It might sound like something a magician would ask an audience member from the stage.

Unfortunately, the UK market has not been able to pull incredible growth shares out of the hat in recent years on anything like the scale of US-listed stocks such as Nvidia or Alphabet.

But while the London market does not offer many tech shares with big market capitalisations, there are plenty of other growth opportunities to consider among smaller-scale listed businesses.

New tech for old tech

As an example, one UK share I think investors should consider is Journeo (LSE: JNEO).

With its focus on helping train and bus operators run their services, this might sound like a very old-school business. Yes, there is some tech involved – real time scheduling displays and onboard cameras, for example.

But this is far from what I would think of as the cutting edge of tech. However, what Journeo has done well is identify a large market segment that has ongoing needs and then build a product and service portfolio to help deliver against those needs.

When it sells to some operators, that helps give it credibility to make sales to others. For example, I think its extensive work on the New York City subway is a good case study Journeo can lean on in its sales pitches.

In its most recently reported full-year numbers, revenues were just under £50m – more than three times what they had been just three years earlier.

Its 2025 full-year numbers have not yet been reported, but the company expects to report 10% revenue growth for the period.

Massive growth opportunities

An acquisition last September is expected to add a further £17m to this year’s revenue. But I also expect ongoing growth from the existing business.

The market for the sort of services Journeo provides is large and it is only really scratching the surface, with significant room for expansion both in the UK and Continental Europe, as well as further afield.

Will that attract more competition? It could do. But Journeo’s installed user base and provision of both products and services can help give it some protection from rivals trying to undercut it on price, I reckon.

Still at an attractive price

Selling for 18 times earnings, Journeo is priced more like a growth share than the value share it was a couple of years back.

After all, its share price has grown 387% in the past five years.

Still, it is a share that many are not familiar with. Even at the current price, I think investors ought to consider it.

The company has a market capitalisation of £76m and ended last year with £12m of cash.

It expects to report a 2025 adjusted profit before tax of close to £6m. For the reasons I outlined above, I expect profits can grow over time.

On that basis, I see the current valuation as attractive.

Bedding in a sizeable acquisition can always be tricky and one risk I am keeping an eye on this year is Journeo’s integration of its September acquisition.

But if that goes smoothly without interrupting the existing business performance, I am upbeat about this growth share’s prospects for 2026 — and far beyond.

The post This little known UK growth share is up 387% in five years. Time to buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

There are a lot of individual UK stocks that delivered much higher returns over that timeframe, however. Here’s a look at two that have made investors a big amount of money over the last five years.

A fast-growing defence company no one has heard of

First up, we have MS International (LSE: MSI). It’s an engineering company that operates in four key areas: defence, steel forgings, corporate branding, and petrol station superstructures.

Now, this may not sound like the most exciting company. But wait until you see its share price.

Over the last five years, it has risen from around 117p to 1,550p – a gain of about 1,225%. This means that anyone who stuck £5,000 on the stock five years ago would now have over £66,000 (they would have also received dividends).

Can this stock keep rising? I think so.

What looks really interesting to me here is the company’s defence exposure (70% of group turnover). This could potentially be a huge source of growth in the years ahead as NATO countries spend more on defence.

Note that last month, the company won a $34.5m contract with the US Navy to supply stabilised gun mounts. Given that it has a market cap of just £262m today, that’s a huge deal.

Zooming in on the valuation, it isn’t high. Last financial year, earnings were 90p per share, so the stock trades on a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 18.

A risk here is lumpy revenues. In the defence industry, sales cycles can be long.

Taking a long-term view though, I see a lot of potential. I believe the stock is worth considering as a growth play.

Improving transportation systems in the UK and abroad

The other stock I want to highlight is Journeo (LSE: JNEO). It’s an ‘intelligent systems’ provider that offers connected solutions for the transportation industry.

With its solutions, customers (bus and rail operators, airports, etc) can reduce costs and improve efficiency significantly. Note that it operates in the UK, Europe, and North America.

