Visa and MasterCard are one of the main beneficiaries of the global shift from cash to plastic payments. There is another company that is riding those trends and growing its revenue and earnings at a faster pace than Visa and MasterCard:  Fleetcor Technologies (NYSE: FLT.)

Fleetcor has delivered significant gains to its shareholders since the IPO in December 2010, at $23 per share. The share price is now around $80, an almost 250% rise in two and a half years. A leading independent global provider of fuel and specialized payment products and services to businesses, commercial fleets, major oil companies, petroleum marketers and government entities, the company has delivered robust earnings and revenue growth since the IPO, and is expected to keep delivering above average growth rates in the future.

Earnings highlights

Fleetcor reported adjusted earnings of $0.90, up 50% from a year ago quarter and beating analyst estimates by 7 cents. Revenue rose 32.5% to $193.7 million, handily beating estimates for $182.3 million. Earnings rose above 20% in all nine quarters the company has been public, and revenue rose above 20% in eight consecutive quarters.

The company also raised full year earnings and revenue guidance. The management expects adjusted earnings between $3.70 and $3.80, up from previous guidance range of $3.61 to $3.69. Revenue guidance was raised to a range of $810 million to $820 million, up from previous guidance range of $790 to $810 million.

Fleetcor’s management is now well known for under-promising and over-delivering. This quarter is the most recent example. And if you look at previous guidance history and the reported numbers, it is impressive. In Q4 2010, management guided for $1.89 mid-range full year 2011 earnings and $470 million mid-range revenue, and delivered high above the guidance (and they have been raising guidance in the following quarters and beating their own guidance and analyst estimates). The company reported full-year adjusted earnings of $2.17 and revenue of $519 million. 2012 was the same, with guiding $2.57 adjusted earnings and $620 million in revenue for the full year, and delivering $2.99 EPS and $707 million in revenue.

Analyst consensus estimates are trending up recently, but they are in the current range of Fleetcor’s guidance, and if history repeats itself, Fleetcor will surely deliver above the current estimates, and will probably raise guidance in the following quarters.

Acquisitions

Fleetcor has been very aggressive on the acquisition front, and has been acquiring companies in order to expand its global presence. The most recent acquisitions are in New Zealand and Australia. Fleetcor has acquired companies in Russia, Brazil, Mexico and the U.K. in 2012. The company intends to continue to be acquisitive in the future, and will be looking to expand further globally.

Better investment than Visa and MasterCard

Fleetcor presents a better investment opportunity than Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) because Fleetcor has roughly the same valuation as Visa and MasterCard, but it has much higher growth rates, and a bigger chance for further market penetration and global expansion than Visa and MasterCard. All three companies are great investments, as they are benefiting from global secular trends, where we are seeing the world switch from cash to plastic payments.

Fleetcor and MasterCard have forward PE’s of 18, and Visa has a forward PE of 20. Fleetcor has delivered average earnings growth of 37.5% in the last eight quarters on 31% average revenue growth. Visa has averaged 24% earnings growth and 13.6% average revenue growth in the past eight quarters. MasterCard has grown earnings 24.5% and 15% average revenue growth, although revenue growth was around 10% in the last four quarters. Fleetcor’s future growth rates are certainly underestimated because of the consistent conservative management guidance.

Bottom line

Fleetcor presents a better investment opportunity than Visa and MasterCard at these price levels. Fleetcor has shown more robust earnings and revenue growth while trading at same forward price/earnings ratios. The company is good at under-promising and over-delivering, and that practice is likely to continue in the future.

Editor’s Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet’s staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

TheStreet Ratings’ stock model projects a stock’s total return potential over a 12-month period including both price appreciation and dividends. Our Buy, Hold or Sell ratings designate how we expect these stocks to perform against a general benchmark of the equities market and interest rates.

While plenty of high-yield opportunities exist, investors must always consider the safety of their dividend and the total return potential of their investment. It is not uncommon for a struggling company to suspend high-yielding dividends and subsequently result in precipitous share price declines.

TheStreet Ratings’ stock rating model views dividends favorably, but not so much that other factors are disregarded. Our model gauges the relationship between risk and reward in several ways, including: the pricing drawdown as compared to potential profit volatility, i.e. how much one is willing to risk in order to earn profits?; the level of acceptable volatility for highly performing stocks; the current valuation as compared to projected earnings growth; and the financial strength of the underlying company as compared to its stock’s valuation as compared to its stock’s performance.

