Today I am looking at FOUR brilliant big-cap bargains that would belong in any savvy stocks portfolio.
Unilever
I am convinced that, with spending power in the West back on the mend and headwinds in emerging regions gradually abating, sales at Unilever (LSE: ULVR) should pound higher in the coming years. And household good rival Reckitt Benckiser’s (LSE: RB) decision today to increase its 2015 revenue forecasts underpins my confidence — both companies boast a suite of blue-ribbon labels straddling many similar geographical and product markets.
Indeed, Unilever cheered the market late last week with its own positive results, predicting “another year of volume growth ahead of our markets” this year. The City shares this bullish assessment, and earnings are expected to grow 14% and 7% in 2015 and 2016 respectively. While P/E multiples of 22.1 times for this year and 20.7 times for 2016 may not be the cheapest, I believe these figures still make Unilever a snip given its huge suite of market-leading labels and terrific pan-global presence. And dividend yields of 3% and 3.1% for these years sweeten the deal, in my opinion.
British American Tobacco
Although rising legislative curbs on cigarette sales and usage has sapped investor appetite for British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) for more than a year now, I believe that — like Unilever — a backdrop of improving income levels in emerging markets should blast revenues across the tobacco sector higher on a long-term time horizon.
Led by top-notch brands like Dunhill and Lucky Strike, not to mention rising exposure to the white-hot vapour market, the City expects earnings at British American Tobacco to rise modestly in 2015 before leaping 8% next year. These figures drive a P/E ratio of 17 times for this year to just 15.7 times for 2016. Meanwhile, projected dividends of 158.3p per share and 161.9p for 2015 and 2016 respectively produce gigantic yields of 4.5% and 4.6%.
Persimmon
As Britain’s chronic housing shortage showing no signs of easing, I reckon that Persimmon (LSE: PSN) is a terrific selection for those seeking brilliant returns. Just last week the Centre for Economics and Business Research said that it expects house prices to leap 4.7% this year, a mad dash from the 1.5% growth projection put out just four months ago, as sellers become increasingly-reluctant to put their homes up for sale and homebuilders simply cannot meet current demand.
With home prices appearing set to keep on stomping higher, the City expects Persimmon to clock up earnings growth of 18% and 14% in 2015 and 2016 correspondingly, numbers that produce exceptional P/E multiples of 13.4 times and 11.7 times. And a PEG readout of sub-1 through to the close of next year underline the constructor’s brilliant value for money. In addition, Persimmon’s brilliant growth outlook is expected to create barnstorming dividends of 99p per share for 2015 and 111.3p for 2016, yielding 5.1% and 5.7%.
Cobham
With defence spend firmly on the mend, I believe that plane-part builder Cobham (LSE: COB) is a great pick for clever investors. While military spend is undoubtedly on the turn, a backcloth of falling costs and surging passenger numbers is also blasting profits higher across the airline industry, a promising sign for Cobham’s civil aircraft operations in the years ahead.
Accordingly the number crunchers expect the Dorset business to follow earnings expansion of 16% in 2015 and 6% in 2016, putting behind it the bottom-line troubles of recent years. Consequently the aerospace play changes hands on ultra-attractive P/E ratios of 11.8 times for this year and 11.1 times for 2016. Moreover, predicted payouts of 11.5p per share for 2015 and 12.1p per share create sector-smashing yields of 4.5% and 4.7% respectively.