In afternoon trade the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has managed to fight its way back into positive territory and is up slightly at 5,942 points.
Four shares doing a lot of the heavy lifting are listed below. Here's why they have rocketed higher today:
The A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price has climbed a massive 25% to $10.89 following the release of its half-year results. The fast-growing dairy company smashed expectations when it revealed revenue growth of 70% to NZ$435 million and net profit after tax growth of 150% to NZ$98.5 million. The strong result also sent the shares of rival Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL) hurtling 11% higher ahead of its release tomorrow.
The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price is up a remarkable 30% to $10.62. This morning the machine learning and artificial intelligence dataset provider released its full-year results which revealed an impressive 50% increase in revenue and 62% lift in EBITDA. Pleasingly, management expects FY 2018 to be equally strong and has provided EBITDA guidance of between $50 million and $55 million. This represents year-on-year growth of 77.9% to 96%.
The Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (ASX: CWY) share price is up 7% to $1.50. Investors have responded positively to the waste management company's half-year results release this morning. Although Cleanaway posted just an 8.4% increase half-year revenue, statutory net profit after tax grew an impressive 60.7% on the prior corresponding period. The company saw margins across its entire business widen meaningfully during the period.
The Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price has jumped 11% to $23.77 following the release of its half-year results. The corporate travel specialist reported a statutory net profit of $30.6 million on revenues of $172.8 million for the six months ended December 31. This was an increase of 15% and 38%, respectively, on the prior corresponding period. I think this result demonstrates why it is one of the best growth shares on the local share market.
