The Australian share market has edged closer to the 6000 level today with the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) up 0.3% at 5943 points.
While companies such as BHP Billiton Limited and QBE Insurance Group are once again doing most of the heavy lifting, Telstra Corporation Ltd and Woodside Petroleum Limited are weighing the market down as they trade ex-dividend.
Here are four of the market's top performing stocks today.
XERO FPO NZ (ASX: XRO) has seen its share price skyrocket nearly 25% having traded as high as $22.21. The New Zealand-based cloud accounting software provider managed to secure two separate investments: one from Accel Partners, a leading venture capital firm, worth US$100 million, and the other from Matrix Capital Management worth US$10.8 million. You can read more about that here.
Retail Food Group Limited (ASX: RFG) delivered a strong earnings report this morning in which net profit grew 24% and revenue rose 21% for the six-month period. While the multi-brand food franchisor also boosted its dividend by 7%, the full-year profit guidance upgrade was the real icing on the cake. The company now expects profit to hit $55 million, up from previous guidance of $50 million, resulting in an 11.3% jump for the stock.
Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL) has been the top performing ASX 200 stock today with its shares up an impressive 13.4% at $1.06. The company's earnings report, which was released this morning, was far from pretty but investors may be pleased with the fact that the media group managed to secure additional leverage ratio covenant headroom to 3.75 times. The company had been in danger of falling below its debt covenants.
M2 Group Ltd (ASX: MTU) surged 7.3% to a new all-time high of $9.99. The telecommunications company reported its half-year earnings results on Monday, calling in a 25% lift in net profit while total subscribers grew 9% to 1.634 million. Although the stock has already delivered big returns for investors, there could be plenty of growth left for this ultra-promising company.
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