Investor sentiment in Burberry (LSE: BRBY) seems to be on the up, with the luxury lifestyle brand recording a rise in its share price of 11% since the turn of the year.
Clearly, at least some of this is due to reduced investor fear in recent weeks regarding the prospects for China, which remains a key market for Burberry. But with the company also having upbeat growth potential, it seems as though now could be a good time to buy it for the long term.
For example, Burberry is forecast to return to growth in the next financial year, with an 8% increase in earnings pencilled-in for the following year. And with the Chinese economy becoming increasingly consumer-focused, Burberry’s profit growth could be much higher over the medium-to-long term.
Certainly, the company’s shares seem to deserve a higher rating than their current price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 18.5, with Burberry’s high degree of customer loyalty providing it with a wide economic moat. Therefore, even though they’ve risen already this year, shares in Burberry seem to be worth considering for inclusion in an ISA.
Bight prospects
Similarly, Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) also appears to offer sound long-term total return prospects. It currently yields 6.2% and with dividends being covered 1.4 times by profit, there seem to be bright prospects for dividend growth. In fact, Legal & General is expected to increase shareholder payouts by 7.7% next year, which should easily beat inflation and provide the company’s shares with a positive catalyst.
As well as bright dividend prospects, Legal & General remains a solid value play. Its bottom-line growth forecasts of 9% this year and a further 6% next year don’t appear to be fully factored-in to its share price, with Legal & General currently trading on a P/E ratio of just 11.4. That’s significantly lower than the FTSE 100’s P/E ratio of around 13 and shows that while investor sentiment in Legal & General may be rather weak following its decline of 13% since the start of the year, it remains a very appealing buy for long-term investors.
Strong pipeline
On the topic of long term, AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) is still on course to reverse its sales decline over the coming years. Investors hoping for a quick return via an acquisition for the pharmaceutical company may be somewhat disappointed though, since the prospects for this seem to have reduced since the US authorities announced their intention to close a tax loophole. However, with AstraZeneca’s own acquisition programme being in full swing, its pipeline appears to be more diversified and stronger than it has been for a considerable period of time.
This should boost the company’s top and bottom lines, thereby providing a positive catalyst for its share price over the long run. And with AstraZeneca yielding 5% despite having not raised dividends in the last five years, it remains a top notch income play which could begin to increase shareholder payouts as its profitability creeps upwards.
