Sales are an essential catalyst to the share prices of U.S. stocks. To illustrate this point, a 4.3% growth in the S&P 500’s total sales over the past five years resulted in a 67% rise in its price, which closed at $3,329.62 on Monday.
The following stocks have outperformed the benchmark for the U.S. market in terms of higher sales growth over the past five years, posting large returns in the 130% to 218% range.
Since these companies have already achieved remarkable increases in total sales, they may potentially continue to increase their top lines in the years to come, which will produce positive effects on the share prices (though the past is no guarantee for future performance).
Furthermore, Wall Street analysts have released optimistic recommendation ratings for these companies.
L3Harris
The first company that meets the above-listed search criteria is L3Harris Technologies Inc (LHX, Financial).
The American provider of technology-based solutions for mission-critical challenges of government and commercial customers has grown its total revenue by 8.6% over the past five years, resutling in a 217.5% increase in the share price.
The share price traded at $219.38 at close on Jan. 20 for a market capitalization of $48.5 billion.
The stock has a price-earnings ratio of 27.46 and a price-sales ratio of 3.47. According to the Peter Lynch chart, this stock is not cheap.
Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend buying this stock with an average target price of $248.12.
GuruFocus assigned the company a moderate financial strength rating of 5 out of 10 and a high profitability rating of 8 out of 10.
STERIS
The second company that meets the above-listed criteria is STERIS PLC (STE, Financial).
The Irish global provider of infection prevention and other procedural products and services has grown its total revenue by nearly 12% in the past five years, determining a 133.5% rise in the share price.
The stock was trading around a price of $154.13 per share at close on Jan. 20 for a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a price-earnings ratio of 39.22 and a price-sales ratio of 4.55. These ratios, together with the below Peter Lynch chart, suggest that the stock is currently not cheap.
Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend an overweight rating for this stock, with an average target price is $167.33.
GuruFocus assigned the company a positive financial strength rating of 6 out of 10 and a high profitability rating of 8 out of 10.
Innospec Inc
The third company that has the above-listed criteria is Innospec Inc (IOSP, Financial).
The Englewood, Colorado-based developer, producer and seller of specialty chemicals has increased its total revenue by 11.3% in the past five years, causing a 153.2% increase in the share price.
The share price closed at $106.08 on Jan. 20 for a market capitalization of $2.60 billion. The stock has a price-earnings ratio of 25.75 and a price-sales ratio of 1.72. The Peter Lynch chart also shows that the share price doesn’t trade cheaply.
Wall Street sell-side analysts have recommended an overweight rating for this stock and established an average target price of $110.50.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any securities mentioned in this article.
Read more here:
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- Consider These 3 Fast-Growing Small Caps
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