Today I’m looking at three ‘blue chips’ I believe should outperform the broader FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES:FTSE) in the near term and beyond.
Set to move higher?
I reckon that fears concerning the robustness of the British housing sector make construction plays like Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) too hard to ignore currently.
Concerns that a raft of new landlord levies could significantly damage homes demand has seen share prices of the country’s major homebuilders dip in recent months — Barratt itself has seen its stock value slip 15% since the start of 2016.
But I believe this weakness presents a prime buying opportunity. I’m convinced that aggregate housing demand remains robust despite the impact of fresh action to tackle the buy-to-let segment. And of course a shortage of available homes is likely to keep propelling property values higher too.
The City certainly remains bullish on the housing sector’s long-term earnings potential, and brokers predict earnings at Barratt to shoot 19% higher in 2016 alone, leaving the business dealing on a mega-cheap P/E rating of 9.8 times.
When you consider that the FTSE 100 average stands much closer to 15 times, I reckon this leaves plenty of room for the housebuilder to shoot higher.
On top of this, Barratt’s stunning 5.6% dividend yield for this year takes the FTSE 100’s mean reading of 3.5% to the cleaners.
Capital gains
Like Barratt, I believe that venture capitalist 3i Group (LSE: III) is also looking significantly undervalued relative to the broader FTSE 100.
While Britain’s premier stock index has relied on frothy buying across the commodities sector to drag it higher in 2016, 3i doesn’t carry the same degree of danger should metals and energy prices reverse.
Indeed, 3i commented in February that its portfolio “has limited direct exposure to regions or sectors that have shown weakness over recent months, such as emerging markets or oil and gas or commodities.”
For the year concluding March 2017, an expected 18% earnings surge leaves 3i dealing on a meagre P/E rating of just 8.4 times. And the private equity play smashes scores of its big-cap rivals in the dividend stakes, too — 3i currently sports a terrific yield of 3.7%.
Drugs dynamo
Medicines giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) could also be considered significantly underbought in comparison to many of its FTSE 100 rivals, in my opinion.
At face value this may not appear the case, however. GlaxoSmithKline trades on a P/E ratio of 16.5 times for 2016 despite an expected 16% earnings rise, nudging above the FTSE 100’s average multiple.
But I believe GlaxoSmithKline’s long-term growth profile is far superior to that of many of its big-cap peers.
It’s certainly true that patent expirations on revenues drivers like Avodart remain a colossal pain in the neck for the Brentford firm. But GlaxoSmithKline’s stellar R&D team has pulled out all the stops to mitigate the impact of these losses, and new product sales are now expected to hit their £6bn target two years earlier than planned, by 2018.
Meanwhile, a dividend yield of 5.6% does at least comfortably take out the FTSE 100’s corresponding reading. I believe GlaxoSmithKline is a superior pick for growth and income chasers.
