Looking for some post-referendum summer bargains? We all are, and we’re getting plenty of candidates offering trading updates right now. Here are three that might just do it for you.
A defensive bargain?
Premier Foods (LSE: PFD) might perhaps seem an unexciting prospect, but it did get a few hearts beating in March when a takeover approach from McCormick & Company sent the shares soaring. It didn’t come off and the price fell again, but Premier Foods shares are still up 48% since the bid, to 46.8p.
Today the company told us that Q1 sales were up 1.9% with the fourth consecutive quarter of sales growth. Worried about Brexit? Chief executive Gavin Darby reckons the firm’s “immediate financial exposure is expected to be limited“.
Expectations for the full year are unchanged, so at this stage we’re looking at a welcome 5% EPS rise, putting the shares on a forward P/E of just 5.5. Year-end net debt stood at £534m, which goes some way to explaining the apparent undervaluation of the company with a market cap of £385m, but I think we’re still looking at a decent long-term investment.
Precious gold and silver
There’s been a bit of a flight towards gold and silver of late, and today’s high prices for those metals have given Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) a boost. Production volumes in its first six months came in ahead of expectations, with 8.2m ounces of silver and 118,100 ounces of gold unearthed in the half.
Debt fell from $366m to $280m during the period, with cash up from $84m to $103m, and full-year production guidance was raised. Chief executive Ignacio Bustamante described the first half as “pivotal in Hochschild’s recent history,” so should we buy the shares?
Priced at 213p, we’re looking at a P/E of 43 this year as the company swings back into positive EPS, and that would drop to around 16.5 if the 160% rise in EPS forecast for 2017 comes off. But it’s based on today’s precious metals prices staying with us, and with the global economic outlook improving and the attractiveness of shares getting better, I think that’s a very risky assumption. Not for me.
Depressed by Brexit?
Shares in Britvic (LSE: BVIC) have slumped by 13% so far in 2016, to 619p, but since the end of June they’ve been staging a bit of a comeback. Did today’s Q3 update bring any cheer for hard-pressed investors?
Reported revenue came in 5.3% ahead of the same period last year, at £346.3m (though that translated to a 0.7% drop in organic revenue to £326.5m), as chief executive Simon Litherland told us the quarter’s performance was better than the first half’s. There’s certainly a Brexit risk here, with Mr Litherland pointing to higher input costs as a result of the fall in Sterling.
The share price weakness has dropped Britivic’s forward P/E to 13, and to 12.4 on 2017 forecasts, and has boosted the predicted dividend yields to around 4%. There are some risks, which will become clearer as Brexit progresses. But with those dividends looking well covered, I see the shares as good value.
