There are some unstoppable ASX shares that manage to keep growing almost every year and could be worth considering for a growth-focused portfolio.
Here are some names that could be worth watching:
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)
The Xero share price is up 83% this year and it has gone up 780% over the past five years.
The ASX share has been delivering subscriber growth and revenue growth for many years. Xero's FY21 half-year result demonstrated that growth with subscriber numbers going up 19% to 2.45 million and operating revenue grew 21% to NZ$410 million.
COVID-19 conditions caused the company to be very disciplined with its costs and Xero showed how much profit growth it can make when it tries to limit expense growth. The half-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 86% to NZ$120.8 million, net profit after tax (NPAT) rose by approximately NZ$33 million to NZ$34.5 million and the free cash flow went up approximately NZ$49.4 million to NZ$54.3 million.
Xero CEO Steve Vamos said at the time of the FY21 half-year result: "This result demonstrates the value our customers attribute to their Xero subscription and the underlying strength of Xero's business model. We continue to prioritise investment in customer growth and product development in line with the long term opportunity we see."
Two areas of the world that Xero is growing strongly is in the UK and the 'rest of world'. UK subscribers grew by 19% to 638,000 in the FY21 first half and rest of the world subscribers went up 37% to 136,000.
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)
The CSL share price has gone up 180% over the past five years.
Ben Clark from TMS Capital recently said this about CSL: "The Seqirus flu business has been given a huge free kick by COVID. We're going to see plasma collections get easier, more affordable, and the volume should really start to improve through 2021. The return of elective surgeries will be good for the demand side of the business. And then you've just got this phenomenal R&D pipeline that continues to flow sort of new products through to the market."
The FY20 result was another year of growth for CSL. Revenue went up 9% in constant currency terms and net profit after tax went up 17% to US$2.1 billion. This allowed the company to grow its total dividend by 9% to US$2.02 per share.
In FY21 the company is expecting to strong demand from its plasma and recombinant therapies to continue. With Seqirus, CSL is expecting to benefit from its differentiated products and strong demand for influenza vaccines. Sales of albumin are expected to normalise after the successful transition to the new business model in China.
COVID-19 restrictions are expected to impact CSL's ability to collect plasma and add to the overall cost of collection, although CSL has several strategies to mitigate this impact. Its research and development response to COVID-19, and the new initiatives, will mean CSL is spending more on research and development but it will still be within the range of 10% to 11% of revenue as previously guided.
CSL is expecting to grow revenue by 6% to 10% in FY21, with net profit increasing by 3% to 8%.
JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH)
The JB Hi-Fi share price is up 26.6% this year and it has risen by 142% over the last five years.
Demand for products from JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys was elevated during FY20 as people decided to spend on items for their work, schooling and entertainment at home.
In FY20 the total sales were up 11.6% to $7.9 billion and underlying earnings per share (EPS) went up 33.2% to 289.6 cents. The underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin improved by 89 basis points to 6.14%. That result helped grow the full year dividend by 33.1% to $1.89 per share.
In the first quarter of FY21, JB Hi-Fi Australia saw total sales growth of 27.3%, The Good Guys sales grew by 30.9% and JB Hi-Fi New Zealand sales dropped by 2.5%.
It's the JB Hi-Fi dividend that is very attractive to Plato Asset Management which has JB Hi-Fi as a key holding, saying that businesses with fully franked dividends can achieve significant additional income for retirees. At the current JB Hi-Fi share price it has grossed-up dividend yield of 5.6%.
