The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) followed the lead of international markets today to head lower by 0.7% to 5,357 points. Things are certainly looking a lot better now than they were this morning when the index dived by around 1%.
Defying the market today and putting on strong gains for their shareholders are four shares in particular. Here they are:
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) shares had been up by over 3% to 67.3 cents today before giving back some gains. This was thanks largely to the Brent crude oil price remaining steady at close to US$50. Today's rise is not surprising considering Beach Energy recently became Australia's largest on-shore oil producer following the acquisition of Drillsearch Energy. If oil prices remain at these levels then this acquisition could prove to be a masterstroke by management.
Beach Energy has produced gains of over 35% so far in 2016.
Graincorp Ltd (ASX: GNC) has been one of the best performers today with a gain over 8% to $8.77 despite no news being released to the market. There has been a lot of speculation that GrainCorp could once again become a takeover target of Archer Daniels Midland. Additionally, Credit Suisse recently valued GrainCorp's shares at $9.78, which implies significant upside from the current price.
Graincorp shareholders are still nursing an almost 10% decline in the value of their shares in last 12 months despite today's gains.
Worleyparsons Limited (ASX: WOR) is another company that looks set to benefit from oil at US$50 per barrel. Its share price is up almost 4% to $6.18 today with investors presumably hoping the rise in oil price translates into rising demand for oil services work. It is a little too soon for an investment in WorleyParsons as far as I'm concerned. Its shares may be changing hands at just 9x trailing earnings, but it is increasingly hard to predict what its future earnings will look like. Because of this I believe it is hard to know whether this is a bargain or a value trap.
WorleyParsons shares are now up an impressive 58% in the last three months.
WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) is up 6% to $4.55 today. This is another share riding higher despite there being no news released to market. Because the software company is a new listing on the market its shares are not yet as liquid as others. This lack of liquidity can result in reasonably sharp rises or declines at times, which may be what happened today. WiseTech is an interesting company that is worth a closer look in my opinion. Focussed on providing software solutions to the logistics industry, management estimates that its addressable market will grow by 10% per annum for the next four years.
Wisetech Global's share price is now 35% higher than its $3.35 IPO price.