So are you shopping for shares? Interested in building towards your pension? Well, here are three companies that might be right up your street.
They couldn’t be more different from each other. One is a fast growing financial stock, another is one of the world’s leading tech companies, whilst the third is a global security firm that’s recovering after a dip in profitability. They exhibit a combination of growth and income, and could well be worth adding to your investment portfolio.
Prudential
Let’s start with Prudential (LSE: PRU), a firm that, although listed in Britain, has operations around the world, including the US, as well as emerging markets across Asia.
As those emerging markets mature, they’ve started to transition from manufacturing industries to an increasing emphasis on financial services. As emerging market middle classes grow wealthier, so they’ll need to find a home for their money. So they’ll start to pour their money into investments, savings and insurance. So over the coming years, we’ll see rapid growth in financial services companies in this region.
Prudential has been well placed to take advantage of this boom. And the stock has rocketed since the Credit Crunch, but is now well off its highs, which means this is a good time to buy-in.
EPS is set to move up from 52.7p in 2013 to 129.86p in 2017. And the P/E ratio is now a very reasonable 11.46, with a dividend yield of 3.06%.
ARM Holdings
This past decade has seen phenomenal growth in the tech industry, and chip designer ARM (LSE: ARM) is Britain’s leading light in this area.
ARM designs and patents the chips behind the iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy series, and the vast majority of processor chips used in other smartphones, smart watches and tablets. The growing ubiquity of technology means that you’ll also find its chips in washing machines, fridges and cars.
What’s more, the trend towards smart devices and miniaturisation has a long way to run. And ARM remains at the centre of this bustling industry. Which means the share price could push higher.
That’s why a 2016 P/E ratio of 28.46 doesn’t look over-priced for this ultimate growth stock.
G4S
Security firm G4S (LSE: GFS) is a huge business. It’s the world’s largest security firm, employing 620,000 people. Yet interestingly, it’s currently rated as a mid-cap, and doesn’t even figure in the FTSE 100.
That’s because the share price has been on the slide since 2015, and now stands at half of its all-time high. But this has got my contrarian antennae twitching.
Analyse the numbers and you’ll see this is now a value and dividend play. The 2016 P/E ratio is expected to be 12.01, with a tempting 5.47% dividend yield. That’s cheap, and if this business can improve its consistency and avoid scandal, then this could be a worthy addition to your high-yield portfolio.
