Today, I’m providing readers with a look at my wishlist for 2019. These are the stocks I’d love to buy next year.

Unilever

Unilever is already the top stock in my portfolio. I see it as a ‘sleep-well-at-night’ type stock, and I also like the emerging markets growth story. I’m not too concerned by the argument that ‘bond proxies’ will suffer as interest rates rise, because Unilever has a fantastic dividend growth track record. In 2019, I’d like to buy more ULVR. However, I’d prefer to buy the shares under 4,000p, with a yield of around 3.5%.

Diageo

Shares in alcoholic beverage champion Diageo held up well in 2018. With tobacco stocks out of favour, it was one of the top ‘defensive’ stocks that investors turned to as uncertainty increased. I already have a small position in Diageo and I’m keen to boost this, as I like the emerging markets growth story. However, the shares are just a little too pricey for me right now and the yield is quite low. So I’ll be waiting patiently for a pullback.

Reckitt Benckiser

Health and hygiene specialist Reckitt Benckiser is another stock that I have my eye on. I think this is one I might buy sooner rather than later, as its share price has experienced weakness in the last 18 months. Right now, I don’t think Reckitt’s valuation looks overly stretched. However, I’m hoping that with a little bit of market volatility, I can pick it up even cheaper, with a yield of 3% or higher.

Smith & Nephew

Joint replacement group Smith & Nephew is another company I’d like to own. To my mind, it looks to be a good stock to capitalise on one of the most dominant themes across the globe today – the world’s ageing population. I’m keen to get SN into my portfolio. Yet right now, its dividend yield of 1.9% looks a little underwhelming. As such, I’m happy to wait for a more attractive entry point.

Hargreaves Lansdown

Hargreaves Lansdown is a stock I’m quite bullish on. It operates the UK’s largest investment platform and its growth in recent years has been impressive. Given that stock markets tend to rise over time, I think Hargreaves looks well positioned to keep growing in the years ahead. HL is certainly not a cheap stock, as its P/E is 28.4. Yet when you consider the company’s earnings and dividend growth, I think it deserves a high valuation. I’ll be looking to buy more on market weakness.

Croda International

Lastly, another stock that I’d like to buy at the right price is Croda International. It makes speciality chemicals for a number of industries including cosmetics, healthcare, and farming. Croda screens up as a high-quality stock. It generates a high return on equity, has low debt, and it has recorded 19 consecutive dividend increases. The stock’s valuation is a little high for me right now, so I’m hoping 2019 will throw up some more attractive entry points.

The post Ask a Fool analyst: What are the top FTSE 100 stocks I want to buy in 2019? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Edward Sheldon owns shares in Unilever, Diageo and Hargreaves Lansdown. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended Unilever. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Diageo and Hargreaves Lansdown. 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.

Kevin Godbold: Soco International

One of the strongest oil production and exploration firms listed on the London stock market is mid-cap Soco International (LSE: SIA). The firm is cash rich, carries no debt, produces cash-generating oil from its assets in Vietnam, and has a record of returning cash to shareholders. City analysts expect ordinary and special dividends to total around 6p during 2016, a potential yield around 4% at today’s share price of 150p or so.

Whereas the lower oil price seems to limit the downside risk for investors, upside potential could arise if the oil price elevates leading to capital gains and rising dividend payouts. Soco also has potential to put its war chest of around $100 million cash to work buying distressed assets, which could add value.

Investors buying Soco shares during May could do well if targeting a 3-5 year investment horizon.

Kevin owns shares in Soco International

Rupert Hargreaves: ITV

Shares in ITV (LSE: ITV) have fallen by 15.5% this year as investors have become increasingly concerned about the state of the traditional advertising market. However, ITV is still well placed to profit in a hostile media market where advertising rates are under pressure. 

You see, ITV has built a vast content library, which can be sold to various other networks around the world. This library is one of ITV’s most prized assets and should continue to generate a steady income stream for the company going forward. 

City analysts expect the company’s earnings per share to grow by 9% this year and a further 7% for 2017. And if the company meets City forecasts for growth, TV’s pre-tax profit will have tripled in seven years. The shares currently trade at a forward P/E of 12.7 and are set to yield 3.6% for 2016. Special dividends are also on the cards. 

Rupert does not own shares in ITV.

Roland Head: Imperial Brands

The UK’s number two tobacco firm Imperial Brands (LSE: IMB) has been trading at a growing discount to its larger peer British American Tobacco since the start of April. Imperial now has a 2016 forecast P/E of 15, compared to 18 for BAT.

