Today I am looking at three blue-chip superstars expected to deliver stunning shareholder returns in the coming year.
BP
Not surprisingly the effect of a nosediving oil price has crushed investor appetite across the fossil fuels sector in 2014, and shares in BP (LSE: BP) (NYSE: BP.US) slumped to their cheapest in two-and-a-half years just this week. Despite these top line pressures, however, a backcloth of aggressive asset shedding and cost reduction is expected to keep dividends at BP trekking higher during the medium term at least.
Indeed, this programme has enabled BP to lift the full-year payment at a compound annual growth rate of 13% during the past three years despite severe earnings volatility. In line with this trend, City analysts expect the business to initiate a further 5% dividend lift in 2014, to 38.9 US cents per share, despite a colossal 46% earnings slump.
And helped by a slight 2% bottom line recovery in 2015, BP is predicted to lift the total dividend an extra 5% in 2015 to 40.9 cents. As a consequence, a tremendous yield of 5.8% for 2014 marches to a staggering 6.1% for 2015, far above the current 3.3% FTSE 100 forward average.
Aberdeen Asset Management
Fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management (LSE: ADN) has been able to deliver reliable dividend growth for donkeys’ years now, as the nation’s rising army of private investors has turbocharged revenues at the firm. And with fragile investor sentiment having improved markedly in recent months, Aberdeen looks on course to enjoy tremendous turnover growth once again.
Propped up by a return to earnings growth this year — Aberdeen is expected to bounce from a 5% slip in the year concluding September 2014 to record a 6% rise in fiscal 2015 — the company is predicted to raise the full-year payout an impressive 9% to 19.6p per share.
Consequently, Aberdeen boasts a terrific yield of 4.3% for the current 12-month period, a figure which also obliterates a corresponding average of 3.6% for the complete financial services sector.
Pearson
Heavy restructuring at Pearson (LSE: PSON) is gradually gaining momentum as the business tries to pull itself away from the trading difficulties seen in recent years. With the company having bulked up its operations in digital, services and developing markets, 2015 is expected to herald a turning point in Pearson’s growth story.
Even though the publishing group is expected to experience a third consecutive earnings dip in 2014 — an 8% decline is currently chalked in by the City’s number crunchers — Pearson is still expected to lift the full-year dividend 5% to 50.2p per share. And a payment of 52.8p is estimated for 2015, up 5% from this year and supported by a robust 17% earnings uptick.
Based on these projections, a stonking yield of 4.1% for this year rises to an even more impressive 4.3% for 2015.
