There are plenty of top UK shares that could soar in value when they release fresh trading details in July. In this article I’m considering whether or not I should buy these cheap FTSE 100 shares before they update investors next month.
A FTSE 100 firecracker
I think buying Entain (LSE: ENT) shares could be a good idea before the release of fresh financials. The FTSE 100 gambling giant is scheduled to release second quarter trading numbers on 8 July.
Online bookmakers enjoyed a stellar year in 2020 as Covid-19 lockdowns forced existing gamblers onto the web and created a new legion of betting enthusiasts. This is why Entain’s share price soared 147% during the course of the year. Latest financials released in April showed that the Footsie firm has kept its momentum going, too. It enjoyed a 33% rise in net gaming revenues between January and March.
The threat of severe, profits-sapping regulation changes are an ever-present risk for gambling companies like this. Indeed, Entain took a whack in the first quarter of 2021 from new laws introduced in Germany. But I think the FTSE 100 firm has enough about it to generate strong profits growth in the near-term and beyond. Entain has exceptionally popular brands like partypoker, Coral, and bwin spanning the casino and sports betting markets.
It also has terrific exposure to the fast-growing US marketplace, one which Flutter Entertainment chief executive Peter Jackson thinks will be worth $20bn by 2025. Today Entain trades on a forward price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 0.2. And this makes it too cheap to miss in my book.
A risk too far?
I might be interested in buying the blue-chip UK leisure share for my ISA this July. But J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) is a cheap FTSE 100 share I wouldn’t touch with a bargepole today.
Sure, the Sainsbury’s share price has risen 30% during the past 12 months. But this comes despite the company swinging to a hefty £261m pre-tax loss in its most recent financial year (to February 2021). This came despite a near-8% improvement in grocery sales in the period as Covid-19 turbocharged trade across its online operations.
There’s no doubt that the FTSE 100 retailer’s Internet proposition is one of the best in the business. It’s an area in which Sainsbury is investing heavily in order to exploit this fast-growing channel to its fullest, too. But I’m not convinced that this will help keep the wolf from the door.
Okay, Sainsbury won’t face the whopping one-off costs that it endured during coronavirus-hit 2020 moving forwards. But the cost of trying to compete with the rapidly expanding cheaper retailers Aldi and Lidl, along with the entry of Amazon both on the high street and online, will remain significant.
I think these growing competitive pains present a significant risk to the profitability of Sainsbury. So I’m happy to ignore the FTSE 100 firm despite its rock-bottom forward PEG reading of 0.1.
