The week ended March 4th 2016 marked the beginning of the earnings season as results of companies started to trickle in. Nigerian stocks have experienced volatility in the past few weeks with very little available to improve investors appetite.
However, as results begun to trickle in investors appetite increased and the bulls soon found their way to stocks with sound fundamentals and good prospects to pay dividends. Two of the 7 stocks that recorded double digit growths are Africa Prudential and United Capital Plc.
Africa Prudentials Plc a company into registrar’s business saw released its full year results reporting profitability increase of 18% year on year. The company also declared a dividend per share of 43 kobo per share. The dividend declared represented a dividend yield of about 16.7% at the time the result was released sending investors in a frenzy that popped the share price by 28% by the end of the week. The share price is obviously on the rise and still has room for an upside.
United Capital also gained a massive 29.5% by the end of the week as investors sensed another bumper result could be released by the company in the coming days. Africa Prudential like United Capital have common majority shareholders and have a robust dividend history. Dividend yield for these companies typically fall within the double digit range. This compared favourably to treasury bills which are now sub 7% per annum. United capital is yet to release its 2015 FY results however indications suggest that it will report healthy profitability growth for the year.
For investors looking to ride the bull, there might still be an upside provided they enter on Monday as both stocks are more likely to become expensive from now till they pay dividends. Some analysts believe Africa Prudentials may rise to as high as N4 whilst United Capital could rise to N2.5 if they also declare impressive dividends.