At 6,441 points, 50 up on the day, the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) is some way off its 13-year record of 6,876 points set in May. But even though it looks set for its third week of losses in a row, the UK’s flagship index is still some way from its 12-month low of 5,605 and is surely unlikely to sink that low again any time soon.
But in these days of volatile economic sentiment, there are shares reaching their own individual low points — and some might prove to be bargains. Here are three from the various indices that are in that sad state:
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB) (NYSE: RDS-B.US) hasn’t quite slumped to a 52-week low, but at a closing price of 2,108p last night it was just a shade above of the 2,093p bottom it scraped in November last year — and since then we’ve seen renewed signs of growth from China and optimistic economic figures from the UK and US.
What that says to me is that Shell shares are surely cheap now, on a forward P/E of just over 8 and offering a predicted dividend yield of 5.5%. There is an 8% fall in earnings per share (EPS) forecast — but come on, the demand for the black stuff can surely only rise over the longer term, can’t it?
Ashmore Group
Ashmore (LSE: ASHM) shares are also getting very close to their 12-months lows again, closing yesterday on 326.8p and not far off the levels of a year ago. The firm, which manages investments in emerging markets, seems to have suffered as the world’s developed economies start to strengthen again, and the shares are currently on a forward P/E of just under 13 based on expectations for the year ended 2013. And there’s a 4.4% dividend yield looking likely.
Emerging markets can provide nice returns, and shares in a company that manages such investments seems like a good idea to me. With investor attention turned elsewhere, and Ashmore expected to see a 10% rise in EPS next year, could now be a good time to get in? We should have those results on 10 September.
Anite
Anite (LSE: AIE) shares have entered a bit of a slump, falling to a new 52-week low today of 109p — they’re back up a penny from that at the time of writing. The firm, which develops testing software for the mobile phones business, released a first-quarter update last week telling us of “a slow start to the current year“. The business is apparently seasonal, and the firm says it does not expect the slow start to the year to adversely impact full-year performance.
There’s a 4% rise in EPS forecast for the year to April 2014, putting the shares on a P/E of 12. You might think the recent fall is overdone and Anite is now a strong buy — if you do, nine out of ten analysts would agree with you.
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> Alan Oscroft does not own any shares mentioned in this article.