Fears of a stock market crash are dominating the markets. But are we overlooking the company reports coming our way this month? They suggest some cheap stocks to buy now, before they have a chance to rise in price.
When markets are struggling, the trend can be away from high-risk shares and towards safety. So income stocks with reliable dividends can come to the fore.
But I see times like these as chances to buy fallen growth stocks at much reduced prices too. So that’s what I’m starting with here.
Biotech
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (LSE: ONT) shares collapsed this year, and they’re down 70% since flotation in 2021.
It turns out that wasn’t a good time to come to market. High inflation and interest rates left investors with little appetite, or cash, for speculative biotech growth firms.
The company offers a nanopore-based DNA sequencing technology. It says it should make the task easy, quick, and cheap. It sounds to me like it could have great potential.
There’s no profit yet, as 2021 brought a loss. In the first half of 2022, it made a loss too. Full-year results are due on 21 March, with a rise in revenue expected.
It’s hard to value Oxford Nanopore. And I’d need to dig deeper before I might buy. But if the results are good, and profit looks closer, growth investors just might buy back in.
Housing
If I see a housebuilder update, I can’t ignore it. Vistry (LSE: VTY) is set to post results on 22 March, and it’s one of the cheapest housing stocks around right now.
The depressed shares are on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of under six, which sounds way too cheap to me.
Yes, the market is under pressure. But Vistry is big in affordable homes, which could hold up a bit better. And forecasts suggest a rise in profits for 2022.
There’s a risk that won’t happen, for sure. But if it comes off, it could give the shares a boost. And if business so far in 2023 isn’t too bad, we might see a bit extra from that.
Either way, I rate Vistry as a long-term buy. And I really want to see how the market reacts to the new figures.
Fashion
My third pick is a stock that’s actually been rising recently. It’s high street fashion giant Next (LSE: NXT).
The retailer hasn’t collapsed, and it didn’t dip in response to the US bank crisis. But I still reckon it’s undervalued. And a good set of results might lift the price.
Those results, for FY22, should be here on 29 March. Next is on a share buyback at the moment, so it seems it thinks the current price is worth buying at.
Forecasts put P/E values at around 12, with 3% dividend yields. That might not be a screaming buy. And the new results might still fail to impress.
But as billionaire investor Warren Buffett once said, “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price“.