These and many more derived observations are then combined, ranked, weighted, and scenario-tested to create a more complete analysis. The result is a systematic and disciplined method of selecting stocks. As always, stock ratings should not be treated as gospel — rather, use them as a starting point for your own research.

The following pages contain our analysis of 3 stocks with substantial yields, that ultimately, we have rated “Buy.”

CenturyLink

Dividend Yield: 5.70%

CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL) shares currently have a dividend yield of 5.70%.

CenturyLink, Inc. operates as an integrated telecommunications company in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 22.53.

The average volume for CenturyLink has been 6,162,600 shares per day over the past 30 days. CenturyLink has a market cap of $23.1 billion and is part of the telecommunications industry. Shares are down 4.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

TheStreet Ratings rates CenturyLink as a buy. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, reasonable valuation levels, expanding profit margins, impressive record of earnings per share growth and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Diversified Telecommunication Services industry. The net income increased by 49.0% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $200.00 million to $298.00 million.

• The gross profit margin for CENTURYLINK INC is rather high; currently it is at 60.30%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the strong results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 6.60% trails the industry average.

• CENTURYLINK INC reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, CENTURYLINK INC reported lower earnings of $1.24 versus $1.29 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.66 versus $1.24).

• CTL, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 1.1%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 2.1%. The declining revenue has not hurt the company’s bottom line, with increasing earnings per share.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Antonio Carlos Vélez Braga. I’m Superintendent of Investor Relations of Cemig. We’ll begin the video webcast of the first quarter results 2013 with the presence of Luiz Fernando Rolla, CFO; Dr. Maura Galuppo Botelho Martins, Superintendent of Economic Financial Regulation; Leonardo George de Magalhaes, Superintendent of Controlling; and Dr. Paulo Eduardo Pereira Guimaraes, Superintendent of Corporate Finance Management.

The webcast can be followed over the phone 551146886341 and also on our website http://ri.cemig.com.br. We recommend the use of the new player when you can visualize it in a more dynamic way.

Now we give the floor to our CFO, Dr. Luiz Fernando Rolla, to begin the presentation.

Luiz Fernando Rolla – Chief Officer of Finance, Investor Relations & Control of Holdings and Member of Executive Board

A very good afternoon, everyone. It is with great pleasure that we open this — the webcast for the presentation of our results for the first quarter of 2013. That is the first quarter in which we are applying the new accountancy standards which affected, more specifically, the consolidation of our results. Therefore, I think that it is going to demand a trifle more comments on our part in order to explain exactly what we have as results.

Preliminarily, the results have been very good, aligned with all the strategies that we have adopted, and especially, adhering to the decisions that have been made in the last months vis-à-vis the novelties introduced by Provisional Measure 579. We are quite firm in our stance to try and follow not only the longings of our customers but also our shareholders.

The result of the first quarter 2013 comparatively with the previous year. We had a very significant growth, not only in our net income — net revenues, but also our EBITDA and our net income. That is a net revenue, as you saw, increased by 15% compared to last year, first quarter last year. The result properly because of the increase of the revenues from energy sold due to the high market prices, the spot market.

The EBITDA increased by 28% which goes to show that we had substantial gains as a function of the reduction of the operational costs of the company, and therefore, we had this greater growth of the EBITDA. Then especially our net income, which increased by 37%, reaching BRL 865 million, which places us maybe as the best performance in the industry.

Now these results come especially from the strategy that Cemig has adopted in the last years to give the due value to its assets. We have tried, not only to reduce operational costs and to introduce new technologies and new management, managerial practices, so as to guarantee that we’re going to have resources enough in order to be able to invest. But mainly, the investment discipline which has brought us continuously good results in investments that we have made, we have several examples that we can list and we present to the investor market, the most representative of which is Taesa.

Taesa presented very positive results this last week, together with Light in spite of difficulties that the distributing companies have been going through.

Besides, we have some opportunities, doubtlessly very promising ones, so as to increase our growth, cash generation through opportunities that we have been preparing, getting ready for some time and now begin to materialize as natural gas.

