I’m not letting the Omicron outbreak dampen my investing appetite. As a long-term investor, I look for UK shares that will make me decent returns over a number of years, usually a decade or more. Even the possibility of near-term economic volatility doesn’t make me run for the hills.
History shows us that, even accounting for times when stock markets crash, share investors tend to enjoy an average annual return of 8%. So why should I let the ongoing Covid-19 emergency, rising inflation, or turmoil in the Chinese property market derail my plans?
Here are three top penny stocks I’d buy to hold all the way through to the early 2030s.
Power play
There are plenty of renewable energy stocks that UK share investors can pick up today. One that I’m paying attention to right now is OPG Power Ventures (LSE: OPG). This is because, as well as having a packed pipeline of solar projects for the next several years, the power plant operator plies its trade in India. This puts it in the box seat to exploit soaring energy demand in the country.
The International Energy Agency said in a recent report that it expects energy demand growth in India to be greater than any other country from now until 2040. This will be driven by an expanding economy and population as well as urbanisation and industrialisation, it reckons. I’d buy OPG to ride this theme despite the threat that project delays could significantly damage profits.
A top electric vehicle stock
I’m also considering buying Pendragon (LSE: PDG) for my shares portfolio to ride the electric vehicle (EV) boom. Increasing environmental concerns among drivers — allied to worries over future petrol prices following recent surges — means sales of battery-driven and hybrid vehicles are soaring.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, sales of such vehicles rocketed 67.4% year-on-year to 42,146 units in November. This meant new car sales overall rose 1.7%, ending four months of successive declines.
The market for EVs will only get stronger as concerns over the climate emergency accelerate too. So I’d buy Pendragon to make money from this trend, even as the threat of supply chain problems in the auto industry roll on.
Another penny stock for the green revolution
Rising concerns over vehicle emissions also bodes well for platinum producers like Jubilee Metals Group (LSE: JLP). The metal is a critical component in catalytic converters where it’s used to reduce harmful emissions. Recent legislative changes (especially in China) mean that higher loadings of these metals are required to combat global warming.
Platinum is also used in vast amounts to build hydrogen fuel cells. This is because it’s an excellent catalyst for splitting hydrogen into protons and electrons. This means demand for Jubilee Metals could soar if, as some expect, hydrogen cars become part of the mainstream over the next decade.
This makes the cheap UK share highly attractive in my book. That’s despite the threat that problems during the mining process could hit Jubilee’s bottom-line hard.