I never try to time the bottom when I invest. But when I see attractive LSE stocks near their low points of the year, that’s always a nice bonus.
On the London Stock Exchange, a good few are trading near their 52-week lows now. And some of them look cheap.
Risky fashion?
I’ll start with a penny stock in the fashion business, Superdry (LSE: SDRY).
Superdry shares have crashed heavily from their 2018 highs. And at 60p at the time of writing, they’re around their all-time low.
When you have a niche fashion outfit, selling mid-priced gear on the back of celebs, with the shares on a very high valuation… well, we saw what happened.
But the rebooted company looks a lot different now. After a refocus, a cost-savings programme, and an equity raise, there are profits on the horizon again.
Analysts don’t expect that profit before 2025, but it would put the shares on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of only seven.
Risky? For sure. Worth a closer look? I think so.
Big dividend
I’ve watched investing firm Man Group (LSE: EMG) for some time now.
The share price might be around its 12-month low, but Man Group shares are still up 19% in the past five years.
The price crashed in the pandemic. But it’s since put in one of the best recoveries among finance and investment stocks.
Man runs a hedge fund, the biggest publicly traded one in the world. So it gives small investors a chance to get in on something that’s often seen as only for the well heeled.
Its investing strategy looks a bit mysterious, and I don’t pretend to understand it fully. But I do understand a 6% dividend yield, forecast to grow strongly in the next two years.
It should be well covered by earnings too.
There’s uncertainty risk here. But this is another I want to dig deeper into.
Polymer stuff
Synthomer (LSE: SYNT) is one of the world’s foremost suppliers of aqueous polymers, which seems like a bit of a niche. But it includes things like nitrile for synthetic latex gloves.
Remember how popular they were in the pandemic years?
Well, when sales boomed, Synthomer overstretched itself on the acquisition front.
The later mix of falling demand, rising debt, and soaring interest rates drove the company to a loss in 2022.
I looked at this one about six months ago, and I feared we hadn’t reached the bottom yet. I was right, and the shares slid further, down as low as 69p at the time of writing.
But with a plan of restructuring and disposals, the firm reckons it can solve its debt problems and get back to profit.
The City seems to agree, marking in a profit for 2024. Analysts even expect the dividend to return, with a yield of 5%.
This is another that I think could be a good long-term investment. I’m just not sure if the shares might go lower before they pick up.
