I’ve been scouring the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 for the best value stocks to buy today. Here are two I think are worth serious consideration from growth and income investors.
JD Sports Fashion
JD Sports Fashion‘s (LSE:JD.) suffered from weak retail conditions (particularly in North America) in recent times. But with interest rates falling, City brokers think earnings are about to burst higher again.
A 7% rise is tipped for this financial year to January 2025. This improves to 15% and 16% for fiscal 2026 and 2027 respectively.
I’m not shocked by these bullish projections. They also reflect further rapid growth in the athleisure fashion market, a segment in which JD’s a market leader, as well as the company’s global expansion drive.
These projections mean the retailer, at 123p per share, trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 9.7 times for this year. This is well below the FTSE 100 average of 14.4. This reading declines to 8.5 and 7.3 times for financial 2026 and 2027 too.
Furthermore, for these two years, JD’s price-to-earnings growth (PEG) falls well below the value watermark of 1. These are 0.6 for next year and 0.5 for the following fiscal period.
On the downside, dividend yields aren’t especially large. However, the prospect of rapid dividend growth still makes JD an appealing income stock for me.
Its 0.7% dividend yield for this year rises to 0.9% and 1.1% in fiscal 2026 and 2027.
Ibstock
A large swathe of UK shares stand to benefit from objectives laid out in this week’s Budget. Infrastructure, renewable energy, defence and healthcare stocks, for instance, might be big beneficiaries.
Housebuilders and building material suppliers could also emerge as winners. The government’s pledged to spend big to meet its pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year. This begins with a £5bn cash injection in 2025 alone, as announced in the Budget.
Brickmaker Ibstock‘s (LSE:IBST) a FTSE 250 company whose profits could soar against this backdrop. It should also receive a boost as repair and maintenance of Britain’s housing stock — reportedly the oldest in the world — continues with gusto.
Ibstock shares don’t look especially cheap for this financial year. At 205p per share, they trade on a P/E ratio of 26.3 times for this year. However, this multiple plummets over the next couple of years as earnings take off, to 19 in 2025 and 14.4 the year after.
City analysts expect earnings per share to rocket 38% and 32% in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
Also, Ibstock’s PEG multiple is just 0.5 for these two years.
These bright forecasts also lead to predictions of strong dividend growth. So the dividend yield on Ibstock shares moves from 2% for this year to 2.7% and 3.5% in 2025 and 2026.
High interest rates remain a threat to the business. But at current prices I think it’s worth close attention, along with JD.
