Nightmare tenants, unexpected property repair costs, and long void periods are also a constant risk, as my colleague Alan Oscroft explained recently.

On top of that, house prices in many areas of the UK have risen faster than rents in recent years, meaning that rental yields are lower than they used to be.

It seems to me that the only sensible way to do buy-to-let is as a full-time business, not as a small-scale sideline. That’s why I prefer to put my spare cash into the stock market.

But doing this doesn’t mean I can’t benefit from exposure to the UK’s fast-growing rental market. Today, I’m looking at two dividend stocks which both provide a useful dividend income and exposure to the property market.

Doubling down on housing

On Monday morning, outsourcing specialist Mears Group (LSE: MER) revealed plans to buy the housing maintenance business of rival Mitie Group (LSE: MTO) for up to £35m.

Mears is one of the bigger operators in this sector and generated revenue of £766m from social housing in 2017. Mitie’s operations are expected to add a further £100m of revenue, plus £200m in new orders.

At first glance, the deal makes sense for both companies. Mitie will get some much-needed cash to help reduce debt and invest in its core operations. Mears will be able use its larger scale to improve the profitability of the Mitie business, which reported an operating loss of £0.8m last year.

To fund the initial £22.5m payment, Mears plans to issue new shares to institutional investors. News of this plan has left the group’s share price 6% lower at the time of writing, but I think it’s a prudent measure.

The group’s average daily net debt was 2.3 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) during the 12 months to 30 June. That’s pretty high by most standards. Borrowing more would have been unwise, in my view.

Mears’ debt is a risk for investors. But the long-term nature of its business, managing social housing and other rented property across the UK, suggests to me that it could be a reliable dividend buy. The shares currently trade on about 11 times forecast earnings with a 3.7% yield. I think they could be worth a closer look.

What about Mitie?

Although Mitie will still have some property maintenance operations after this sale, the group’s outsourcing business is more heavily focused on facilities management services, such as cleaning and security. Like Mears, the group faces tough competition on price from rivals and is burdened with a significant amount of debt.

However, the company is currently in full-scale turnaround mode under chief executive Phil Bentley, who expects to deliver £40m of annualised cost savings at a cost of £15m during the current financial year.

Analysts expect Mitie’s underlying earnings to rise 2.3% to 17.2p per share this year, supporting a full-year dividend of 4.1p per share. These figures put the stock on a forecast P/E of 9, with a prospective yield of 2.8%.

These shares aren’t without risk but, in my view, its cost saving plan and shift towards technology-led solutions are attractive. As a turnaround buy with long-term potential, I think Mitie rates as a potential buy.

The post Worried about buy-to-let? Here are 2 dividend stocks I might buy instead appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Roland Head has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

The first company I want to consider is FTSE 100 outsourcing group G4S (LSE: GFS). Last week’s half-year results triggered an 11% share price slump. But I think critics are too quick to dismiss this business.

Increasingly profitable

The group’s two main businesses are cash handling services and security solutions, such as prisoner transport and facilities management. It operates in about 90 countries and has around 560,000 employees — security is generally quite a labour-intensive business.

Under chief executive Ashley Almanza, the firm is seizing on opportunities to introduce more technology to its business and reduce headcount. This is a long-term project and won’t happen overnight. But when paired up with more selective contract bidding and efficient management, it’s helping to make G4S more profitable.

Its operating margin has risen from 3.7% in 2014 to 6.4% in 2017. Although that’s still relatively low, the business generated a return on capital employed (ROCE) of 14% over the last 12 months. That’s a big improvement on the 2014 figure of 7.3%.

Only one concern

My only real concern is that net debt is high, at £1,566m. This total fell by £41m during the first half, but G4S’s ratio of net debt-to-earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was unchanged at 2.7. That’s well above my preferred maximum of two times EBITDA.

