I think these FTSE 250 stocks could be too cheap to miss today. Here’s why.
Home comforts
Housebuilders like Bellway (LSE:BWY) have surged in value in 2024, with falling interest rates and improving buyer confidence helping home sales rebound from recent troughs.
Encouragingly this upward trend remains in tact. According to Halifax today (7 October), the UK average house price reached £293,399 in September. This was just below the record peak of £293,507 struck before the housing market slumped around two years ago.
Prices are flying again due to dropping mortgage costs and good wage growth. With the Bank of England (BoE) expected to keep cutting interest rates through the next 12-18 months, too, housebuilders should go from strength to strength.
Bellway’s share price is up 22% since the start of the year. I think it could spike further when full-year results are released next week (15 October), too, when the company advises of the current state of the market. At its last update in August, it said its weekly private reservation rate per outlet was up 10.9% in the 12 months to June.
There are risks here, of course. A sudden pick-up in inflation could prompt the BoE to dial back its plans for interest rates, hitting home sales in the process. Rising build costs also remains a significant threat across the construction industry.
Still, I think Bellway remains an attractive value stock to buy right now. It trades on a forward price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 0.8. Any sub-1 reading suggests a stock is undervalued.
Playing a China recovery
Investing in stocks that have a high dependence on China has been a miserable experience for many. My decision to buy Asia-focused Prudential‘s shares in 2020 has spectacularly failed to pay off so far.
But market sentiment seems to be shifting in favour of companies with large Chinese exposure, as Prudential’s recovering share price shows. For investors looking for recovery stocks, now could be a good time to consider stocks like these.
The Fidelity China Special Situations (LSE:FCSS) investment trust is one FTSE 250 asset on my watchlist. Like The Pru, it’s also rebounded strongly in price recently, as the chart shows.
However, at 247.5p per share, it still trades at a meaty 10.7% discount to its net asset value (NAV) per share of 277.1p.
Trusts like this spread capital across a wide range of companies, giving them access to many growth opportunities while allowing them to manage risk. In total, it has holdings in around 100 large, medium, and small Chinese firms, including familiar names like Tencent Holdings, Ping An Insurance, and HiSense.
Look, there’s no guarantee that China’s economy is past the worst. Indeed, data from the Asian powerhouse remains frustratingly patchy. However, with lawmakers accelerating stimulus measures to revive growth, things could be looking up in the emerging market, and therefore for Fidelity’s trust.
Indeed, with China’s rising middle class driving domestic consumption, and technological innovation steadily improving, the long-term outlook there is pretty bright in my opinion.
