The luckiest time of the year is upon us once again with most just hoping to be lucky enough to wake up on the March 18 still remembering everything from the night before.
St Paddy’s Day is on a Friday this year so stay safe out there when celebrating Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland.
Now, making investments based on a holiday that most (at least in America) use as an excuse to get drunk probably isn't the best idea. That’s why instead of making this a joke and recommending you invest in Guinness-owner Diageo (DEO) and short every English company you can find, let’s actually list some great Irish-headquartered companies that offer strong growth potential and/or solid dividends for investors.
Accenture
Accenture (ACN) is an Irish-American information technology company based out of Dublin, Ireland that specializes in IT services and consulting. It’s also probably one of the most well known and respected Irish headquartered companies as a Fortune Global 500 company that produced revenues of over $61 billion last year. The firm is also highly profitable with earnings-per-share (EPS) ranging between $2.54 and $3.08 over the last four quarters.
Accenture shares have experienced tremendous growth since the company went public in 1998 as its stock has risen from below $20 a share to over $260 today. Analysts are also high on the stock as the mean analyst forecast has Accenture shares rising 17% over the next year of trading.
Notably some of that is analysts expecting a rebound as Accenture has been hit pretty hard by the bearish market run over the last 15 months with technology stocks falling particularly hard and Accenture dropping from a high just over $400 a share back at the end of 2021. Still, the company has a great track record and is a great bet for investors looking to diversify their portfolio with foreign based companies.
Ryanair
Ryanair Holdings (RYAAY) is no unknown company either as Ryanair is the leading airline group by passenger numbers in all of Europe. The Swords, Ireland-based company focuses on a low cost model to offer low competitive fares to consumers usually looking for shorter intra-European trips.
The company managed to achieve revenue of $5.58 billion in 2022 which was nearly double that of 2021, however, 2021 did fall roughly 80% from 2020 as the pandemic obviously heavily impacted domestic and international travel. The airline is doing relatively well though coming out of the pandemic as it had reported positive earnings-per-share over the last quarters but is projected to report a loss in the first quarter of 2023 as traveling wanes after the holidays.
Ryanair shares are similarly up big since its founding in 1996 but has experienced mixed trading over the last five years even before the pandemic as its shares hit highs around $120 in early 2018 and much of 2021 but hits lows below $60 in mid 2019 (before the pandemic) and late 2022. The company’s shares currently sit just below $100 a share and have been on a strong bullish run since going below $60 back in mid October. Additionally, analysts expect Ryanair to reach near its all time high again with the mean forecast expecting shares to hit $115 in the next twelve months.
CRH
CRH, Cement Roadstone Holdings, (CRH) is one of the top stocks in the building materials industry and just so happens to be headquartered in Dublin. The firm managed to surpass 32 billion euros in revenue last year with a net income of 3.87 billion euros. CRH also currently holds an average analyst ranking of strong buy with a mean forecast projecting a nearly 20% rise in share price over the next year.
Analysts aren’t the only ones taking note of the stock over recent years as its share price has soared from under $20 in 2011 to over $50 currently. CRH shares have experienced some significant volatility over the past year and a half but it currently hovers just under its all time high while still holding very strong valuation metrics and underlying fundamental health. Building materials is never the sexiest of investing industries but is something that will never go out of demand. With CRH being the largest producer of aggregates and asphalt in the United States, it's as good a play as any in the industry.
