There are lots of ways to generate investment ideas. Talking to and reading the thoughts of other investors is certainly one way to uncover opportunities.
Each month, contributors to The Motley Fool identify their favourite stock pick. If you click on this link you can read their most recent stock ideas.
In my opinion, this list, has a number of actionable ideas. Here are two stocks which I found particularly compelling.
IVE Group Ltd (ASX: IGL) listed on the ASX less than a year ago at $2 a share. With the stock currently trading at $2.15, the initial public offering (IPO) could be described as successful considering both IVE Group and the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) are up around 8% since the float date.
IVE Group is a vertically integrated marketing services and print communications provider that boasts a number of high profile clients including Tabcorp, American Express, QBE Insurance and AMP.
For the 12 months ending June 30, IVE Group reported pro forma revenue growth of 13% to $382 million, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) growth of 90% to $33 million and net profit after tax but before amortisation (NPATA) growth of 107% to $22.5 million.
Growth was driven by a combination of organic wins, an expanded service offering and acquisitions. Contributing to the organic growth was a number of new client wins including contracts with Westpac, Vodafone Australia and McDonald's Australia.
With a market capitalisation of approximately $190 million and net debt of $37 million, IVE Group is trading on what appear to be undemanding metrics considering both FY 2016 growth rates and management's outlook for further growth in FY 2017.
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd's (ASX: FLT) share price has fallen around 10% in calendar year 2016 to currently trade near $36.
Despite this near term underperformance compared with both the index and its listed peers such as Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) and Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) (up 3% and 117% respectively) the longer term record of Flight Centre remains outstanding.
The growth outlook for Flight Centre remains positive with the group undertaking a number of small bolt-on acquisitions in 2016.
In recent months, the group has undertaken no less than three acquisitions which should help to drive growth in the years to come.
- The group acquired a 49% shareholding in Gold Coast-based Ignite Travel Group. Ignite focusses on "curated holiday packages, travel vouchers and rewards programs." Ignite's total transaction value (TTV) in FY 2017 is expected to exceed $100 million.
- Flight Centre expanded its corporate travel footprint in continental Europe via the acquisition of corporate businesses in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany from European online travel agency eDreams. The acquired businesses were expected to turn over around EU110 million in FY 2017.
- Flight Centre already generates TTV of $419 million from its Indian operations. In October, the group announced the acquisition of an India-based Travel Tours Group, which operates from 18 locations and generates $150 million in TTV.
With a ten-year track record of achieving a total shareholder return of 12% per annum, the recent share price weakness could be viewed as offering an attractive entry point for long-term investors.