This article will focus on stocks that were found using a stock screener on May 16, 2013. The stock screener had the following criteria:

• Small cap stock
• Listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ or AMEX
• Earnings per share growth of at least 15% for the current year
• Four consecutive quarters of non-negative earnings
• A profit margin TTM of 40% or greater and/or above the industry average
• A return on equity TTM of 30% or greater and/or above the industry average

This screen looked to identify small cap companies. The market cap of the five stocks found in this screen ranges from a low of $405 million to a high of $734 million. It also looked for companies with solid, positive earnings in the last four quarters that also were forecasted to grow earnings significantly in the coming year. The fundamentals of their profit margins and their return on equity were also looked at so that we can identify companies with high profit margins that are generating significant returns for shareholders.

The five companies this screen produced are: Central Pacific Financial Corp. (CPF), 8×8, Inc. (EGHT), Mid-Con Energy Partners LP (MCEP), PDF Solutions Inc. (PDFS), and Pzena Investment Management Inc. (PZN). Over the past 52 weeks, these companies have produced great returns in share prices. The following is a chart of the companies’ performance in this time period compared to the S&P 500.

CPF data by YCharts

As the chart shows, all but one of these stocks has outperformed the S&P 500 index over the past year. This can be expected because of the strong fundamentals these stocks currently have. If the stocks can maintain their growth, these may be great companies to watch and potentially invest in with a good entry point.

Central Pacific Financial Corp. reached a new 52 week high of $17.72 today on May 15, 2013. Its most recent earnings came in at 41 cents per share, which was far ahead of the consensus analyst estimate calling for earnings of 20 cents per share. Earnings are expected to grow to $1.31 per share this year, but are expected to fall to .78 per share next year. Over the next five years; however, earnings are expected go grow 8% annually. It most recent quarter’s cash flow statement saw positive operating cash flow, and it has over $1.9 billion in cash sitting on its balance sheet. With its strong results in the previous quarter reported, it is no surprise that the stock price is rising. In looking at the 10-Q for its recent earnings, the company realized a huge income tax benefit in the previous quarter. If the company can continue raising the bar for earnings, we could see this stock continue to rise in price.

Upon further examination of the 10-Q for Central Pacific, there are key items that I believe to be essential to the stock price’s future success. The company has moved to reduce its nonperforming assets successfully, as they are down to $75 million as of March 2013 compared to $206 million as of March 2012. Its construction and development loan portfolio was reduced to 3.9% of its total loan portfolio as of March 2013, which is down from 7.1% of its loan portfolio in the same quarter of 2012. The allowance for loans and leases has also been reduced significantly over this time frame. The company has strengthened its balance sheet and return on assets and the return on equity has improved. Those results, however, were skewed with the one time tax benefit. If the company can continue to pick the right industries to lend to, while shoring up nonperforming assets and allowances on its balance sheet, look for those factors to lead the company to continued rises in price.

8×8 Inc. is trading near its 52 week high of $7.95 per share. It has an upcoming earnings release scheduled for May 21, 2013 and it has a five year growth rate projected to be 15% annually. The company markets telecommunication services. Specifically, it is in the cloud computing industry. In March, it was awarded a new patent. In this article published on Seeking Alpha in March, a case was made that the company could be acquired for a significant premium. Cloud computing is a growth market that is seen by many as having a strong future. The company has been receiving awards for its service and is on its way to becoming well known in the industry. With positive earnings per share, this stock provides a compelling investment opportunity as already, its earnings are expected to grow significantly over the next five years as it is.

8×8′s 10-Q for the third quarter (it has a March 31st fiscal year end) shows various highlights and provides insight into how the company can improve results from here. Business customer churn was only 1.6% in the December 31, 2012 quarter, which is the lowest level it has been at out of the five most recent quarters reported. Total business customers are also at a record level for the company. The average number of services purchased by new business subscribers set a record and is currently at 17 as of December 31, 2012, besting the previous record of 14.7 as of September 30, 2012. Service revenue rose significantly and is comprised of “8×8 VoIP services and royalties earned under our VoIP technology licenses.” Continued growth in this service income will depend on the success that the company has in selling these same services to new and existing customers.