Like MS International, Journeo has seen its share price surge in recent years. Over the last five years, it has climbed from 47p to 490p, turning £5,000 into around £52,000.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see it continue climbing in the years ahead. In September, the company said it had a £80m sales pipeline (its market cap is only £87m).

Now, lumpy revenues are a risk here too. These could lead to share price volatility.

Those with a long-term mindset, however, may want to take a closer look at this stock. In a world that’s rapidly undergoing digital transformation, I see a lot of growth potential.

But there are plenty of other exciting growth stocks that are also worth checking out right now.

The post 2 under-the-radar UK stocks making investors an outrageous amount of money appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

But October has historically been rather a volatile month in the stock market. On top of that, quite a few shares on both sides of the pond currently look overpriced to me.

So, as I hunt for bargain shares to buy in coming weeks, here are three things I am trying to keep in mind.

Value creation means paying less for more

Just because a share is cheaper to buy than it used to be does not necessarily mean that it is cheap.

Maybe the business has got worse. Or perhaps the share used to be overpriced and, after a price fall, is now still overpriced — just less so than before.

Instead, I ask myself why a share looks like good value. In other words, is the price I am paying now less than I expect the share to be worth in future?

When making that assessment, I do not just think about the potential for share price growth. I also take into account dividends – and the cost to me of tying up my money for however long I own the share.

As billionaire Warren Buffett says, “price is what you pay, value is what you get”.

Businesses can change their performance exponentially, not just incrementally

When looking for cheap shares to buy, I often pay a lot of attention to a company’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.

But over-emphasising this sometimes leads me into one of two related, but different, traps.

The first is what is known as a value trap. This can happen if I think a share looks like offering good value, even if its earnings decline a bit. In fact, though, it is priced as it is because other investors realise sooner than I do that earnings could fall off a cliff.

Sometimes, conversely, I think a company’s P/E ratio is too high. Nvidia right now is an example: it is on my list of shares to buy, but only if I can buy it at a lower price.

But, as Nvidia has demonstrated, some companies can grow their earnings in leaps not just small steps. So what seems like an overpriced share can actually turn out to be a bargain over the course of time.

A stock market is a market of stocks

With market indexes riding high, it may seem that shares are expensive. But, no matter what the stock market does, some shares are cheap and some are expensive.

For example, I have been building a small stake in discount retailer B&M European Value (LSE: BME) this year.

Its share price has tumbled 27% so far in 2025, even while the FTSE 250 index of which it is a constituent member has moved up by 7%.

Investors seem to be concerned about weak sales in the company’s fast-moving consumer goods shelves.

That could point to wider problems at the chain, such as a lack of price competitiveness. For a discount retailer, that could lead shoppers to look elsewhere.

But B&M is solidly profitable, remains in growth mode (the most recent quarter saw sales revenues grow 4% year on year) and to me looks like it is underpriced.

Looking to buy bargain shares for my portfolio, it caught my eye.

The post Looking for cheap shares to buy in October? 3 things to remember! appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Here they are.

Long-term growth story

Two of the shares are UK companies I think have strong long-term business growth prospects.

One was new to my SIPP — Anpario (LSE: ANP).

The company makes animal feed additives. Going back a few years, Dechra Pharmaceuticals was a great stock market success story before being taken private.

Dechra’s price ended up being too high for me to invest, but I continue to like the economics of animal nutrition. Customers are willing to pay to keep livestock healthy and demand is resilient.

Anpario shares are up 28% in five years, but have more than doubled since September 2023.

Interim results this month showed year-on-year sales growth of 34% and a 62% jump in pre-tax profit. The US business performed much better than it had been doing but an uncertain market outlook there remains a risk.

Full steam ahead

Another share I already owned in my SIPP but bought more of this month is Journeo (LSE: JNEO).

I thought its interim results this month showed strong growth prospects. But the market sent the Journeo share price down sharply, perhaps because of a slight fall in revenues.

