What began as a bright start for UK share prices in November has ended in something of a damp squib. The FTSE 100, for instance, hasn’t powered on after rising more than 15% in the first half of the month. Britain’s blue-chip index has in fact just slipped to its cheapest for around three weeks.
Compare that to the steady surge that recently carried share markets in the US to record highs. It’s clear that UK share investors need more convincing over the fight against Covid-19 — and by extension the outlook for the global economy — before plunging into British stock indexes again.
This lack of significant investor interest is good news for long-term stock pickers like me, though. There are still plenty of top-class UK shares out there that continue to trade cheaply following the early 2020 stock market crash. I can buy them today at low cost and sell them at a much higher value later down the line once market confidence has improved.
3 top UK shares
Here are several UK shares I think are great buys today. I think they’re far too cheap for savvy stock pickers to ignore:
1) QinetiQ Group
Shares in defence specialists QinetiQ Group have fallen around 15% since the start of the year. Based on current earnings forecasts this leaves it dealing on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15 times. It’s a reading I don’t think reflects the FTSE 250 company’s excellent long-term profits outlook. Defence budgets in the West continue to march higher because of an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape. And QinetiQ, as a critical supplier to the Ministry of Defence, is well placed to make huge profits in the process.
2) WPP
The WPP share price has slipped almost a third in 2020 as the meltdown in the global economy has smacked advertising budgets. But history shows us that media companies like these are often some of the fastest to rebound as conditions improve. Despite the Covid-19 depression this UK share has continued to add new business wins among its blue-chip client base. And it can expect the contracts to pile up as the economic conditions improve, helped by recent improvements in the important digital segment. For 2021 FTSE 100-quoted WPP trades on a P/E ratio of 10 times. It sports a mighty 5.5% dividend yield too. These figures make it worthy of serious attention.
3) Taylor Wimpey
Fellow FTSE 100 stock Taylor Wimpey meanwhile has seen its shares lose around 20% of their value in 2020. This in my opinion makes it a brilliant buy as a bargain long-term investment. The housebuilder trades on a P/E multiple of 11 times for next year at recent prices. It carries a chubby 4.4% dividend yield as well. Taylor Wimpey’s decline has been quite unwarranted in my opinion. The strength of customer demand despite the UK economic crisis underlines the huge disparity between home supply and demand in the UK. And it’s a phenomenon I reckon should underpin mighty profits growth at the business for years to come.