The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) is in a bit of a slump these days, having dropped to a two-month low last week to make it six weeks of losses in a row — although the UK’s top index is back up a bit so far this week, having regained 70 points since Friday’s close, to 6,510. Disappointing though the trend is, the index is at least still some way above its 52-week low of 5,873 set a year ago.
But some shareholders are not so lucky. Here are three shares from the FTSE indices that have plunged to new lows in the past week:
Tesco
A year ago I didn’t think I’d be here today telling you that Tesco (LSE: TSCO) (NASDAQOTH: TSCDY.US) has hit its 52-week bottom. But that’s what has come to pass, as shares in the UK’s biggest groceries retailer slumped to 323.9p last Friday. So far today they’re back up a little from that, but not much — the shares are changing hands at 326p as I write.
Tesco’s recovery has been longer coming than a lot of us had hoped, with the firm’s third-quarter update on 4 December telling us that UK like-for-like sales were down 1.5%, blamed on a weaker groceries market — though that didn’t stop J Sainsbury from earlier picking up its biggest market share in a decade.
The year to February is forecast to deliver a 6% fall in earnings per share, with a modest 3% rebound expected in 2015. That puts the shares on a forward P/E of under 11 with a predicted 4.5% dividend yield. Is that cheap? I reckon it is.
Domino’s Pizza
Domino’s Pizza Group (LSE: DOM) has also been in a bit of a slump of late, crunching to a 52-week low of 462.5p last week before staging a mini-recovery to 498p today.
But that still puts the share price in negative territory over the past 12 months, despite the first few months of the year seeing it soar to a 40% gain. The latest blow came on 6 December when chief executive Lance Batchelor resigned after landing a new job.
Despite the fall, which looks to me as it was overdue, the shares are still on a forward P/E of 21 — and that’s still 50% above the FTSE average.
Rank
Our third, Rank Group (LSE: RNK), hit its 52-week low yesterday, scraping along at 129.1p before recovering a few crumbs to reach 131p by this afternoon. Overall, the price is down 10% since this time a year ago.
Although full-year results to 30 June were pretty reasonable, the first quarter of the year turned out to be a disappointing start, with like-for-like sales down 7% overall — and down by the same amount at both Mecca and Grosvenor Casinos. The firm blamed it partly on the nice weather we had in the summer.