I’m looking for some of the best penny stocks to buy in August. Here are three top-quality, low-cost UK shares on my radar today.
Staffing superstar
The rebounding UK economy means that Staffline Group could be a great penny stock to buy for next month. According to EY Club, Britain’s economy will grow 7.6% in 2021, the steepest advance for 80 years. This is also up significantly from the organisation’s prior estimate of 6.8%.
Naturally this bodes well for Staffline which provides recruitment and training services to employers. Underlying operating profit rocketed 133% between January and March as market conditions improved, better than the firm had been anticipating. Though bear in mind that the recent upswing in Covid-19 cases on these shores poses a clear threat to this UK share’s current recovery.
Beast from the East
The Russian e-commerce market was one of the fastest-growing in 2020 as Covid-19 lockdowns took effect. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this is just a temporary uptick. According to Statista, the country’s online shopping segment will grow spectacularly every year up until the end of its forecasted period in 2025. Then it will be worth 109 trn rubles, Statista estimates, more than quadruple what it was worth last year.
I’d buy warehousing space provider Raven Property Group (LSE: RAV) to exploit this phenomenon, a company whose properties lie predominantly around the major cities of Moscow and St Petersburg. I’m tipping this penny stock for big things, despite the rising danger of green energy to Russia’s oil-dependent economy.
A penny stock gaining altitude
I’d also invest in Ryanair (LSE: RYA) despite ongoing uncertainty over coronavirus travel restrictions. In fact, today’s latest trading statement has bolstered my enthusiasm for the UK travel share. The Irish flyer has a robust balance sheet to help it survive the Covid-19 crisis (this rose to €4.1bn as of June, from €3.2bn three months earlier). It also has strong pent-up traveller demand that’s led to a spike in ticket sales in May and June. That, in turn, prompted Ryanair to hike its forecasts for the full financial year.
The penny stock now expects to shift between 90m and 100m passengers in the 12 months to March 2022. This compares to prior predictions it would clock in at the lower range of 80m-120m passengers.
Of course there’s huge uncertainty over traveller numbers in the short-to-medium term as the public health emergency rolls on. Ryanair warned that “[this] is dependent on the continued rollout of vaccines this summer, and no adverse Covid variant developments.”
Still, as a long-term investor, I believe Ryanair remains a highly-attractive UK share to buy. Demand for low-cost plane tickets is tipped to keep soaring, and the survivors in the industry will benefit from vastly-reduced competition in the years ahead.