I believe more progress is needed on debt reduction. But this aside, I’d say the stock looks reasonably-priced for income buyers, on a forecast P/E of 13 and with a prospective yield of 4%.

A small-cap alternative

Housing and care services provider Mears Group (LSE: MER) reported its half-year figures this morning. Revenue at this £350m company fell by 8% to £435.3m during the period, but pre-tax profit was 1% higher, at £12.9m.

Like G4S, Mears is focused on improving its profit margins rather than growing at any cost. Today’s figures show that the group generated an adjusted operating margin of 4.7% during the half year, up from 4.1% during the same period last year.

A tale of two halves

Mears employs around 10,000 people across two divisions, Care and Housing.

The Care business provides in-home care services for more than 15,000 elderly and disabled people. Housing provides maintenance and repair services, mainly for social housing landlords.

Margins are constantly under pressure in both businesses. But what concerns me the most is a new initiative where the company borrows money to buy properties and do them up, before selling them to long-term investors who rent them out. Mears typically gets the maintenance contract for these properties.

Management says this enables the firm to win new work it might otherwise miss out on. But it seems to me that the company is taking on extra risk on behalf of its clients, without much clear reward.

Property purchases like these helped lift the group’s average daily net debt from £96.4m to £114.4m during the first half of this year. This resulted in a leverage ratio of 2.5 times EBITDA.

The shares trade on 11 times forecast earnings and offer a 3.9% yield. This could be an attractive entry point, but I’d rather put my money in G4S.

The post Have £2,000 to invest? This FTSE 100 dividend stock is worth considering appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Roland Head has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

But compared to its struggling peers, Mears looks to be one of the industry’s best bets. Indeed, according to the firm’s figures for the year to the end of December, which were published today, at the end of the year Mears’ net debt was just £25.8m, below reported pre-tax profit from continuing operations of £27m. However, unfortunately, revenue and profit before tax declined overall, falling 4% and 7% respectively year-on-year. Earnings per share fell 8%. 

Learning from mistakes 

It seems as if Mears’ management has certainly learned from the mistakes of its peers. Commenting on today’s numbers, CEO David Miles stated that “the current pipeline of opportunities for Mears has never been greater” and he went on to say that the firm is currently bidding on “contract values in excess of £2bn during the course of 2018” to add to the existing £2.6bn pipeline. However, Miles also stated that “the Board has decided to adopt a more conservative approach in how it guides the market on its expectations.“

In my view, this new, conservative approach, coupled with Mears’ low level of debt, makes it one of the best outsourcing sector plays. What’s more, based on current City estimates for growth, shares in the company are trading at a forward P/E of 10.3, which is a discount of around 40% to the wider Services sector and implies that there’s already plenty of bad news reflected in the stock. In other words, if Mears goes on to perform better than expected, the shares could re-rate higher by 40%. 

Revenues guaranteed 

Another value stock I like today is the homebuilder Telford Homes (LSE: TEF). Like the rest of its sector, it has put in a strong performance over the past few years, but I don’t believe that this performance is reflected in the company’s current stock price. 

Indeed, at the time of writing shares in the firm trade at a forward P/E of just 8.9, falling to 7.5 for 2019. City analysts are expecting earnings per share to jump 29% this year and 18% in 2019, which implies that the stock deserves a higher growth multiple from the market. For the full year to 31 March 2018, the company has already secured 95% of gross profit so, to some degree, the 2018 forecast is no longer just a forecast. Some 65% of gross profit for 2019 has also been secured, according to the group’s interim results. 

The fact that Telford has already secured such a large percentage of forecast revenue puts the company in a unique position. Investors can buy into the stock safe in the knowledge that forecasts for growth are not going to change suddenly. There is a certain degree of security here. 

And while investors wait for it to unlock value from its land bank, the shares support a dividend yield of 4.5%. So not only do shares in Telford look cheap, but the stock also supports a market-beating dividend yield — what’s not to like?