With Imperial due to provide a trading update early in May, I believe this discount could turn out to be a buying opportunity. Poor sales in Iraq and Syria have contributed to a more cautious outlook for Imperial, but this bad news is now in the price. Any improvement in trading could help the shares higher.

A second attraction is that Imperial offers a 2016 forecast yield of 4.2%. That’s usefully higher than the 3.9% yield on offer at BAT. Tobacco investors eager for income could give Imperial shares a boost, as long as May’s trading update doesn’t contain any further bad news.

Roland has no financial interest in any company mentioned.

Harvey Jones: Barclays

Last year saw yet another wave of troubles hit the banking sector in general, and Barclays (LSE: BARC) in particular. Its share price collapsed by as much as 40% in a year, as its toxic legacy, trouble in Europe and global economic fears scared investors away.

There are signs that Barclays is on the comeback trail. Its stock is up 15% in the last month, helped by could-have-been-worse Q1 results, which showed the bank continuing to crawl its way out of trouble.

Quarterly profits of £793m may have been down 25% year-on-year but were still far more encouraging than the £2.1bn loss Barclays posted in Q4 2015.

April’s share price surge should cheer optimists, but realists accept that Barclays has a long way to go. Trading at 10.53 times earnings, the price looks right, but only if you are be prepared to be patient. Earnings per share are expected to fall 5% this year, then jump 42% in 2017. The rewards, including a juicier dividend, should finally flow in 2018. Far-sighted investors will hitch a ride today.

Harvey Jones has no position in Barclays.

Bilaal Mohamed: International Consolidated Airlines

International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE: IAG) is my ‘Top Stock for May’ with a compelling investment case to suit every type of investor.

The owner of British Airways and Iberia put in an excellent performance in 2015, and our friends in the City are expecting more of the same in the coming years. Analysts are talking about an impressive 50% rise in earnings this year, with a further 12% improvement pencilled in for 2017. Dividend payouts look pretty healthy, too, with yields of 4.0% and 4.7% earmarked for the next couple of years.

So the well-covered dividends should appeal to income investors, but what about the valuation? Well, IAG trades on 6.3 times forecast earnings for this year, falling to just 5.6 times for the year ending 31 December 2017. At current levels, IAG looks irresistible for bargain hunters, growth investors and income seekers alike. What more could you ask for! 

Bilaal does not own shares in International Consolidated Airlines

Alan Oscroft: Gulf Marine Services

Selling self-propelled, self-elevating support vessels to the offshore oil and gas business might not sound exciting, but it’s profitable. It helped Gulf Marine Services (LSE: GMS) to a net profit of $75m in 2015 — just 1% down on the previous year, which is a strong performance in these tough days for the oil industry.

Gulf Marine, while not providing as many new services as in fatter years, is still doing well from maintenance and existing contracts, and there’s an upturn in EPS forecast for 2017 which would put the 51p shares on a P/E of only around three!

There’s a fair bit of debt, which does throw some risk into the equation. But the company has plenty of headroom, and in a recovering oil market over the next few years there should be opportunities aplenty. The shares are down 60% over the past 12 months as investors shun anything risky in the sector, and that looks oversold to me.

Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned

Ian Pierce: Purplebricks

If there’s one industry in serious need of a shake-up, it’s the approximately £4bn estate agency market. While there are a handful of online-only companies seeking to cut out traditional estate agents, hybrid agency Purplebricks (LSE: PURP) is the one that catches my eye. This is because Purplebricks combines the low costs of online agents with its 165 ‘local property experts’.

These self-employed agents allow Purplebricks customers to have the best of both worlds: the low fixed fees of online providers as well as the know how of traditional agents. And Purplebricks fees are indeed low, coming in at an average of £1,028 per sale, far lower than the average £4,000 traditional agents charge.

 The company only went public last December and is still running a loss as it spends heavily on marketing. However, with 60% online market and growing, I believe Purplebricks is one to watch. 

Ian Pierce has no position in Purplebricks. 

Edward Sheldon: Whitbread

Whitbread is the UK’s largest hospitality company and owns both the largest coffee house in the UK – Costa Coffee – and the largest hotel chain – Premier Inn.

While Whitbread has had a strong record of growth over the last decade, the stock has fallen around 30% in the last year on concerns of slowing growth.

However, results last week revealed that revenues grew 12% in the last financial year, and the company stated that they would be raising the dividend by 10% – a signal of confidence from management. Whitbread has significant expansion plans for both Costa Coffee and Premier Inn and this could boost shareholder value going forward.

