It's been a week of paradoxes for the ASX – while the wider index itself continues to fall, an unusually large number of shares have been cropping up at 52-week highs.
Also unusually, these three companies continue to represent a buying opportunity despite recent price rises:
AWE Limited (ASX: AWE) – last traded at $1.97, up 54% for the year
AWE hit 52-week highs last Thursday after finding an enormous gas field at its onshore tenements in Western Australia.
Containing an estimated 290 billion cubic feet of gas, AWE claims it is potentially the largest onshore find in WA since the 1960's, with the potential to increase the company's operations by at least a third.
While further analysis is required to firm up the find and calculate its viability, I nevertheless think that the company is still undervalued and will go higher despite jumping nearly 20% last week.
Premier Investments Ltd (ASX: PMV) – last traded at $10.81, up 30.7% for the year
OrotonGroup Limited (ASX: ORL) was not the only retail stock to enjoy a good week last week, with Premier Investments also jumping 10% for the week after its latest results indicated a 10.3% rise in underlying profit and a 6.2% improvement on total sales.
As the many articles by my fellow Foolish contributors can testify, Premier Investments is one of our favourite businesses and has a long history of making quality investment decisions in all market conditions.
Despite a subdued retail market and lower consumer confidence, Premier continues to perform and I wouldn't be surprised to see it edge higher in the near term.
Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) – last traded at $2.43, up 15.7% since launch in August
One of Australia's most recent IPOs, strong investor interest in hospital and pathology operator Healthscope has driven the share price sharply upwards in the past month or so, with further rises expected.
Part of the excitement involves the strong earnings performance since launch, with group EBITDA up 9% and further rises expected in 2015 – in line with prospectus forecasts.
I'd say it's just the beginning of Healthscope's rise, with the company enjoying all of the benefits of being in the healthcare sector, not least an ageing population and rising demand for healthcare services.
It's a rare 52-week high article where all of the shares involved are predicted to track higher, and in all fairness there's another stock that should have been included but wasn't.
It's The Motley Fool's Top Stock Pick for 2014-2015, and it's fallen off slightly from its 52-week highs despite stellar results and further growth predicted in 2015.
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