With a new ISA year here, many of us will be thinking about which FTSE 100 shares to buy in 2023. A few tops companies will bring us news in April. And if it’s good, it could give the shares a boost.
Here are three I’d like to buy the next time I have cash to invest.
Tesco
Full-year results are due from Tesco (LSE: TSCO) on 13 April.
Tesco shares have been up and down, and they’re about flat over five years. That has to be due to rising prices and the pressure we’re all under when it comes to having cash to spend.
But the UK’s biggest supermarket did raise its dividend at the halfway stage, by 20%. And it’s in a share buyback at the moment. So it does seem to have the cash to spare.
Sales were up across the board in Q3, but that did included the Christmas shopping period. So what will I look for when we get those FY results?
I think the cash flow for the year will be fine, and I see no threat to the dividend. But I’ll be watching for pressure on margins, and how the firm’s costs are going.
Both of those could impact on the year ahead.
Barclays
Barclays (LSE: BARC) will post a Q1 update on 27 April.
Bank shares fell, due to the latest 2023 scare, though Barclays has picked up a bit. So I think Barclays could be the best value stock in the FTSE 100 right now.
But there is clear risk due to today’s global economic outlook. High interest rates are squeezing retail bank customers. And the threat of recession could be hard on the bank’s US corporate arm.
So what I’d most like to see in the Q1 update is some word on how business is going in the US. I’m not sure how much we’ll get, but just a few calm words might be enough to soothe the market’s fears.
On top of that, a bit of reassurance on the bank’s cash position and liquidity would be welcome.
St. James’s Place
Also on 27 April, we’re due a Q1 update from St. James’s Place (LSE: STJ).
I don’t expect to see a financial services firm like St James’s doing well in times like these. But the share price is up over five years, by more than 10%.
It just looks bad since starting to plunge in late 2021. But that was more a reversal of huge gains early in the year. That bubble was just waiting to pop.
FY22 results were really pretty good. Profits held up, inflows came close to 2021, and the dividend was lifted slightly.
But the outlook has to be clouded by the economic storms of 2023. So I’m not sure what to expect of Q1, other than to hope to see cash and inflows staying reasonably firm.
Forecasts for this year and next, at this stage at least, look quite upbeat. The City expects profit to dip in 2023, but then get back to growth in 2024.