With a forecast price to earnings ratio of around 15.8, the current share price could offer an attractive entry point.

Edward Sheldon owns shares in Whitbread

Peter Stephens: National Grid

Looking ahead, the EU referendum may come into sharper focus among many investors. This could mean a ‘risk-off’ attitude prevails and defensive stocks such as National Grid (LSE: NG) may be among the top performers. That’s partly because of its robust business model and also due to it having a beta of just 0.6.

Aside from its defensive prospects, National Grid also offers a yield of 4.6% and bright dividend growth prospects, with a real-terms rise in income likely in the coming years. Trading on a P/E ratio of 15.5, it seems to offer fair value, too.

Peter Stephens owns shares in National Grid.

Dave Sullivan: AB Dynamics

One of the most difficult things to do as an investor is buy a company when the share price is either at or near an all-time high; however, that can mean missing out on substantial gains for patient investors.

One such stock that has been hitting new highs since October 2015 is a little-known sub-£100m market capped business based in Bradford on Avon called AB Dynamics (LSE: ABDP). In brief, the business is a UK-based technical engineering company engaged in the design, manufacture and supply to the global automotive industry of advanced testing and measurement products for vehicle suspension, brakes and steering both in the laboratory and on the test track.

Despite its size, the company deals with global players in the automotive industry meaning it punches well above its weight.

Additionally, management recently announced a new ‘Driver in Loop Simulator’ tie up with Williams Advanced Engineering opening further exciting opportunities over the next few years as the call for active safety systems on our vehicles increases, which leads me to believe that there is still plenty of scope for the shares to appreciate further from here.

Dave Sullivan owns shares in AB Dynamics.

Jack Tang: Ashtead

Ashtead Group (LSE: AHT) is my top stock pick for two reasons.

First, the equipment hire company has excellent growth momentum, which should lead to continued market-beating returns. Despite headwinds coming from a slowdown in oil & gas markets, the group’s recent third quarter results confirm the company is firmly on track to deliver another year of robust earnings growth. Group operating profits increased 20% to £427.4m in the first nine months of the 2015/6 financial year, thanks to strong demand from end markets and a continued focus on operational efficiency, which has been driving improving margins.

Second, the stock is a great value play. Ashtead trades at a forward P/E of just 11.1, based on analysts’ expectation that underlying EPS will grow 28% this year, to 80.0p. That’s significantly lower than the FTSE 100’s weighted average forward P/E of 15.3, and demonstrates just how cheap this fast growing stock is.

Jack has no position in Ashtead.

Royston Wild: Imperial Brands

Tobacco giant Imperial Brands (LSE: IMB) hasn’t enjoyed a particularly pleasant time of late, the firm’s share value shedding 5% of its value since the start of April.

While this number is far from shocking, I believe the market may be missing a trick here. Imperial Brands now deals on a very-attractive P/E rating of 14.9 times for the year to September 2016, thanks to predictions of a 12% earnings surge. Meanwhile, a predicted 155.4p per share payment for fiscal 2016 yields a smashing 4.4%.

And I believe Imperial Brands’ interims scheduled for Wednesday, May 4th could provide the catalyst for a fresh share price spurt.

The London firm saw volumes of revenues-driving ‘Growth Brands’ like Davidoff and West explode 7.3% during October-December, the firm announced in February. I would expect signs of further sales progression next week to boost appetite for Imperial Brands once again.

 Royston Wild has no position in this company.

The post Top stocks for May appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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G A Chester: Next

The great thing about retailer Next (LSE: NXT) — aside from its perennial popularity with shoppers — is the veteran management teams’s relentless focus on cash generation and delivering value for shareholders.
 
Over the past 15 years, the company has not only increased its dividend from 22p a share to 153p a share (with generous special dividends on top), but also bought-back more than half of its own shares. Investors have been rewarded with a tremendous return.
 
Management is adept at forecasting surplus cash from operations for each year ahead, and identifies a share price below which it sees buying back shares as the value option and above which distributing special dividends makes more sense.
 
Effectively, we have a guide to the price at which the shares might be a good-value buy. The current limit is 6,962p. The shares are trading at 6,775p. Bob’s-yer-uncle!

G A Chester has no position in Next.

Ian Pierce: Petrofac

Crude prices may not rebound to $100/bbl anytime soon, if ever, but oil services provider Petrofac is well placed to reward shareholders even at current prices. Earnings fell precipitously in 2015 due to a disastrous foray into offshore platforms but the core business remains solidly profitable. 

