These three companies hit new highs last week, when the S&P ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: ^XAO) went as low as 5,072 and finished 0.4% down.
REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)
The online real estate listings portal hit a new all-time high of $46.15, and closed at $45.72, or 96.6% up over the past 12 months.
In its FY2014 half-year report, it announced a 30% gain in revenue to $209 million, and NPAT grew by an even greater 37% from $51.6 million to $70.7 million.
It saw its biggest revenue growth in its listing depth segment, up 67%. Property sellers pay extra to get better priority in relevant listings for better buyer viewing. This segment is the largest source of revenue for the company. Media display, the second-largest segment, grew by 24%.
The housing market is starting to make a run up, so more listings may be coming from owners who were waiting for an up market to sell into. In addition, housing construction has been improving over the past year, potentially increasing listings for the country's largest property website, realestate.com.au. These two factors could help sustain or even grow the company's earnings even further.
Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC)
The packaging company for such goods as food, beverages, healthcare, and personal items hit a new all-time high of $10.87, and finished out the week at $10.62, up 31.6% over the past 12 months.
In December it split into two companies, creating Orora Ltd (ASX: ORA). Around the same time it announced that it was planning to acquire a US company called Constar, which was going through bankruptcy. The price was undisclosed.
Several days after hitting the new high, the company announced that they were not successful in the bidding auction for Constar. The court-supervised bankruptcy process involved an auction of the assets.
Aurora Oil & Gas Limited (ASX: AUT)
The energy producer that operates out of the Eagle Ford shale oil region in the state of Texas, USA, received a takeover offer equating to $4.10 a share, shooting the price up 56.1% on the day to a high of $4.12, before closing at $4.09.
Canadian oil producer Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE: BTE) made the offer as it wants to expand its presence in the resource rich region. Aurora has a joint venture with Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) that involves 22,200 acres in the area, and it recently forecast a 47% rise in production for FY2014 on top of a strong production increase previously.
Interestingly, Aurora just hit a 52-week low of $2.62 the day before the announcement, which made the takeover premium that much bigger.
Foolish takeaway
Despite the market concerns for the economy and how the non-mining sector companies need to take up the slack to get things back on a strong growth footing, some companies are still rising high and setting records.
Apart from knowing key rates like inflation and interest rates, investors should not become dismayed or overjoyed by what the market does. It's the earnings and business growth of companies that we should be focused on.
