If you’ve a few grand spare to spare for share investment then you could do a lot worse than to give easyJet (LSE: EZJ) a close look today.
There’s no doubt the short-term outlook for many of Europe’s low-cost carriers is pretty murky at the moment. However, easyJet is a share which, while also seeing its profits suffer in an environment of cheap tickets, enduring sterling weakness and rising fuel costs, can look forward to still delivering great growth in the years ahead as it boosts capacity and expands its route network.
It’s these twin factors that helped passenger numbers sail 15% higher between October and December to 21.6m, even in spite of drone-related disruptions at its key London Gatwick hub in the period. And it’s why City analysts expect the FTSE 100 flyer to recover from an anticipated 3% earnings drop in the year to September 2019 to punch a 7% bottom-line rise next year.
At current prices, easyJet offers great value for money through its forward P/E ratio of 11.4 times and its huge 4.5% corresponding dividend yield.
Say aaaah
Another great Footsie stock that can be picked up for next to nothing is NMC Health (LSE: NMC). Its prospective P/E ratio of 20.2 times may not be anything to write home about, but a corresponding sub-1 PEG reading of 0.7 — created by City analysts predicting a 27% profits rise in 2019 — certainly is.
Annual earnings growth at the business, which provides private healthcare predominantly to clients in the Middle East, has long clocked in at double-digit percentages and the number crunchers are predicting this trend will continue long into the future (another 23% profits rise is predicted for 2020, incidentally).
And why wouldn’t the Square Mile be so upbeat? A combination of rising personal wealth levels and spreading insurance cover promises to keep demand for private healthcare services rising, and NMC is investing heavily to exploit these joint trends. Indeed, it has big plans for the new healthcare company its creating in Saudi Arabia with Hassana, and it plans to supercharge the number of beds it operates from 1,500 at the beginning to around 6,000 within five to 10 years.
Piping hot
Considering its exceptional prospects in lucrative foreign markets NMC could, then, be considered particularly cheap at current prices. And I believe the same can be said for Ferguson (LSE: FERG).
As I type, the plumbing and heating product distributor sports a forward P/E ratio of just 13.4 times (and a corresponding PEG multiple of 0.8) and, given the rampant progress it’s making in the US, I reckon this is far too cheap. City forecasters are anticipated earnings rises of 18% and 5% in the years to July 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Indeed, with the Federal Reserve curbing its previously-hawkish tone concerning monetary policy, the outlook for the North American economy has improved vastly in recent weeks and improved the already-great revenues picture at Ferguson.
The business saw organic sales in the US swell 9.6% between August and October, and I’m expecting another bubbly statement when half-year numbers are released in a month’s time (on March 26, to be exact), a release that could spur more heady share price gains. It’s a great share to buy today and hang onto for many years, in my opinion.