With both selling for 17 times earnings, neither Anpario nor Journeo may look obviously cheap. But, like Anpario’s sharply stronger profits, I am hopeful that Journeo can turn a strong sales pipeline and growing list of contract wins into higher earnings.

A recent acquisition should help boost earnings in coming years and I think Journeo’s focus on public transport products and services puts it in line to benefit from strong spending on this area in both the UK and other European markets.

But integrating an acquisition is never easy and can distract management. Notwithstanding that risk, I think the Journeo share price – up 880% in five years – may hopefully still have further to run.

Retailers with work to do

Two other shares I bought for my SIPP are very different retailers, with the same challenge — keeping sales growing.

B&M has seen its share price tumble 26% so far this year. Recent weakness in fast-moving consumer goods sales is a concern, but I see the profitable business as being in strong underlying condition.

I bought some more B&M shares for my SIPP this month – and the company’s chief executive has also been spending on the shares.

The other retailer may seem worlds away from B&M — on-trend yoga outfit hotspot Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU).

Not trendy enough though. Lululemon’s profit warning this month pointed to tired product lines in its key North American market meanings some shoppers are looking elsewhere.

But a 54% fall in the Lululemon share price so far this year looks overdone to me.

The company has a powerful brand, large customer base, attractive profit margins and extensive international growth opportunities.

Management is candid about the work to be done in the firm’s North American business. Meanwhile, overseas sales look set to keep growing strongly.

On a price-to-earnings ratio of 12, Lululemon shares look cheap to me.          

The post 4 shares I bought for my SIPP this month appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

I think it could be – for a number of reasons.

Sitting out of the market can mean waiting a long time

It can be easy to think that, rather than investing at any give time, it makes sense to wait for share prices to fall before buying.

But how long ought one to wait? Markets can sometimes move broadly higher for many years at a time, or even decades. Nobody knows for sure when shares will get significantly cheaper.

That may not be a costless wait, even if shares do end up getting cheaper. For example, if I want to buy a dividend share today but end up waiting a decade to buy it when its share price is lower, I may well end up missing out on 10 years’ worth of dividends while I wait.

Buying shares, not buying the market

On top of that, there is a common misconception about an ‘expensive’ market or a ‘cheap’ market.

Normally when people use those terms, they are talking about the market overall.

For someone who wants to invest in an index tracker, that may be relevant. But if buying individual shares, how the market is doing overall may have little if any relevance.

So I think now could be as good a time as any for someone to start buying shares – depending what shares they buy.

After all, some shares can be expensive even when the market overall looks cheap. Other shares can be cheap even when the market is riding high.

I’ve been buying

For example, one share I have bought repeatedly in recent months (including again this week) is Journeo (LSE: JNEO).

The transport services company supplies such things as bus time display boards. Not exactly glamorous – but very useful.

Interim results this week showed a slight year-on-year revenue decline. The Journeo share price fell sharply.

But it still trades on a price-to-earnings ratio of 16. That may not look exactly cheap.

Digging into the interims further, though, and that market response presented a buying opportunity for my portfolio, to my mind. Journeo’s first-half revenues did not impress (although they were in line with its previous guidance), but the company looks set to grow strongly.

A recent acquisition could help that – and the company is sitting on more cash that could potentially be used to fund further expansion.

Integrating the recent acquisition could distract management, which I see as a risk.

But with a clear focus market, strong product and service offering, lots of reference clients, and sector-specific expertise, I think Journeo shares look cheap today, even though the price grew 777% in the past five years.

The post With markets riding high, could now really be the time to start buying shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

On the other hand, many UK shares may look overvalued in objective terms.

This year has seen the flagship FTSE 100 index of leading shares has repeatedly hit new all-time highs. Yet the British economy is looking sluggish.

Could it be the case that, after a period of strong performance, a weak economic outlook starts to weigh more heavily on the UK stock market?

Limited drivers for growth

I think it could.

