Iron miners, Domino’s Pizza and Australand top the ASX 200 winners

Iron miners, Domino's Pizza and Australand top the ASX 200 winners

The ASX 200 has strong earners and lots of growth potential.

Darryl Daté-Shappard

I started investing after finding a copy of Peter Lynch's "Beating the Street" in the English book section of a library in Japan, where I was living at the time in 1997. Seeing that regular people can find investment ideas just as easily as professionals, I used the philosophy of that book to invest in stocks in Japan, and later in Australia after moving in 2001. I also have experience in property investing, and went on to complete my masters degree in Applied Finance at QUT in Brisbane. I follow the investment style of Peter Lynch, Phillip Fisher and Warren Buffett-- knowing what you invest in, doing your homework to keep up with a stock's story and holding a healthy skepticism of what the stock market calls "value".

Published November 11, 2013 6:35 am AEDT

Here are four of the highest gainers of the past week amongst Australia's S&P ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

Mount Gibson Iron (ASX: MGX) was up a stunning 13% in the past five days to $0.98. Setting a new high at $0.995, iron ore production volumes were up 13% over the previous quarter at 2.6 million tonnes. With iron ore spot prices around $133.70/tonne, higher volumes mean more potential earnings. Having paid down its long-term debt from $25 million to $9.2 million, it still has about $420 million in cash and term deposits, which could be put towards further mine expansion and development.

Atlas Iron (ASX: AGO) came in just behind as #2 with a 12% gain to $1.14. It also has been raising its production, setting a new quarterly record at 2.4 million tonnes in the September quarter, and forecasting between 9-10 million tonnes for the year. It is planning to develop two shipping berth spaces at Port Hedland with Brockman Mining in a joint venture that will have the capacity for 50 million tonnes.

Domino's Pizza Enterprises (ASX: DMP) set a new all-time high of $16.28, finishing up 6% for the week at $16.20. Since early June, its share price has been rising in a parabolic way after gapping up upon the news that it was buying a 75% stake in Domino's Pizza Japan, which currently has about 250 stores there. Just last week three of the directors, including CEO Don Meij, sold off some of their shares, taking advantage of the higher share prices.

Australand Property Group (ASX: ALZ) tied for third place with a 6% rise, closing at $3.95. The rising housing market is propelling the company. The Sydney and Melbourne markets are heating up, with Perth and Brisbane improving. In the last three quarters, its residential division has already achieved 90% of last year's full year target, yet its office and industrial division still hasn't moved greatly.

Foolish takeaway

The ASX 200 includes companies that are much smaller than those in the ASX 100, but with the smaller size comes the bigger potential to grow and rise in share price. A healthy portfolio should be diversified not only according to industry, but should also have a good mix of stalwarts and small, yet fast, growers.

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