The IPH Ltd (ASX: IPH) share price has been quietly climbing higher in the last few weeks and set new 52-week highs on both Friday and Monday – but is there more growth in the stock in 2019?
What's been happening for IPH in 2019?
The IPH share price is up 52.1% so far this year, despite the distraction that has been IPH's attempted merger with fellow intellectual property (IP) group, Xenith IP Group Ltd (ASX: XIP).
The early part of 2019 was dominated with the back and forward between Xenith, IPH and Xenith's own takeover target, QANTM Intellectual Property Ltd (ASX: QIP).
With Xenith now caving to IPH's relentless offers, Australia's two largest listed IP groups look set to merge, following Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approval for IPH's proposal to purchase Xenith for $1.28 in cash per share and 0.1261 IPH shares for every Xenith share.
The ACCC approval comes despite the fact that the new merged group would control around 30% of the Australian IP sector, which may leave IPH in the box seat to unlock further share price growth in 2019.
Will the IPH share price surge higher from here?
Having set 52-week highs on both Friday and Monday, I wouldn't be surprised to see momentum carry the IPH share price even higher this week and beyond.
Most of the ASX remains in a blackout period of sorts ahead of August reporting season, as accounting teams tally the books and leadership teams prepare for the results presentation and analyst scrutiny that comes with it.
I personally think that the IPH share price may be a touch overvalued at this point, but should it be able to generate steady revenues and capture even more market share as a combined group, the IPH share price could easily push towards the $10 barrier by the end of the year.
The IPH share price is currently trading at $8.30 per share and the company boasts a market cap of $1.64 billion – meaning it's no small fish in the domestic markets.
