3 More High-Growth Shares That Made Investors Rich

LONDON -- The three companies below have created huge amounts of shareholder value. Are they still buys today?

1. Shire
Shire is a pharmaceutical company specializing in treatments for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). First incorporated in 1985, it is one of the youngest companies in the FTSE 100.

Shire has long-enjoyed a high stock market rating. Look back five years and the shares are up "just" 111%. Over the decade, the shares have five-bagged.

Earnings per share (EPS) is expected to increase 67.8% for 2013, to be followed by another 14.3% rise for 2014. This puts the shares on a 2014 price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.3. That's a discount to the average FTSE 100 share and as cheap as Shire has ever been.

2. Intertek
Intertek provides quality and testing services to manufacturers. As demand for standards and accreditation have increased, Intertek's sales have boomed.

Five years ago, the shares could be bought for 904 pence. Ten years ago, they changed hands for just 349 pence. Today, the shares will cost you 3,424 pence. Even better for shareholders, more growth is forecast -- both this year and next.

Although earnings and dividends have increased fast, share price growth has outstripped them. Intertek does not look cheap on either P/E or dividend yield measures. Forecasts for 2014 put the share today on a P/E of 23.1, with an expected dividend yield of just 1.4%.

3. Gulf Keystone Petroleum
After finding large quantities of oil in Kurdistan, shares Gulf Keystone Petroleum have increased more than tenfold. The company has had to grow up fast as it brings these discoveries into production.

2013 is the year that GKP's first discoveries will come onstream. Production from the Shaikan discovery will commence this month. Later in the year, another production facility is expected to start up, giving a potential total of 40,000 barrels of oil per day.

This output is forecast to swing Gulf Keystone into a profit for the year. The company expects to be producing 150,000 barrels of oil per day from its portfolio by 2015.

While Gulf Keystone's achievements are remarkable, analysts here at The Motley Fool think that they have unearthed an even better growth prospect in the FTSE 250. This company is a world leader in its industry and is expected to deliver significant growth this year and next.

To find out more about this company and why we believe that its shares could rise significantly, get the free report "The Motley Fool's Top Growth Share for 2013." Click here for this totally free write-up on an outstanding growth company.

The article 3 More High-Growth Shares That Made Investors Rich originally appeared on Fool.com.

David O'Hara does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned, and neither does The Motley Fool. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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