After all, markets can only defy economic gravity for so long (albeit that can sometimes be quite long!)

While UK shares as a whole may not currently look overvalued, what I am not seeing is clear drivers to help keep pushing them upwards, given a fairly weak economic outlook.

As some investors move money out of the US due to political uncertainty and look to redeploy it in other markets, UK shares could benefit.

But in terms of underlying business performance, the UK market as a whole currently lacks obvious growth drivers. I think that may show through at some point in terms of weaker investor enthusiasm as UK share prices keep rising.

Market timing is a mug’s game

Still, there is no reliable indication of when that may happen.

On top of that, I could be wrong about where the economy is going.

So far, 2025 has been illustrative of this at the global level. There have been lots of concerns about the economy, but markets have largely taken them in their stride.

Here’s my approach

Either way, my approach is not to try and time the market, but rather always to see whether I can spot high-quality businesses selling for considerably less than I think they may ultimately be worth.

Obviously, if the stock market crashes, I will be happy to try and scoop up some bargains.

But even when the overall market has been doing well – like now – I think some UK shares may continue to offer me potential value.

I’ve been buying

For example, one share that has been doing well lately is transport specialist Journeo (LSE: JNEO).

News today (18 September) of a new purchase order pushed the Journeo share price up to its highest level in years. It is up 76% so far this year.

It now trades on a price-to-earnings ratio of 20. That does not seem obviously cheap.

However, while bus shelter timetable information might not be the sort of tech product that sets the NASDAQ alight, Journeo is among UK shares benefiting from fairly straightforward but practical real-world applications of proprietary technology.

With public sector spending at high levels, I think the company could hopefully continue to win lots of contracts. Each one it wins not only boosts revenues, but also helps boost its credibility with other potential clients.  

Too much dependence on local authority customers is a risk, if they need to start cutting their budgets. But Journeo has lots of potential for international growth, too, as its work with the New York City subway demonstrates.

That valuation is higher than I would normally like. But I am hoping next week’s interim results could bring yet more good news about the company’s outlook. I have been buying its shares.

The post UK shares: is there a reckoning coming? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Over the past five years, the Rolls-Royce share price has soared 1,228%. That sort of performance is remarkable for a mature blue-chip company. For comparison, the wider FTSE 100 is up by 59% during the same period.

But with a market capitalization of £91bn, Rolls-Royce is clearly well known to many investors — and closely watched.

There are other UK shares that are much smaller but that have also been doing well – and that I think could potentially continue to do well in future.

Strong news flow

One of those is Journeo (LSE: JNEO).

I wrote just a few days ago that having already invested in Journeo, I was hoping the share price might fall a bit so I could increase my stake.

Since then, things have gone the other way. Journeo jumped in recent days following news of an acquisition that the City seemed to like.

That means that the Journeo share price is now up 58% since the start of the year – and 817% over the past five years.

But that still means its market capitalization, at £78m, is small enough to fly beneath many investors’ radar.

Simple business, with sizeable potential

The latest acquisition offers cross-selling potential for Journeo, potentially helping it increase its share of spend by existing clients as well as hopefully attracting new ones.

What I like about Journeo’s business model is that it is simple but effective.

With ongoing spending on public transport like trains, its potential end market is set for sustained growth. But there are a limited number of players offering the sorts of solutions it does, such as bus arrival time display boards. The more contracts it wins, the more credibility it gains to bid for new contracts – and hopefully build economies of scale.

Journeo has operations outside the UK: for example it has been supplying equipment to New York City’s subway system. Hopefully that international footprint will grow.

But, for now at least, I see that as secondary to the investment case. The UK market alone for the transportation-related products and services Journeo is marketing is sizeable and set to grow. Simply continuing to grow its market share here could ultimately be a big win for Journeo.

Looking to the long term

That helps explain why this UK share now trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 18.

That may not look cheap. But with recent contract wins and the acquisition potentially set to see earnings grow, the prospective P/E ratio could fall. Last year’s diluted earnings per share grew 36%.