The company’s main customers, large Middle Eastern national oil companies, are continuing to pump the black stuff from their ageing wells at record levels. Petrofac has ridden this wave and increased revenue by 10% last year while growing its order book to a record $20.7bn.

Furthermore, Petrofac’s balance sheet is in very good health. Net debt actually decreased over the past year and the company continues to pay a 6% yielding dividend. Trading at 10 times forward earnings, Petrofac is relatively cheap, offers a solid dividend and should rebound nicely as crude prices move upwards. 

Ian Pierce has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended Petrofac.

Dave Sullivan: Tristel

Tristel (LSE: TSTL) is a UK-based manufacturer of infection prevention and contamination control products. The company operates through three segments: Human Healthcare, Animal Healthcare and Contamination Control.

The shares fell out of bed when the company announced its interim results on Wednesday last week, diving by more than 25% on the day, and further still the following day before recovering some ground to finish the week down by 20%

The fall in the share price was due in the main to a £1m share-based charge, taking investors by surprise.

However, at a recent investor presentation, management confirmed expectations for 2016 and 2017, none of which factor-in any expansion into the US market or any potential move into the public market.

The shares aren’t cheap, trading at over 20 times forecast earnings with a yield of around 2.5%. However, on a three-to-five-year basis the shares could represent a bargain at today’s prices.

Dave Sullivan owns shares in Tristel.

The post More Top Stocks For March: Next plc, Petrofac Limited & Tristel plc appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Harvey Jones: Bunzl

Three years ago, I went a bundle on specialist distribution group Bunzl (LSE: BNZL), describing it as one of the unsung heroes of the FTSE 100. It makes its money from supplying companies with a range of not-for-resale goods such as food packaging, first aid products, catering equipment, stationery, cleaning supplies, face masks and swabs, an unglamorous but profitable line of work.

Bunzl investors have had plenty to sing about since then, with its share price up 60%. Over five years, it’s up a heroic 161%. Bunzl’s aggressive acquisition strategy has driven growth, with this week’s results showing it spent a record £327m on 22 businesses in 2015. Adjusted operating profit and earnings per share leapt an impressive 7% at constant exchange rates although market response was fairly cool. Perhaps investors are deterred by Bunzl’s low 1.85% yield and pricey valuation of 22 times earnings. But that’s the price you pay for a quality stock.

Harvey Jones has no position in Bunzl. 

Royston Wild: Dixons Carphone 

Electricals colossus Dixons Carphone (LSE: DC) had a month to forget in February. The stock conceded almost 10% of its value in the period, but I believe this sets the stage for a glorious bounceback in March and beyond.

Latest ONS data highlighted the underlying strength of the British retail landscape, with sales growth of 2.3% in January representing the largest monthly increase for two years. And the release was particularly exciting for Dixons Carphone, with last month’s sales increase largely down to surging demand for ‘big ticket’ items like computers.

Predictions of a 5% earnings bounce for the year to April 2016 leave Dixons Carphone dealing on a very-reasonable P/E rating of 15.3 times. And forecasts of a 14% bottom-line bounce in fiscal 2017 drag the multiple down to a lip-smacking 13.5 times. I reckon this is a snip given the firm’s great growth prospects at home and overseas.

Fool contributor Royston Wild has no position in this company.

Peter Stephens: Imperial Brands 

With investors being rather nervous regarding global economic growth prospects, defensive stocks continue to have appeal. One stock that enjoys a wide economic moat is Imperial Brands (LSE: IMB), with its financial performance being highly resilient.

Allied to this is considerable growth potential in e-cigarettes, while the company’s key brands continue to aid earnings growth, which is expected to be 12% in the current year. This puts Imperial Brands on a relatively low price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 1.3, which indicates upside potential even after its share price rise of 22% in the last year.

Furthermore, Imperial Brands is also set to increase dividends by over 10% this year, which puts it on a yield of 4.1%. With the company’s payout ratio standing at 65%, there’s scope for further rises in dividends, making Imperial Brands a top notch income, defensive, growth and value play.

Peter Stephens owns shares in Imperial Brands.

Jack Tang: Land Securities Group 

Shares in Land Securities (LSE: LAND) have fallen by 15% since the start of 2016 as fears grow over a potential downturn in the UK commercial property market.

While there are indications that the market is indeed slowing down, such as falling investment into the sector and slowing rent rises, the property market remains resilient. The chronic shortage of high quality space available for businesses and a relatively robust UK economy underpin the positive outlook for the sector.