Mid-Con Energy Partners reached a new 52 week high today of $25.20 per share. Although it is a small cap, it pays a distribution yield currently of 8.2%. This is common for partnerships in the energy industry, though its rise in share price over the past year certainly makes it an intriguing stock to look into. It is expected to earn $2.04 per share this year, up from $1.58 per share last year. Next year, it is expected to earn $2.31 per share. Its most recent earnings did miss expectations, but apparently investors still felt the stock was undervalued as it is rising in price steadily. With its high distribution yield and steady earnings growth, it is more of a valuation play in my opinion. The earnings are only expected to grow 4% per year in the next five years, which means analysts are expecting growth to slow after the next year. If earnings continue to grow; however, it may prove to still be undervalued.

Upon examining Mid-Con’s most recent 10-Q for the quarter ending in March of 2013, the company experienced strong growth in oil sales and had a much better performance in its hedging activities related to derivatives. The company uses derivatives to hedge against the risk of large price movements in oil. The company increased its oil production volume by about 46% on average in the quarter ending in March of 2013 compared to March of 2012. General and administrative expenses nearly doubled in this most recent quarter, attributed largely to an increase in equity based compensation. Equity based compensation is a non-cash outlay, and its cash flow from operating activities increased modestly when comparing these two quarters. The cash flow statement is important for this company when analyzing it, especially if a lot of its expenses will continue to be non-cash outlays. Increasing the number of shares outstanding, however, weighs on earnings as it lowers earnings per share with all else being equal.

PDF Solutions Inc. also reached a new 52 week high today, clocking in at $19.03 per share. Its earnings are expected to grow this year from .82 per share to $1.05 per share. Next year, earnings are currently expected to come in at $1.45 per share. Over the next five years, the company is pegged for 20% annual growth. This is a fast growing company and it provides yield improvement technologies for the integrated circuit manufacturing process life cycle. When the company reported its fourth quarter 2012 results, it surpassed analyst estimates. Its first quarter 2013 earnings did miss by two cents, but that certainly has not slowed down the share price. With the company delivering high growth, as evidenced by fourth quarter 2012 earnings doubling to 24 cents per share from 12 cents per share in the same quarter of 2011, this company may be worth a look.

In looking at the 10-Q for the quarter ending in March of 2013 for PDF Solutions, various things become apparent. The company is relying on the prevalent trend in the industry as follows: “We believe that the largest logic foundries will continue to increase their investment in leading edge nodes and capacity in 2013, consistent with the trend since 2010. Leading foundries are also investing in new technologies such as double-patterned lithography and 3-D transistor architecture. These trends resulted in an increase in our business, and improved results in operations in 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013.” If this trend continues, the company appears well positioned to be able to continue its growth on the back of it. The company’s net income, revenues, and cash position all enjoyed nice increases in the quarter ending in March of 2013 compared to the quarter ending in March of 2012. With 62% of its revenue being made up of design-to-silicon-yield solutions, the company is dependent on companies looking to improve their processes for maximizing yield. In my opinion, it is important that the company maintains a wide variety of customers in different industries, to minimize the effect of any customer no longer purchasing services.

Pzena Investment Management is currently trading at $6.17 per share, and is off from its 52 week high of $7.19 per share. It also currently has a dividend yield of 1.9%. It is predicted by analysts that the company will grow 12% annually over the next five years. Earnings are expected to come in this year at .37 per share and at .43 per share next year. The company is a publicly owned investment management firm. Thestreet.com recently upgraded the stock to a buy rating. If the company can deliver on its earnings estimates, it may be a great company to buy for growth in the small cap sector.

Upon examining the 10-Q for Pzena, the company experienced strong growth in its net income for the quarter ending in March of 2013 compared to March of 2012. Growth in this area came in at around 15%. The company holds a non-controlling interest in Pzena Investment Management, LLC, and net income from this interest weighed down the company’s overall earnings as that company’s earnings fell slightly. EPS fell in March of 2013 to .08 per share compared to .09 per share in March of 2012 due to the increase in the weighted average of shares outstanding as overall income rose slightly. With $19.5 billion of assets currently under management, increasing that number would certainly help the company increase overall earnings. Improving margins in its non-controlling interest is also key for the company to improve its overall results going forward.

Small cap stocks can offer investors a great entry point for different industries as the possible gains can far exceed those are mature, large cap companies. The key with small cap stocks is picking the right ones, as many can go down in value much faster than well established large cap companies can. In this instance, if I were to buy any of these stocks, I would allocate a small portion of my portfolio to buy all of these stocks. I like the mix that these five stocks provide, and if I were to invest in them I would probably buy about $300 each worth of their stock.

