I love buying value shares after they’ve crashed, especially if they offer ultra-high yields as a result. These two FTSE 250 stocks score on both measures but there’s also something iffy about them.
For years, luxury retailer Burberry Group (LSE: BRBY) traded at pricey valuation of 24 or 25 times earnings. But it looks dirt cheap today with a P/E ratio of just 7.99 times. Yet that doesn’t necessarily make it good value.
A quick search suggests it offers a massive 10.33% trailing yield, but that’s also misleading. The board axed shareholder payouts on 15 July, after issuing another profit warning and ditching CEO Jonathan Akeroyd. There’s no forward yield.
Can the share price recover?
Burberry is my biggest flop in years. I’m down 44% on the stock, and that’s despite buying after its initial profit warning. Now I won’t get any dividends either.
Others have it worse. Over 12 months, the Burberry share price is down 76%. Chair Gerry Murphy says it’s on course for a first-half operating loss, but things could pick up in the second half of the year. Brave investors could reap the rewards if it outperforms.
Sales are down everywhere it operates, including Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas.
Burberry could recover as interest rates fall and shoppers feel richer, but its troubles go deeper. I was out and about over the weekend, and its famous check appeared just once: on a baseball cap worn by a spotty teenager who was nobody’s idea of aspirational.
The recovery will take years unless a buyer swoops and snaps it up on the cheap. I’m not buying. The only question is whether I cut my losses and sell.
The Close Brothers Group (LSE: CGB) share price has done almost as badly as Burberry’s, crashing 65.61% over three years and 33.52% over the last one.
In contrast to Burberry, it’s back in vogue, bouncing 49.17% over six months. Bargain hunters who got lucky with their timing have done well. Can the recovery continue?
Is the yield for real?
Close Brothers still looks like a bargain trading at 9.77 times earnings, while the trailing yield of 12.82% is dizzying. Sadly, it’s also misleading.
The Financial Conduct Authority is launched an investigation into the motor finance sector where it suspects mis-selling. I knew that Lloyds Banking Group, whose shares I hold, is vulnerable to what has been dubbed the ‘next PPI scandal’. Close Brothers will be hit a lot harder if the FCA demands redress.
Motor finance makes up a fifth of its £9.5bn loan book. It could face compensation claims totalling £200m. The group’s entire market cap is less than £800m.
The board has set money aside just in case, and that means axing dividends for the current financial year. There’s a chance the panic has been overdone. Given the recent share price recovery, many investors clearly think so. Its banking division recently posted a £112m first-half adjusted operating profit, so this isn’t an existential threat.
Investors who take the plunge and buy Close Brothers today could be sitting pretty if the FCA’s bark is worse than its bite. However, that’s a binary bet and not for me.