The post 2 growth stocks at deep-value prices appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Rupert Hargreaves owns no share mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Top 100 global brands

First up is language translation software specialist SDL (LSE: SDL). The Maidenhead-based group is a global innovator in language translation technology, services and content management, working with no fewer than 78 out of the top 100 global brands.

The firm’s shares came under pressure in the summer, after half-year results revealed that higher costs of delivering new initiatives and planned investment resulted in lower profitability compared to the first half of 2016. The share price fell off a cliff, sinking 23% on the day the results were announced.

Short-term issues

Management has already begun implementing plans to remedy what I see as short-term issues, with many of the actions already under way. And there has already been a turnaround of sorts, with the shares climbing 25% from lows of 448.5p at the start of September, driven at least in part by more positive recent news flow.

This includes the announcement that leading airlines from across Europe, Asia and the US have signed agreements for a variety of content management products and translation services from SDL. The business already works with many of the world’s leading airline brands, including six of the top 10 global names, and more than 40 top travel companies.

For me, SDL looks like a good long-term recovery play trading on a forward earnings multiple of 26. This may seem expensive but it drops to 20 for 2018, much lower than many of its high-flying peers.

Plenty of headroom

Meanwhile, another small-cap sensation that I’d like to bring to your immediate attention is Mears Group (LSE: MER), provider of support services to the UK’s Social Housing and Care sectors. In partnership with its housing clients, the Gloucester-based group provides services in every region of the UK, maintaining, repairing and upgrading the homes of hundreds of thousands of people in all types of communities, ranging from remote rural villages to large inner city estates.

In addition, the group’s Care division provides support to over 15,000 people a year, enabling older and disabled people to continue living in their own homes. The majority of housing revenues still come from traditional contracting partnerships, where Mears is the market leader. But this only accounts for 15% of the UK’s social housing market, meaning there’s still plenty of room for further growth.

And with that growth potential in mind, I think the shares are worth buying at the present time, trading on a modest price-to-earnings ratio of 14, which drops down to 12 for 2018.

The post 2 top small-cap stocks I’d buy in November appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Bilaal Mohamed has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Revenue setback

The company is a social housing repair and maintenance services specialist but also has a care division, builds new social housing, and provides estate and housing management services. I reckon the market was spooked because the firm says it now expects its housing division revenues to come in 3.6% down on original expectations for 2017, at £800m, which will lead to “a resulting loss of profit and lower overhead recovery.” The housing division accounts for around 85% of the firm’s revenue so the news is significant.

Mears expects its clients to delay planned works orders this year because their focus has diverted following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.  Social housing providers are concentrating on ensuring their housing portfolios are safe and fully compliant following the shortfalls revealed at Grenfell Tower. But delays in procurement decisions should be temporary as much of the work is already contracted. The directors reassure us that the housing division order book remains unaffected.

A steady business  

Today’s half-year results are in line with management’s previous expectations with revenue up 1% compared to a year ago and normalised diluted earnings per share rising by 3%. In a sign of their ongoing confidence in the outlook, the directors pushed up the interim dividend by 5%.

Despite the anticipated temporary setback in revenue, I like Mears because the firm’s operations strike me as having a big defensive element to them. I think the steady nature of the business shows up in the company’s dividend record where the payout has increased by just over 46% over the past four years and is rising again going forward.

I’d certainly rather buy shares in Mears than in troubled construction and civil engineering contractor Carillion (LSE: CLLN). The firm’s car-crash July trading statement was arguably a long time in its gestation and we may well have seen it coming by examining the company’s record on dividends.

Dividend clues

Over the same four-year period that Mears raised its dividend by 46%, Carillion’s payout grew just 7%. The firm was struggling to raise its dividend and has now chosen to not pay one at all by suspending 2017 dividend payments. With debts rising, cash flows shrinking and contract wins coming in below expectations, Carillion is embroiled in a major restructuring exercise that involves exiting several of its previous markets.

