I believe Servelec Group (LSE: SERV) is a hot growth share that is dealing far, far too cheaply right now.
While enduring no little earnings turbulence in recent times, the IT services star is expected to rise to greatness with a 20% bottom-line advance in 2017. And the good news does not stop here, an 8% charge is also forecast for next year.
These projections make Servelec a brilliant bargain, in my opinion. Not only does the company’s forward P/E ratio clock in at 15 times — bang on the widely-regarded value watermark — but the Sheffield firm also carries a cheap sub-1 PEG ratio of 0.8.
Software star
Tough market conditions have caused Servelec plenty of headache in recent times, a 3% earnings decline in 2016 forcing pre-tax profit to clatter 29% lower to £9.5m.
But the tech giant has been engaged in ambitious restructuring to help it recover from tough trading conditions. As well as continuing to hike investment in product development (Servelec shelled out £5.2m last year alone), the Yorkshire firm has also been busy on the acquisition front. It gobbled up Synergy and Abacus last spring to bolster the social care and education aspects of its HSC division.
And it is confident that sales should return to growth from this year as its key markets improve. Business at its Automation division has ticked higher again more recently, the firm advising that significant contract wins helped drive sales higher during the fourth quarter of 2016.
And revenues at HSC should benefit from system upgrades in the social care market that should drive procurement activity, Servelec recently announced. Furthermore, “sales of our mobile solutions and the digital transformation of the NHS in the community, mental health and child health sectors” provide additional opportunities, it believes.
With cost-cutting also moving through the gears, I believe it could be on the verge of delivering brilliant earnings expansion.
Bullion beauty
I also believe a case could be made that Shanta Gold (LSE: SHG) is grossly undervalued by the market.
The Tanzania-focused digger is expected to deliver a 60% earnings rise in 2017, and to follow this up with a 22% advance the following year.
Consequently Shanta deals on a mere forward P/E ratio of 3.7 times with anything below 10 times, on paper at least, generally classified as unmissable value. And the company’s PEG reading comes out at just 0.1.
It provided the market with a reassuring update in late April over the progress at its New Luika underground project, with work there continuing on time and within budget, the company advised.
Output is anticipated to fall from the 20,416 ounces of material dug during January-March in the second quarter due to the switch underground, resulting in between 80,000 ounces and 85,000 ounces of material in 2017, down from the record of 87,713 ounces set last year).
But in the long term, Shanta’s new underground operations could pave the way for stunning earnings growth with first ore pulled from the ground in recent days. Looking ahead, that growth could come as I expect) safe-haven demand for precious metals to remain strong.
