RWS Holdings (LSE: RWS) tore to new all-time highs in Tuesday trading, the stock rising 4% from the prior close following a welcome response to half-year numbers.
RWS — which provides intellectual property support services — announced that revenues roared 35% higher in the six months to March, to £76.6m. As a result, adjusted profit before tax jumped 39.6% to £19.4m.
And RWS advised that “trading performance in the first two months of the second half has continued in line with our enhanced first half performance, further assisted by favourable currency movements and the LUZ acquisition.” The company snapped up San Francisco-based life sciences translator LUZ for $82.5m in February.
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Lauding the results, chairman Andrew Brode commented that “as the premier global supplier of intellectual property support services and now a major force in life sciences, we believe we are exceptionally well positioned to drive further international expansion.
“Both our financial and market positions remain strong and we continue to see an interesting pipeline of niche acquisition opportunities to complement our organic growth,” he added.
Supportive environment
And latest figures from the World Intellectual Property Organisation suggest that RWS’s top line should continue striding higher.
The company, citing figures from the organisation, noted that the number of filings jumped 7.3% during 2016. And the number is likely to keep swelling as economic growth across the US, China and Europe powers ahead.
The City certainly believes RWS has what it takes to deliver dynamite earnings growth, and improvements of 23% and 4% are chalked in for the years to September 2017 and 2018 respectively.
A consequent forward P/E ratio of 30.1 times may appear heady on paper. But I reckon RWS is fully deserving of its premium rating given its ever-growing geographic footprint and aggressive expansion into hot growth areas.
Catwalk corker
Like RWS, fashion giant Ted Baker (LSE: TED) would also appear an unsuitable bet for those seeking stocks offering great bang for their buck, at least from a conventional standpoint.
The number crunchers expect Ted Baker to deliver a 13% earnings improvement in the year to January 2018, a forecast that creates a P/E multiple of 19.5 times.
But I reckon this is still fair value given the probability that Ted Baker can keep its rich record of double-digit earnings expansion running long into the future (indeed, an extra 13% profits advance is chalked in for fiscal 2019 too).
The London business saw total retail revenues boom 14.3% during the 19 weeks to June 10, Ted Baker shrugging off wider pressures in some of its territories. Sales via the company’s online portals continue to detonate, rising 35.9% in the period.
And further store openings in Los Angeles, Paris, Shanghai and Roermond (in the Netherlands), allied with additional department store concessions in Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, also helped drive the top line.
The success of Ted Baker’s ongoing global expansion drive illustrates the immense popularity of the brand. And I expect revenues to continue swelling as the business steadily spreads its tentacles across the globe.
