Share tips 2024: this week’s stock tips
If you’ve been keeping a close eye on share tips 2024, then don’t miss this weekly round up of the top stocks to consider for your portfolio each week.
The MoneyWeek share tips 2024 guide pulls together some of the best UK stocks from some of the top share tipsters around.
As well as the UK financial pages, we look at publications across the pond for investors who want to diversify their holdings internationally.
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From investing in UK equities, European stocks, to finding the best performing stocks in the S&P 500 – here are our top share tips of the week.
This list is updated weekly on a Friday.
Share tips 2024: top picks of the week
Six to buy
1. Alcon (SWX: ALC)
The Telegraph
Alcon, the world’s biggest producer of contact lenses and equipment used in eye operations, has enjoyed impressive growth since it was spun out of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis in 2019. Its underlying earnings before interest and tax have climbed by more than 50%. It has invested more in research and development (R&D), helping it launch new products. The shares are not cheap on 25 times forecast earnings, but their appeal lies in the scope for “highly profitable growth over many years to come”. CHF72
2. Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ)
The Sunday Times
Shares in Domino’s Pizza have declined by 13% since January, but the pizza chain is opening 70 new branches this year and saw a 37% jump in orders through its app in the first quarter of 2024. Like-for-like sales were down by 0.5% in the same period, thanks partly to the marketing budget being set aside for a bumper summer, with Euro 2024 kicking off in June. Analysts expect a 10% rise in underlying earnings to £148m in 2024. Domino’s is highly cash-generative, having paid out £427m to investors since March 2021. “Use its share-price dip to tuck in.” 322p
3. GSK (LON: GSK)
Investors’ Chronicle
A potential $30bn litigation is being priced into GSK’s shares from US lawsuits over its heartburn drug Zantac. But Citi analysts expect most of the remaining cases to be settled in the next six months for less than $3bn. GSK’s revenues have eclipsed expectations in the past two quarters and it’s launched new products, including the Jemperli cancer drug. Litigation could hurt in the short term, but at this price it’s “worth looking at the bigger, and now far brighter, picture”. 1,733p
4. Relx (LON: REL)
Shares
Reliable revenue, profit, and cash-flow growth have allowed Relx to increase dividends consistently, even during the pandemic. The FTSE 100 company has transformed itself from being a publisher into becoming a provider and analyser of business-critical data. It has invested in innovation around data analytics and artificial intelligence. On a 2024 price/ earnings (p/e) ratio of 26.9 the shares are not cheap, but Relx can deliver consistent mid-single-digit growth, making it a good long-term bet. 3,299p
3M (NYSE: MMM)
Barron’s
3M, the American maker of Post-it Notes and Scotch tape, has been struggling with legal problems relating to chemicals and potentially faulty earplugs sold to the US government. But the conglomerate has been making big changes, resulting in a “smaller, safer, and more nimble company”. It spun off its healthcare business, announced legal settlements, reset its dividend and hired a new CEO. Growth is set to improve now that US manufacturing is picking up. $97
6. Smith & Nephew (LON: SN)
The Mail on Sunday
Many analysts believe Smith & Nephew (S&N) is undervalued. The medical equipment manufacturer has struggled with supply chains and inflation, particularly in orthopaedics, but new CEO Deepak Nath’s 12-point plan has shown some progress. While the FTSE-100 company is facing headwinds in China and may miss ambitious targets, it is still innovating in robotic surgery and wound care. The stock looks cheap on a low forward earnings rating and yields 3%. S&N is “far from perfect”, but the “company is cheap and worth buying for short-term upside”. 1,007p
The rest…
MicroSalt (LON: SALT)
Shares
Investors in MicroSalt, a producer of low-sodium salt for food manufacturers, could be rewarded if the Aim-listed company’s patented intellectual property fulfils its potential over the next decade. But revenue remains modest, and the firm has incurred significant operating losses due to investment in the brand and new products. Still, the shares are up 65% on February’s flotation price thanks to the potential to disrupt the food industry. Buy (71p).
Ashmore (LON: ASHM)
The Telegraph
Emerging-market asset manager Ashmore offers a dividend yield of more than 8%, backed by a balance sheet where the net cash pile represents half of the firm’s net assets and a third of its stockmarket valuation. The depressed valuation reflects “gloom and not much of the potential upside”, but the group “could yet emerge from its trough of despond”. Hold (192p).
Barclays (BARC)
Investors’ Chronicle
Barclays has a chequered recent history, but the success of its UK retail business, which launched mobile banking earlier than rivals, suggests that the core business is profitable and competent. Its US investment banking arm could be sold off, which would improve its return on tangible equity, and management is making progress on reducing costs. Buy (202p). Read more on if it’s worth looking at UK banking stocks.
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (LON: ORIT)
The Mail on Sunday
The Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust invests in a range of renewable energy sectors. Factors such as inflation and wind speed have affected revenue and deepened the discount to net asset value. But the group enjoys a steady rate of return, with 84% of revenues fixed or contracted until March 2026, and a solid dividend. The shares are a hold (76p).
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