Guessing near-term stock market movements is notoriously tricky. But City analysts expect the following UK shares to blast off during the next year. Here is why I think they demand consideration from short- and long-term investors.

Going for gold

At 271.4p per share, Serabi Gold (LSE:SRB) has risen a whopping 143% in value since 1 January. It’s been blown higher by a rocketing precious metal price, which touched new peaks around $4,381 per ounce in October.

Supported by a robust outlook for gold prices, broker consensus suggests Serabi’s shares will rise another 36% over the next 12 months:

Further gold price gains aren’t guaranteed, of course. In fact, signs that the recent rally has run out of steam could pull gold mining shares like this sharply lower again.

But on balance things are looking good for the safe-haven metal, given ongoing macroeconomic challenges and huge geopolitical uncertainty. Morgan Stanley analysts reckon gold will reach $4,500 per ounce by the middle of 2026.

Serabi is making good progress in hiking production, too, to capitalise on this fertile environment and deliver long-term earnings growth. Production rose to a record 12,090 ounces in the first half, up 27% year on year. It remains on track to deliver 100,000 ounces of the material per year by 2028.

Serabi shares trade on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 5.3 times. This makes it one of the cheapest gold stocks out there, and leaves scope for further price gains in my opinion.

A top penny stock

At 52.5p, the Distribution Finance Capital (LSE:DFCH) share price is up an impressive 45% in the year to date. If forecasts prove correct, the penny stock has much further to climb over the next 12 months.

City forecasts suggest the specialist finance provider will rise by almost two-thirds in value, to 85p:

Be mindful that just one analyst currently has ratings on the company’s shares. This doesn’t give a broad range of opinions. Yet, I think there’s good reason to expect DF Capital to continue its impressive momentum.

Like other finance providers, profits are highly sensitive to broader economic conditions. A bleak outlook for the UK economy therefore merits consideration from investors. But so far the company has been able to hurdle troubles and record stunning results.

Thanks to new product launches and market share gains, its loan book was a whopping £759m at the end of Q3. That was up 26% year on year.

Today, DF Capital shares trade on a forward P/E ratio of 9.1 times. This looks really cheap in my opinion, and provides room for additional price gains in my view.

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