Thank you for reading this article. Please conduct your own research and due diligence before deciding to invest in any of these companies.

BRUSELAS (Reuters) – ArcelorMittal, la mayor siderúrgica del mundo, rebotó desde un final muy débil del 2012 y pronosticó una mejoría en los próximos meses luego de que el aumento de los envíos de acero generó unas ganancias estructurales mayores que las previstas.

La compañía, que produce entre el 6 y el 7 por ciento del acero mundial, dijo el viernes que sus ganancias estructurales (EBITDA) en el primer trimestre fueron de 1.565 millones de dólares, un 26 por ciento a la baja en una tasa interanual, pero muy por encima del pronóstico promedio de 1.360 millones de dólares ofrecido por un sondeo de Reuters.

ArcelorMittal dijo que la cifra sería aún mayor en el segundo trimestre y reiteró su pronóstico de que la ganancia estructural de este año será superior a los 7.100 millones de dólares que reportó en el 2012.

La firma espera que los envíos de acero aumenten entre un 2 y un 3 por ciento en el 2013, impulsados por un alza del 3 por ciento en el consumo mundial de acero. La compañía cree que todas las regiones excepto Europa demandarán más acero que en el 2012.

También espera vender cerca de un 20 por ciento más de mineral de hierro este año, principalmente debido a su expansión hacia la minería en los últimos años.

LONDRES (Reuters) – El holding hispano-británico International Airlines Group (IAG) dijo el viernes que sus pérdidas operativas se ampliaron en el primer trimestre, debido a que los severos problemas en su aerolínea española Iberia afectaron el progreso de British Airways.

IAG, el tercer holding de aerolíneas de Europa por valor de mercado, registró una pérdida operativa de 278 millones de euros (364 millones de dólares) en los primeros tres meses del año, un periodo tradicionalmente débil para las aerolíneas.

La aerolínea española contribuyó con 202 millones de euros del monto de pérdidas -por encima de 169 millones de euros el año pasado- dado que sufrió por la competencia de rivales de bajo costo y trenes a alta velocidad, disputas laborales y una recesión que dejado a un 25 por ciento de los españoles sin trabajo.

Las aerolíneas europeas rivales Lufthansa y Air France-KLM también están recortando empleos y postergando planes de crecimiento a medida que enfrentan altos precios del combustible, la débil economía europea y la feroz competencia de aerolíneas de bajo costo y compañías aéreas de Oriente Medio.

IAG asumió un cargo por 311 millones de euros en el trimestre por reestructuraciones que incluyen el recorte de 3.100 empleos para que Iberia- la mayor aerolínea de Europa con destino a Latinoamérica- vuelva a generar ganancias al 2015.

La cifra se agrega a los 545 millones de euros del año pasado, y aunque el presidente ejecutivo Willie Walsh dijo que hay “más trabajo por hacer”, sostuvo que no espera más cargos significativos este año.

Peter Hyde, analista de Liberum, calificó los resultados de IAG como mixtos.

“Para alcanzar nuestra proyección de ganancias operativas de 505 millones de euros en el 2013 IAG necesita que Iberia se reestructure rápidamente y que British Airways haga uso de su posición de mercado”, dijo.

British Airways tuvo resultados planos durante el trimestre, ayudados por la fortaleza del negocio y tráfico de pasajeros de primera clase, excluyendo costos relacionados a la integración de la aerolínea británica BMI que adquirió el año pasado.

Pero IAG también sufrió de la debilidad de la libra esterlina contra el euro y el dólar, lo que aumentó sus pérdidas desde 249 millones euros el año pasado y por encima de una pérdida promedio estimada en 230 millones de euros en un sondeo a analistas de Reuters.

Antes de fusionarse con Iberia en el 2011, British Airways enfrentó problemas similares a los de la aerolínea española, a los que respondió con una reducción de puestos de trabajo, una rebaja en los salarios y ofreciendo precios de boletos mas competitivos.

BRUSELAS (Reuters) – ArcelorMittal, la mayor siderúrgica del mundo, desafió los temores derivados de una advertencia de ganancias y sostuvo el viernes su pronóstico de beneficios para este año, ayudada por una profunda reducción de gastos en Europa.