The acquisition brings a risk that management may focus on integrating the business and neglect the existing one. However, management has been doing a sterling job lately and I am optimistic that can continue.

I think this UK share, even after growing more than 800% in five years, still looks like a possible bargain. I plan to hang onto my shareholding and see Journeo as a share for investors to consider.

The post Few UK shares have soared 817% in 5 years. This one has…. appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

So, how did I do?

An old favourite

I already had a sizeable holding in JD Sports Fashion (LSE: JD).

I sold some JD Sports shares earlier this year, to take profits off the table. At the moment, though, I continue to feel the share looks like good value. Earlier this month, I bought some more.

Last week, the FTSE 100 announced declining like-for-like sales in the first half. But the overall sales picture showed growth, thanks in part to an aggressive shop-opening programme over the past several years. JD Sports’ opening of its biggest store globally this summer at Greater Manchester’s Trafford Centre showed the scale of the company’s ambition.

I see a risk that weak consumer spending could hurt demand for expensive trainers and athleisure wear. But the company last week maintained its full-year profit outlook, to my relief.

One that can wait

I decided against putting more money into another one I already own: Diageo (LSE: DGE).

The share rallied last month after a new boss took over abruptly and generally the share performed well in August.

Was this the start of a turnaround, I wondered?

It could be – but I reckon it is too early to tell. New management could help address some already known risks, such as weak demand in Latin America.

But bigger challenges remain, from what a weak economy means for premium spirits demand to how Diageo can engage with changing attitudes towards drinking, especially among consumers in their twenties and thirties.

I decided to wait to see how the business performs before deciding whether to buy any more.

An age-old conundrum

JD Sports is not the only share where I have taken profits off the table in recent months. I did the same with Journeo (LSE: JNEO).

But I hung onto a significant part of my stake and, as the share moved around in August, weighed whether to buy more.

This is hardly a new investing conundrum: take profits and bank them, or buy more of a rising share at an even higher price than before.

The thing is, I reckon Journeo’s best days are ahead of it. Its price-to-earnings ratio of 15 does not look like obvious value for a medium-sized company (its market capitalisation is £66m) that most people have probably never heard of.

But I think its earnings could grow strongly. This month saw it announce approximately £1m of purchase orders from a local authority for bus information display services.

One risk is a decline to revenue caused by the recent end of the first phase of a contract with the New York subway.

But Journeo’s proven specialist capabilities could help it win a lot more contracts, I reckon, not only with the New York subway but more widely.

Should I buy more shares at a much higher price than I originally paid? For now, I have decided not to, but if the price falls back down enough in September, Journeo is on my list of shares to buy!

The post Looking for shares to buy this month, here’s one I bought – and 2 I didn’t! appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Performing as expected

The company released a trading update on 29 July that confirmed performance in line with market expectations. Though group revenue dipped 4% year on year to £24.5m in H1, this masks underlying progress.

Notably, Fleet Systems revenue jumped 46% to £13.5m, and Passenger Systems rose 17% to £6.1m. The drop in headline revenue stemmed from the absence of a £3.4m contribution from the New York subway project in H1 2024. Encouragingly, follow-on purchase orders worth over $5m are now secured for H2.

Profitability’s intact, with adjusted pre-tax profit flat at £2.8m, despite the revenue decline. Gross profit edged up to £9.2m, and the company ended June with £18m in net cash — up from £12.9m last year. This accounts for around 30% of the total market-cap — something to bear in mind when assessing valuation metrics.

Looking ahead, management expects full-year revenue of £52m and adjusted PBT of £5.2m, both in line with forecasts. Those figures are only up 3-5% annually but, importantly, order intake rose 25% to £30m, and the sales pipeline now stands at £80m. This offers visibility into 2026 and reflects Journeo’s growing reputation across UK and international markets.

Ok, what is Journeo?