What’s more, Land Securities has a strong pipeline of development properties nearing completion, which positions it to benefit from further rental income growth in the near term.

I think the REIT offers a compelling buying opportunity, with shares currently trading at a 30% discount to its net asset value (NAV) and yielding 3.3%.

Jack owns shares in Land Securities Group. 

The post Top Stocks For March: Bunzl plc, Dixons Carphone plc, Imperial Brands plc & Land Securities Group plc appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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The Motley Fool Staff 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.

Roland Head: Dart Group

Jet2.com owner Dart Group (LSE: DTG) is expected to report record earnings for its current financial year, which ends on 31 March.

The shares trade on just 11 times forecast earnings for the current year, but the outlook is less certain for 2016/17. Current forecasts suggest profits could fall this year as margins drop. However, Dart Group has a habit of beating expectations, and could do so again. A trading statement in March 2015 saw the shares jump 19% in one day.

There’s reasonable downside protection, too. At the half-year point, Dart had net cash worth 158p per share. Chief executive Philip Meeson also has a 38% shareholding in the firm, suggesting that his interests should be closely aligned with those of shareholders.

Roland has no financial position in this company.

Prabhat Sakya: International Consolidated Airlines

International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE: IAG) owns the brands British Airways and Iberia. It is Britain’s leading airline, and it is my pick for March 2016.

Why? Because this company is benefitting from crashing oil prices more than any other firm in Britain. I believe that oil prices will stay low for years to come, as suppliers from the Gulf to Russia and shale oil producers in the States compete with each other to pump out more and more of the black stuff.

Crude’s historically high prices have meant that the airlines have struggled to turn a profit. But suddenly IAG and competitors like easyJet have been booming as one of their main costs has tumbled in price. And a predicted 2015 P/E ratio of 10.4, with a dividend yield of 2.61%, looks tempting. I think this one of the best long-term buys in the FTSE 100.

Prabhat owns none of the shares he has written about in this piece.

Alan Oscroft: Lloyds Banking Group

On 25 February, Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) did what everybody had hoped, and more — as well as a full-year dividend of 2.25p per share, there’s an extra 0.5p special dividend to provide an overall yield of 3.8% on a share price of 72p.

The bank did make a Q4 provision of £2.1bn to cover PPI mis-selling (which was higher than expected) to take its total charge to £16bn, helping drop pre-tax profit to £1.6bn from £1.8bn a year before. But the PPI debacle should be drawing to a close and shareholders were pretty happy — the price is up 28% since 11 February.With the dividend expected to rise to 5% in 2016, and with the shares on a forward P/E of only 8.2 (and dropping to 7.9 on 2017 forecasts), I reckon there’s plenty more to come.

Alan Oscroft owns shares in Lloyds Banking Group.

Rupert Hargreaves: Pendragon

Pendragon (LSE: PDG) is the UK’s largest publicly listed new and used car retailer.  

Pendragon is a classic case of the market moving the share price without any regard to the underlying fundamentals of the business.  Year-to-date the company’s shares have fallen by 20% despite the fact that the company announced 20% increase in underlying earnings per share and a 44% increase in the full-year dividend for 2015 two weeks ago. It seems as if the market believes these results unsustainable as 2015 was a record year for UK new car sales.

However, January saw a 3% increase in new car sales off a high base, taking the sales figure to an 11-year high. Considering this background, Pendragon’s shares look cheap as they currently trade at a forward P/E of 9.7 and support a dividend yield of 3.8%. Debt has fallen by approximately 85% during the past five years.

Rupert Hargreaves owns shares Pendragon

Kevin Godbold: Petrofac

The collapse in commodity prices is a compelling opportunity. I’m avoiding pure commodity producers, because commodity prices could slide further, and dividends seem vulnerable. However, the oil services companies provide a layer of insulation from the sharp edge of commodity price movements, because they operate further down the industry’s food chain.

I like mid-cap Petrofac (LSE: PFC), and bought shares in the firm during February. The chief executive said, “We enter 2016 with a renewed focus on our core strengths. The Group’s backlog stands at record year end levels, giving us excellent revenue visibility for 2016 and beyond.” 

Petrofac has a good trading record, a strong balance sheet, just enough financial gearing to make investment for a recovery in the oil price worthwhile, and a backlog of work that should keep it trading well through the downturn. The shares could do well through March and during the rest of 2016.

Kevin owns shares in Petrofac. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended Petrofac.

The post Top Stocks For March appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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