Las acciones de la firma, que produce entre el 6 y el 7 por ciento del acero mundial, treparon hasta un 7,5 por ciento tras haber reportado una caída menor a la esperada en la ganancia estructural y anunciado que sus recortes de gastos y actividades mineras la ayudarían a mejorar sus utilidades en los próximos meses.

La industria siderúrgica, que genera 500.000 millones de dólares al año y es un barómetro de la economía global, ha sido golpeada fuertemente por una caída en la demanda a partir de medidas de austeridad en Europa y señales de crecimiento desacelerado en China.

ArcelorMittal dijo que la demanda europea de acero estaba casi un 30 por ciento por debajo de los niveles máximos alcanzados en el 2007 y que se perfilaba para seguir cayendo en el 2013.

Los envíos de su división Flat Carbon Europe, destinados principalmente al mercado automotriz, aumentaron un 16 por ciento en el primer trimestre con respecto a los últimos tres meses del 2012, pero quedaron un 8 por ciento debajo de las cifras del mismo período el año pasado.

Las ventas de autos cayeron un 10 por ciento en el primer trimestre, pero mejoraron en abril.

Sin embargo, la división redujo su pérdida operativa, debido en parte a la inactividad y el cierre de instalaciones europeas para ahorrar 1.000 millones de dólares, y también gracias a un plan de ahorro de 3.000 millones que apunta a restaurar los márgenes de acero a niveles previos a la crisis para el 2015.

“Hay pruebas de que el programa está teniendo un efecto tangible”, dijo Neil Sampat, analista de acero en Nomura.

Para estabilizar sus finanzas, ArcelorMittal, que perdió la calificación de grado de inversión el año pasado, vendió activos, reunió 4.000 millones de dólares vía derechos y emisión de bonos y redujo su dividendo.

Desde el 2008, la empresa ha ahorrado 4.800 millones de dólares en ventas y gastos administrativos.

El grupo también espera vender cerca de un 20 por ciento más de mineral de hierro este año, principalmente debido a su expansión hacia la minería en los últimos años.

MEJOR A LO ESPERADO

ArcelorMittal, que vendió aproximadamente un 45 por ciento de su acero en Europa el año pasado, dijo que sus ganancias estructurales (EBITDA) en el primer trimestre fueron de 1.565 millones de dólares, un 26 por ciento a la baja en una tasa interanual, pero muy por encima del pronóstico promedio de 1.360 millones de dólares ofrecido por un sondeo de Reuters.

La compañía dijo que la cifra sería aún mayor en el segundo trimestre y reiteró su pronóstico de que la ganancia estructural de este año será superior a los 7.100 millones de dólares que reportó en el 2012.

Las expectativas del mercado han disminuido desde comienzos de este año.

Sin embargo, ArcelorMittal emitió una advertencia sobre su pronóstico que asume que los precios del mineral de hierro y el margen de acero sobre los costos de materias primas tendrán niveles similares a los del 2012.

A las 1342 GMT, las acciones de ArcelorMittal, que han perdido un 24 por ciento de valor en lo que va del año, subían un 4,8 por ciento a 10,16 euros.

La firma espera que los envíos de acero aumenten entre un 2 y un 3 por ciento en el 2013, impulsados por un alza del 3 por ciento en el consumo mundial de acero. La compañía cree que todas las regiones excepto Europa demandarán más acero que en el 2012.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – La petrolera argentina YPF, nacionalizada el año pasado, anunciaría el jueves una caída interanual en su ganancia neta debido a mayores costos por la alta inflación en el país, dijeron analistas.

El beneficio neto de la compañía habría retrocedido a entre 916 millones de pesos (178,8 millones de dólares) y 930 millones (181,6 millones) según estimaciones privadas, contra los 1.294 millones de pesos (295,4 millones) que ganó en el mismo trimestre del 2012.

Los analistas apuntan a un aumento en los costos de la petrolera como la causa del menor beneficio. Argentina registra una de las tasas de inflación más altas del mundo, estimada por analistas privados en alrededor del 25 por ciento anual.

“Si bien las ventas de YPF registraron incrementos interesantes junto con el aumento de precios, esto no permitirá equiparar los resultados del 2012 ya que el crecimiento de sus costos sigue siendo importante, y hoy la inflación es su principal problema”, dijo Marcelo Trovato, analista de Pronóstico Bursátil.

