The FTSE 100 is full of tempting value stocks at the best of times. When markets have one of their periodic panics, they look even better value. Is it time to go shopping?
A value stock is a company whose shares trade cheaply compared with its earnings or assets. I’ve been running through a list of blue-chip shares ranked by their price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios and plenty of top companies look cheap today.
A word of warning though. Just because a stock has a low P/E doesn’t automatically mean it’s good value. It could just as easily be a trap.
Buying cut-price shares
I hold two shares with extraordinarily low P/Es in my SIPP. Trainer maker JD Sports Fashion trades on just 6.6 times earnings, while British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group sits at 6.8.
JD’s problems pre-date the Iran conflict as the cost-of-living crisis hammered sales. With oil climbing, that’s unlikely to change. I’ll have to be even more patient with this one. By contrast, IAG has been flying. Its shares are up 154% over three years and 20% over the last 12 months. Today, it’s hit by Middle East airspace closures and rising fuel costs. I think both value shares are worth considering, but only with a long-term view.
Several other FTSE 100 names also suggest value. Budget airline easyJet trades on a P/E of 7.1, Hikma Pharmaceuticals is on 7.8, NatWest Group on 9.1, gaming firm Entain on 9.3, Barclays on 9.5 and cigarette maker Imperial Brands on 10.1.
NatWest and Barclays tempt me. Their shares have been on a remarkable run, but investors fear the rally may have gone too far. Others worry the artificial intelligence bubble and global tensions could drive up loan impairments. Barclays has fallen 12% in a month. It’s now top of my shopping list.
Imperial Brands Group is a top income play
I’ve written about the banks a lot recently, so let’s look instead at Imperial Brands Group (LSE: IMB). Tobacco stocks are exactly the sort of defensive shares that can ride out geopolitical turmoil because smokers rarely abandon their habit during a crisis. The shares have slipped only 3.2% over the last month.
Long-term investors have still done extremely well. The shares are up 14% over one year and roughly 130% over five. Dividends come on top of that.
Today there’s a solid trailing dividend yield of 5.1%. Forecasts suggest that could hit 5.3% in 2026 and 5.6% in 2027. Some investors avoid tobacco stocks on moral grounds. But those who buy them have historically been well rewarded through both dividends and capital growth. That’s remarkable given that smoking rates continue to fall in many countries. Newer products such as vaping have opened additional revenue streams, although regulation and health concerns remain constant risks.
Imperial Brands still looks worth considering. It appears to combine income, resilience and value. We haven’t quite hit that once-in-a-decade buying opportunity for value shares. Markets haven’t fully capitulated yet. But it won’t take much bad news to change that. Even today, there’s already plenty of value out there for those who look.