So what does the company actually do? Journeo designs and installs information systems for vehicle fleets and transport infrastructure, combining hardware, software, engineering services, and managed support. For us as consumers, this means things like real-time information display boards, but much more behind the scenes.

It helps customers — mainly public transport operators and local authorities — upgrade legacy systems, reduce costs, and improve efficiency through digital transformation. The firm’s open-platform, IP-enabled technology is flexible, making it suitable for diverse use cases both on and off vehicles.

Currently, the company’s trading around 14 times forward earnings. This would be a little expensive for a stock only growing at 3% per annum. However, I’d like to believe earnings progression would be stronger beyond 2025. In theory, there are long-term drivers in transportation infrastructure which should support demand in the coming decade.

It’s also important to note that the enterprise value-to-EBITDA ratio’s around six times. That’s much lower because of the extremely strong balance sheet.

The bottom line

The main risk here is customer concentration. Journeo’s revenues are driven by contracts with a limited number of large operators and transport bodies, notably in the UK. Delays or cancellations to these projects could hit earnings hard. Even a change of government could hurt — or boost — the company. However, the rising order book and expansion into North America and Europe help reduce this exposure.

However, with its £18m net cash, scalable technology platform, and deep industry know-how, Journeo looks like a small-cap worth considering for my Stocks and Shares ISA. Execution risks remain, but the current valuation could become compelling as the path forward becomes clearer. It’s high up on my watchlist.

The post A potentially overlooked small-cap I may buy for my Stocks and Shares ISA appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Amid these choppy waters, here are a couple of opportunities I have spotted – and a pair of possible traps I hope to avoid.

Opportunity 1: quality companies at bargain basement prices

I see those valuation gaps as a potential chance to pick up shares in excellent companies at attractive prices.

For example, transport services group Journeo (LSE: JNEO) this week hit its highest price in over two decades. Yet it is trading on a price-to-earnings ratio of 13. That strikes me as a possible bargain. I recently bought the share.

Government spending on transport is set to grow. I think some of that money could well end up coming Journeo’s way.

Revenues have more than tripled over the past three years. Net profit during that time grew more than tenfold. That sort of growth story seems exciting given the current valuation.

One risk that concerns me is the company’s relatively concentrated group of key customers. For example, last month Journeo announced a new £10m framework agreement with First Bus, building on a £9m one in 2022.

That could be a welcome boost to revenues and profits but highlights how reliant Journeo is on the UK public transport sector. Hopefully, with growth, it can expand its client base.

Opportunity 2: high yields

One benefit of fairly modest valuations is high dividend yields. As yields depend on a dividend per share but also that share’s price, low prices (even on a sustained basis) can be good news for long-term income investors.

For example, even within the FTSE 100 index of leading UK shares, Phoenix Group and Legal & General both yield over 8% while M&G’s yield is just below 8%. That is well over double the current average FTSE 100 yield of 3.4%.

Trap 1: right industry, wrong company (or price)

Tech stocks have had a great few years in the US market (with some bumps along the way). On this side of the pond, though, there have been precious few large-cap UK shares with a compelling tech story.

That risks leading investors to be less careful when it comes to trying to stick to high-quality companies selling at attractive prices.

This week’s news of Qualcomm’s bid for Alphawave IP is excellent news for investors who bought the UK share just before Qualcomm first signalled its interest. They look set to almost double their money.

Investors who have held since the 2021 listing, though, are set to make a sizeable loss. In retrospect, that listing price looks far too high.

Trap 2: only looking at yield

Another set of long-term investors with reason for dissatisfaction are those who own shares in National Grid, after the power grid operator recently cut its dividend per share by a fifth.

The share price has grown by 24% over five years, offering some consolation (although the 45% achieved by the FTSE 100 during that time looks much more attractive).

With high debt and large capital expenditure costs, the cut did not surprise me. Instead of looking just at yield, an investor should always consider the source of dividends.

The post UK shares: 2 opportunities and 2 traps to avoid appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.