Investor appetite for broadcasting giant ITV (LSE: ITV) has flatlined again in January, after the stock enjoyed a strong resurgence in December as concerns over the state of the UK advertising following June’s Brexit vote market fell away.
Top-line expansion
I reckon this pause represents an opportunity for bargain choosers to pile in before the upward charge resumes. While ITV cautioned in November that it is “currently seeing more cautious behaviour by advertisers,” exceptional revenues growth at the firm’s ITV Studios and Online, Pay & Interactive operations is helping to take the sting out of the problem.
And these platforms look set to deliver resplendent top-line expansion in the years ahead.
The City reckons ITV will follow a predicted 1% earnings decline in 2016 with a similar drop this year. But these marginal dips are predicted as nothing more than a temporary phenomenon in the broadcaster’s great growth story, and a 4% rebound is predicted in 2018.
These forward estimates leave ITV dealing on P/E ratios of just 12.6 times and 12.1 times, comfortably below the British big-cap average of 15 times.
And the company also offers rich rewards in the dividend sphere, too — yields of 4% and 4.8% are touted for 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Safe as houses
Although concerns over the British housing market appear to have been overplayed, homebuilders like Crest Nicholson (LSE: CRST) continue to trade at bargain-basement prices.
The Surrey-based builder itself commented this week that
“the housing market continues to show robust characteristics, underpinned by strong demand for new homes, a benign land market and government policies to improve access to housing.”
Crest Nicholson added that forward sales were up 4% as of mid-January, at £533.5m, with 37% of fiscal 2017’s target already secured.
The number crunchers certainly have no doubts about Crest Nicholson’s bottom line in the medium term, and have predicted earnings rises of 7% and 9% for the periods to October 2017 and 2018 respectively. Consequently the builder deals on P/E ratios of 7.4 times and 6.8 times for these years.
With dividend yields of 6.7% and 7.4% also trouncing much of the market, I reckon Crest Nicholson is one of the hottest value stocks out there.
Building bargain
Another construction colossus with hot earnings prospects is building products supplier Tyman (LSE: TYMN).
The company — which supplies door and window components — advised in November that “encouraging growth has continued in European markets and volumes have held up in UK and Irish markets.” And while performance in North America has been softer more recently, a recovering market across the Pond should deliver strong sales growth looking ahead.
City brokers expect Tyman to report earnings expansion of 15% in 2017 and 7% in 2018, following on from an anticipated 12% rise last year, and resulting in cheap P/E ratios of 11.1 times and 10.2 times.
And dividend yields of 3.8% and 4.2% for this year and next seal Tyman as a brilliant pick for cost-conscious investors.
