10 shares you should have bought in August

The S&P/ASX 200 was down 2.4% in August, but these 10 shares averaged returns of 35%

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Since the end of July, the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has dropped 2.4%, despite a couple of strong days. Ongoing global uncertainty and low global growth appear to be affecting virtually every large company on the ASX.

However, not every company is struggling, and these 10 companies have managed to post an average gain of 35% over the past 30 odd days.

Company Last Price Market Cap ($m) Gain
Ausdrill Limited (ASX: ASL) $1.67 $521.5 48%
Crestal Petroleum Ltd (ASX: FCT) or Firstwave Cloud Technology as it will be renamed $0.46 $93.6 45%
GWA Group Ltd (ASX: GWA) $2.97 $783.9 41%
Helloworld Ltd (ASX: HLO) $4.70 $2,069.7 37%
Bradken Limited (ASX: BKN) $2.39 $408.8 37%
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) $9.59 $1,248.8 30%
Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) $10.26 $1,002.2 29%
Service Stream Limited (ASX: SSM) $1.04 $381.6 29%
Superloop Ltd (ASX: SLC) $3.31 $343.8 28%
BigAir Group Limited (ASX: BGL) $0.87 $3,860.0 28%

Source: Google Finance

Mining services company Ausdrill has had a strong turnaround, and the share price is actually up more than 550% in 2016.

Firstwave (FCT) is a recent backdoor listing but looks like an interesting proposition. The company provides software security, with Telstra its main (only?) source of customers. Recently reporting revenue growth of 37% to $6.4 million, Firstwave could go on to become a much larger company.

Kitchen and bathroom products supplier GWA has also had a strong year thanks to growth in new homes built. Helloworld, a travel agent, reported a profit in the 2016 financial year after taking a massive loss in FY2015 and even declared a 2 cent dividend – its first since 2013.

Altium and Webjet have continued their amazing financial performance over the past few years, and finally, some of Australia's largest fund managers are starting to catch on, after both reported strong results last month.

Foolish takeaway

Investing in the above 10 stocks a month ago would have delivered an average return of 35%. Not bad if you owned a number of them, or even one. Unfortunately, like many, I didn't own any, but will be taking a closer look at a few of them.

Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King doesn't own shares in any companies mentioned. You can follow Mike on Twitter @TMFKinga The Motley Fool Australia has a position in Altium. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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