ASX earnings season is rolling on this week. We are getting towards the tail end of this reporting season now, with many prominent ASX 200 shares, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), having now delivered their latest numbers to investors.
Although we're not quite out of the woods yet, I think today represents a great chance to discuss some of my personal earnings highlights of the season so far. So, with that in mind, here are three of the ASX shares that have most impressed me.
3 ASX 200 shares that have impressed me this earnings season
Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS)
As a Telstra shareholder, few things matter more to me (and I'd wager most other investors) when it comes to this blue chip's earnings than the dividend.
I believe that the vast majority of investors don't hold Telstra shares for their explosive capital growth potential. For most, it's all about that fully-franked dividend income. As has been the case with this telco's shares for decades.
Luckily, Telstra did not disappoint in this arena when it dropped its latest earnings on 15 August.
As we covered at the time, Telstra unveiled its largest single dividend payment in seven years – a final dividend of 9 cents per share. Fully franked of course. That represented a 5.9% increase over the 8.5 cents per share investors enjoyed this time last year.
This has resulted in the Telstra dividend yield rising from 4.27% to 4.52% at today's prices. As a shareholder, this is exactly what I was hoping to see from this ASX 200 blue chip.
WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC)
Unike Telstra, I don't own Wisetech Global stock. Yet this logistical solutions tech company dazzled me when it reported its full-year earnings on 21 August.
As we went through at the time, Wisetech revealed a 28% surge in revenues over the 2024 financial year to $1.04 billion, as well as a 28% bump in earnings and a 15% rise in underlying net profits to $284 million.
This growth is obviously impressive, particularly given it is just a continuation of the massive numbers Wisetech has posted for years now. But it was the company's future growth avenues that impressed me the most here. As I discussed earlier this month, Wisetech plotted out a very long growth runway for future years, thanks to the launch of several new products.
Wisetech shares understandably exploded higher in response to these earnings, so I'm not rushing out to buy any right now. But this company has certainly found its way onto my watchlist.
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)
Finally, let's discuss a company that reported its latest earnings just this morning.
A few months ago, I wrote a comparative piece on Coles compared to its arch-rival Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW). At the time, I noted that Woolworths had long been the dominant company but that Coles had seemingly been making up some ground against its largest competitor in recent reports.
I argued that "I would still have to wait for a clear trend to emerge before taking the plunge with Coles today".
Well, that trend became a little bit clearer with this morning's earnings. Coles reported a 5.7% rise in revenues to $43.6 billion, a 7.3% rise in underlying earnings, and a 4.1% bump in net profits to $1.21 billion.
That allowed the company to reveal an increased final dividend of 32 cents per share.
Now I'm going to wait until I see Woolworths' earnings tomorrow to make a final judgement on how Coles is really tracking. But given the ongoing inflation in the economy, these numbers look pretty impressive.
