It's the time of year when many professional analysts and business commentators start to name what they consider to be some of the best shares to own in the new year, so I thought it worth taking a look at five businesses I expect could perform strongly in 2019 and beyond.
Fortunately quite a few of these businesses have also come back significantly in price since the start of September, which means now could be as a good a time as any to grab a slice if I'm right thinking there could be more good times ahead. In no particular order here they are.
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) is a healthcare leader forecasting 10%-14% profit growth in fiscal year 2019 while also investing heavily in new products to keep posting profit growth. CSL's share price is off around 22% from September highs and I'd eagerly buy more shares at today's levels.
Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) is the interest free buy-now-pay-later consumer credit business disrupting the traditional credit card industries. It's had some blockbuster success in Australia and I took a small position on the back of some steep share price falls combined with its impressive start in the U.S. market.
In its first 6 months of operations in the US it signed up 900 retailers, 300,000 consumers and processed US$115 million in sales. It has another 1,300 retailers in the pipeline. These kind of impressive numbers in such a large retail market shouldn't be ignored.
Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD) will pay 37.5 cents per share in dividends over the past year, which puts it on a 5.4% yield based on today's share price of $6.92. It may also offer capital growth as it's a beneficiary of the rise of the Chinese middle class increasingly passing through the airport. I'd require a yield of at least 5.4% in compensation for the risks around Sydney Airport and as such think its shares are a buy under $6.95.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is probably the world's most disruptive company and just posted a US$516 million adjusted profit for the quarter ending September 30, 2018. That's around US$2.1 billion on an annualised basis and the electric car maker's value currently sits around US$63 billion at $369 a share. It carries a lot of debt, but could deliver some strong long-term growth.
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) is an online accounting business growing strongly around the world as more small businesses shift to completing accounts online and enjoy the benefits of its intelligent. As a software-as-a-service business Xero has some compelling economics and should hit cash-flow break even within 18 months.
