limited (ASX: HSN)
In its recent full year results this billing and customer care software provider delivered a huge 40% increase in sales to $149 million. Approximately 24% of these sales derived from the Americas region. I expect the region will contribute an even larger portion of total sales in FY 2017 following the acquisition of US-based billing, processing, and call centre services provider PPL Solutions. In my opinion Hansen's sticky products and long-standing relationships with clients makes this a great long-term buy and hold investment.
WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC)
In FY 2016 this cloud-based supply chain management software provider generated 32% of its sales in the Americas, up from 29.9% in FY 2015. I'm a huge fan of WiseTech Global and believe the recently listed company is a great investment. The company's software enables users to undertake complex logistics transactions across multiple users, countries, and even languages. With some of the world's largest logistics companies such as DHL on its books, I feel confident that WiseTech has an incredibly bright future ahead of it. It might be a little on the expensive side at 50x forecast FY 2017 earnings, but its strong growth prospects more than justify the premium in my eyes.