On top of that, it is possible the firm may approach the market for further funds to shore up its balance sheet and an announcement on the outcome of a review regarding its capital structure is due with the interim results in September. I certainly wouldn’t want to be holding the shares with that hanging over my head.

I reckon a firm’s dividend record and the directors’ ongoing decisions about the dividend can tell us much about the underlying health of a business and its outlook. Based on that theory, and what I’m seeing from these two companies, Mears wins hands down.

The post Why I’d dump Carillion plc to buy this stock appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Kevin Godbold has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

While value traps can cause disappointing investment performance, there are still some stocks which could offer a potent mix of growth potential and low valuations. Here are two companies that could fall into that category.

Improving performance

Housing support services company Mears (LSE: MER) reported a trading update on Tuesday. It showed that the company is making solid progress in both of its core divisions. In Housing, it continues to perform well and this is good news for the company’s investors, since it accounts for 83% of its revenue. It has achieved 96% visibility of consensus revenue forecast for 2017, while operating margins are currently in line with previous expectations.

In the company’s Care business, market conditions have remained challenging. Despite this, underlying trading has shown improvement month-on-month through the first half of the year, with management expecting this trajectory to continue. Although the Care division is expected to report a loss in the first half of the year, it is forecast to move into profitability in the second half.

Looking ahead, Mears is expected to report a rise in earnings of 18% this year, followed by further growth of 12% next year. Despite this strong growth outlook, it trades on a price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of just one, which suggests that it offers a wide margin of safety. Certainly, its Care business has disappointed recently, but an improving outlook could make the stock a sound buy for the long term.

Uncertain outlook

Also offering a wide margin of safety is recruitment specialist Staffline (LSE: STAF). It has reported five consecutive years of rising profitability, with more growth expected over the next two years. Despite this, the company trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 11.2. This indicates that the company’s shares could be worth considerably more than their current level even after their 56% rise since the start of the year.

Clearly, Staffline faces a highly uncertain future. The outlook for the UK is difficult to predict and could be negatively impacted by the start of Brexit talks, as well as the minority government, which has now been confirmed. These factors may cause investors to become more risk-off over the medium term, which could lead to valuations which are perhaps slightly lower than they normally would be.

However, with a solid strategy and a sound track record of growth, Staffline appears to have a significant amount of capital growth potential. Although relatively risky, its wide margin of safety suggests that now could be the right time to buy it for the long run.

The post 2 forgotten value stocks with upside potential appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Peter Stephens has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Progressive and well covered

Last year I examined housing and social care services firm Mears Group (LSE: MER) and I thought I saw solid potential. Since then the shares have done well — from a low in June 2016 they’ve put on 43% to today’s 506p. And we’re still looking at decent growth characteristics, with a 26% rise in EPS forecast for this year and an attractive PEG as low as 0.5.

Tuesday’s 2016 results impressed me, with revenue up 7%, pre-tax profit from continuing activities up 13%, and normalised diluted earnings per share up 9%.

Chief executive David Miles spoke of “increasing blurring of the boundaries between social, affordable and private rented housing“, and reckons the firm is “well placed to benefit from a healthy and wider pipeline of opportunities” — and I can see the private social care market as being one with significant possibilities in the coming decades.

I was especially pleased to see the company lift its full-year dividend by 6% to 11.7p per share, while keeping it below EPS growth and so maintaining strong cover — and it comes after a 10% rise for the previous year, and a 13.6% hike in 2014.

The yield is only 2.3% on that 506p share price, but a progressive policy that grows dividends ahead of inflation is, in my view, the thing that long-term income investors should be looking for. If Mears can keep its dividend growing even at only 6% per year, in 10 years time it would be worth a yield of 4.2% on today’s share price — and I expect to see some satisfying share price growth too.

