Industrial fastenings manufacturer Trifast (LSE: TRI) has enjoyed a fabulous five years, its share price leaping 325% over that time. Momentum has slowed in recent months, but it is still up almost 14% over the past year. The stock has climbed another 2.44% today at time of writing following publication this morning of its unaudited Q3 trading update. Investors look happy with what they have read.
Fast work
Trifast, which engineers, manufactures and distributes industrial fastenings to major global assembly industries, remains on course to meet expectations for the year ending 31 March 2018. Management said its global visibility and order pipeline is still “very encouraging”, while the group’s balance sheet remains strong and provides capacity to fund growth plans.
The £305m company’s US operation was hit by Hurricane Harvey but revenue and margins across all its business teams in the UK, Europe and Asia remain positive, putting the company on course to build long-term shareholder value, the board says.
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Nice TRI
Management highlighted the potential impact of Brexit, a threat it cannot fully mitigate, but otherwise this is a brief and confident statement from a company my Foolish colleague Royston Wild has previously called an attractive home for your hard-earned investment cash. City forecasters foresee 23% earnings per share (EPS) growth in 2018, although this will slow to 3% and 5% over the next two years. This marks a slowdown from the double-digit growth seen in four of the last five years (interrupted by a rogue 3% drop in 2016).
The forward valuation is 17.7 times earnings, while a low yield of 1.6% is covered 3.5 times, giving scope for progression. It may struggle to hit recent highs but you still might want to give it a Tri.
Purple people
Online estate agent Purplebricks (LSE: PURP) has been a firm investor favourite over the last two years during which time its share price has risen 266%. It is up 86% over the last year alone, but recent performance has been patchy, causing some investors to wonder whether the glory days are over, especially after the stock tumbled 15% in just two days at the start of this month.
The drop was down to a controversial note from broker Jefferies which marked the stock down to ‘underperform’ and questioned figures around how many homes it sells. Purplebricks’ decision to publicly dispute the note has played badly with investors. Publish and be damned is still a good motto.
New York City boys
This has trimmed Purplebricks’ market cap to £1.14bn but it remains toppy for a company that has yet to move into profit. It remains a high-risk, high-reward proposition, and let’s add to that a high valuation, currently 600.2 times forecast earnings, according to Digital Look. However, City analysts are pencilling in whopping EPS growth of 443% in the year to 30 April 2020, so it may justify today’s investor expectations.
Much now depends on the success of its ambitious plans to move into the US. If it can shake up that market, Purplebricks could really can be the game-changer and wealth-builder it aspires be. Trifast isn’t setting its sights so high, but should jangle fewer nerves as a result.
