What are the best shares to buy after the Brexit vote? Which ones have been punished the most unfairly? There are plenty to choose from, and here are three among the biggest fallers in the past month that I think deserve closer scrutiny.
Oversold bargain?
Shares in Dixons Carphone (LSE: DC) plunged 34% in wake of the referendum, and though they’ve come back a little to 338p, they’re still down 21% since the day and 32% over the past 12 months.
Full-year results on 29 June looked solid, with like-for-like revenue up 5%, headline pre-tax profit up 17% and headline earnings per share up 15%, and the year’s total dividend was lifted 15% to 9.75p per share. There’s uncertainty over the firm’s long-term profits now, with the plunge in the pound affecting overseas earnings reported in Sterling.
But the shares are now valued at just over 11 times forecast 2017 earnings, and that’s after downgrades over the course of the past month, and there are dividend yields in excess of 3% on the cards. There’s a strong buy consensus among brokers right now, and while I wouldn’t be that bullish (largely because I think there are better bargains out there), I do see Dixons Carphone shares as reasonable value.
Banking turmoil
Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) shares were already tumbling before the referendum (in what I reckon was a much-needed price correction), and since then they’ve plummeted further. Since 23 June they’ve fallen 23% to 189p, with an overall fall of 52% from a peak in February 2015.
But in the past couple of weeks, banking shares have recovered a little. RBS shares have regained 27% since 6 July and that’s ahead of both Barclays‘ 19% pickup and Lloyds Banking Group‘s 15%, so does that suggest the RBS price punishment was the most overdone of them all and that it’s the best bargain?
Though there could well be further gains, I think it’s still the least attractive of the three. RBS is on a higher 2016 P/E multiple than the others, of 17.8, compared to 12.3 for Barclays and 7.4 for Lloyds. Renewed dividends are receding over the horizon too, with nothing on the cards for this year and just 1.2% down for 2017 — and with there being little chance of a full re-privatisation happening any time soon, there’s no guarantee of even that.
Insurance looking better
Turning to insurers, Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) looks a better prospect. In the indiscriminate Brexit sell-off of anything financial, Legal & General shares plummeted by 30%. They’ve since recovered a fair bit of that, to 195p, but that’s still a loss of 17%.
The insurer updated us a few days after the referendum, pointing out that its strategy was based on a 50/50 Brexit probability, and that its balance sheet is strong and relatively safe after a number of de-risking moves prior to the event in case of a leave vote. Its portolio is said to be well diversified, and the company reminded us of its “focused strategy based on five key long-term growth drivers“.
With the shares on a forward P/E of under 10 and with dividends forecast at 7.6%, ace investor Neil Woodford snapped some up after the vote — and he’s not often wrong.