Big and reliable

If you want a big yield today, Petrofac (LSE: PFC) has just announced a 2016 full year dividend of 65.8 cents per share, which corresponds to 52.8p at today’s exchange rate, for a 5.8% yield on a share price of 916p.

The dividend has admittedly been pegged at that level for four years in a row now, when what we really want is to see prospects for a long-term rise. So do we have that?

In the words of chief executive Ayman Asfari, what we’ve seen is “record revenues, significant cost reduction and strong cash generation“, and he says the firm is now positioned well “for a recovery in our core markets“.

We all know the oil business has been hit hard by the crash in prices for the slimy black stuff. But Petrofac, which provides infrastructure and services to the oil and gas industry, has weathered the storm remarkably well and has maintained its dividends throughout the downturn.

Petrofac is not doing too badly on the balance sheet front either, with net debt at December 2016 of $617m. That’s 10% down on 2015, and for a company with a market cap of nearly $4bn, and which showed an underlying net profit of $421m, I see no big problem there.

Even if oil prices take a couple more years to get back above $75 per barrel, we’re in a recovery phase for the industry, and ‘picks and shovels’ firms like Petrofac should do well. I see it as a great dividend pick for the next 10 years.

The post 2 top yielders I’d buy and hold for the next 10 years appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended Petrofac. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Cast iron

Castings (LSE: CGS) is a company that makes, erm, castings — iron ones, and it shifts lots of them. The share price has been picking up of late, but today it’s down 4.8% to 433p (and was down 7% at one stage). The cause is a brief comment in today’s AGM announcement, which says there’s been a softening in demand since June.

That shows one of the biggest mistakes we can make, I think — overreacting to short-term news, when it’s the long-term performance that matters. The Brexit referendum will raise some fears, with nearly 40% of Castings’ turnover coming from EU countries, but there’s a bonus too in the fall of sterling, which makes the firm’s exports more attractive.

Castings is a smaller company (with a market cap of £189m), its hi-tech production is at the leading edge of the business, its sales are nicely diversified geographically — and the shares are on forward P/E multiples of around 13, with dividends yielding a bit over 3%. Looks solid to me.

Social profits

AIM-listed Mears Group (LSE: MER) provides housing and social care services. It’s been a profitable business, with steadily rising earnings only interrupted by a dip in 2015, but with growth on the cards for this year and next. At the halfway stage, reported today, normalised EPS had dropped by 7%, though the dividend was lifted by 6% and chief executive David Miles said the board “expects underlying trading for the full year to remain on track” before one-off costs.

Our housebuilders might be in gloomy days right now, but the rental sector looks set to strengthen, and a company like Mears could do very well out of it in the next decade or two. Dividend yields are modest at around 3%, but we have double-digit earnings growth predicted for this year and next. And with the 413p shares valued at under 12 times forecast earnings, dropping to just 10 for 2017, I’d say we’re looking at a tempting growth valuation here.

With PEG ratios of 0.5 and 0.7 indicated for the two years (where 0.7 and less is usually considered very good), I can see Mears Group rewarding shareholders nicely in the coming years.

Cash from plastic

Shares in Polypipe (LSE: PLP) plunged after the EU referendum, but they’ve been picking up since, and a 3% boost on the back of first-half results has taken the price to 298p today. The company, which unsurprisingly makes plastic piping, turned in a storming performance, with underlying pre-tax profit up 45% and underlying EPS up 48%. The interim dividend was lifted by 35%.

Polypipe seems like another overlooked company on a low valuation — this time on a P/E of 12, dropping to 11 for 2017, with with dividends of around 3.5% predicted. It’s the biggest company of today’s three with a market cap of £590m, it’s a highly cash-generative business, and it appears to be Brexit-resistant — the firm said “order intake has remained consistent with the normal seasonal pattern and [is] yet to show any signs of weakening following the EU Referendum.“

Polypipe is another that I reckon deserves close attention.

The post 3 small-cap bargains on today’s news? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.