La correduría bursátil Allaria Ledesma estimó un alza interanual del 33,2 por ciento en las ventas de YPF a 19.781,8 millones pesos gracias a mejores precios de la gasolina y a un incremento del valor del gas natural en boca de pozo autorizado por el Gobierno para atraer inversiones energéticas.

El presidente de la compañía, Miguel Galuccio, había adelantado a finales del año pasado que aplicaría un riguroso control de costos para proteger el flujo de caja de la empresa.

YPF está a la caza de inversiones privadas por 4.500 millones de dólares para financiar parte de los 32.600 millones de dólares que necesita en los próximos cinco años para levantar una alicaída producción de hidrocarburos.

La mayor parte de los recursos se destinarán a desarrollar Vaca Muerta, una megaformación en la Patagonia que podría contener una de las mayores reservas de crudo y gas natural no convencional del Hemisferio Occidental.

El Gobierno le quitó a la española Repsol el control de YPF en un intento por revertir el derrumbe de las reservas de hidrocarburos que obligó al país a realizar millonarias importaciones energéticas que están lastrando su superávit comercial.

La producción de petróleo y gas viene retrocediendo en Argentina desde 1998 y 2004, respectivamente, debido a la madurez de sus campos y a la falta de inversiones de las empresas explotadoras, que según analistas rechazan las políticas intervencionistas del Gobierno.

YPF anunciará sus resultados del primer trimestre tras el cierre del mercado local.

Por Jose Elías Rodríguez

MADRID (Reuters) – El grupo constructor y de servicios español OHL dijo el jueves que su resultado bruto de explotación (ebitda) creció un 29,9 por ciento a 249,2 millones de euros en el primer trimestre, gracias al empuje de su negocio de concesiones, especialmente en México.

“El 90,6% del ebitda total del Grupo procede del exterior, correspondiendo a México el 80,2%, y el restante 9,4% se genera en España”, destacó la compañía en su comunicado.

En el fondo de la tabla, el ritmo de crecimiento del beneficio neto fue incluso superior, del 65 por ciento a 68 millones de euros, apoyándose en un mejor resultado financiero.

Las ventas del grupo, en cambio, bajaron un 10,7 por ciento a 765,6 millones de euros, descenso que el grupo explicó por la menor actividad constructora en México, el cambio de método de consolidación de una autopista en ese país y el declive del sector constructor en España.

Sin tener en cuenta los dos primeros efectos, las ventas de la actividad concesional habrían crecido un 72 por ciento, dijo el grupo.

En cuanto a su posición financiera, OHL cerró marzo con una deuda neta de 5.576 millones de euros, frente a 4.198 millones de euros en diciembre, debido entre otras cosas a factores estacionales y a los incrementos de participación en Abertis, de la que controla ya casi el 19 por ciento, tras comprar otro 8,7 por ciento.

OHL entró el año pasado en el capital de la concesional catalana a través una operación que supuso la venta de sus activos de autopistas en Brasil y Chile, una operacion con la que consiguió jugosas plusvalías.

CONCESIONES Y MÉXICO IMPULSAN LAS CUENTAS

El negocio concesional del grupo representó el 83 por ciento del ebitda de OHL, creciendo un 42 por ciento respecto al año anterior.

Este fuerte incremento se debió principalmente a la contribución de las autopistas mexicanas, para las que tiene acuerdos de rentabilidad garantizada con el Gobierno mexicano. Estas supusieron el 71 por ciento del resultado bruto operativo con 177 millones de euros y un crecimiento del 49 por ciento.

En una teleconferencia con analistas, el director financiero de OHL, Enrique Weickert, se mostró muy optimista sobre el país por las perspectivas de tráfico y el grado de ejecución de las inversiones.

“En mes y medio ya no habrá riesgos de ejecución (…) al completarse la inversión en los proyectos actuales”, dijo el ejecutivo, que descartó eventuales ventas de participación en la filial mexicana.

“El ambiente en México en cuanto a inversiones es muy bueno (…) con el Gobierno muy dispuesto a invertir en infraestructuras”, agregó.

Sin embargo, el ebitda del negocio constructor bajó un 8,6 por ciento debido, según el grupo, a “menores márgenes obtenidos al inicio de los proyectos”.

OHL añadió que cerró el primer trimestre con una cartera de pedidos a corto plazo de 8.395 millones de euros millones de euros frente a los 8.040 millones de finales de diciembre.