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Recent FTSE 100 volatility has offered me plenty of opportunities to buy cheap shares, but one thing has held me back. A lack of readies.
I love hunting around for bargain stocks but it’s not as much fun if I don’t have the cash in my account to buy them. And that’s been the case lately, with my Self-Invested Personal Pension fully invested.
I’ve just freed up £2,000 by selling a stock I wish I hadn’t gone anywhere near. I offloaded this morning, which means I can’t reveal what it is. Under strict Motley Fool trading rules, we’re not allowed to write about stocks within two working days of buying or selling them.
I’m on a FTSE 100 bargain hunt
What I can discuss is which stocks I’m keen to buy. I’ll spend a few days looking, so this isn’t a definitive list.
My first thought was to invest in two portfolio holdings I don’t regret buying, even though they’re both in the red. The first is trainer and sports retailer JD Sports Fashion, whose shares have been hit by falling consumer spending in the US, problems afflicting key partner Nike, fears over Trump tariffs, and the Budget national insurance raid on employers.
The JD Sports share price is down 31.75% over 12 months. I’m tempted to make my paper loss look nicer by averaging down. It shares look super cheap trading at just 8.33 times earnings.
I’m also tempted by another big portfolio loser, luxury fashion disaster Burberry Group. It shares are down 39.41% over the last 12 months, after sales slumped due to falling demand from China, and pretty much everywhere else. The Burberry brand also lost its way but new CEO Joshua Schulman has a credible plan to get it back on track and the shares are up 29.48% in the last month.
Trading at 12.48 times earnings, the Burberry share price isn’t quite the bargain it was. I’d happily average down on both stocks but then my £2k will have gone and I want to take my time over this. There are so many FTSE 100 bargains out there right now.
HSBC Holdings looks stunning value
There’s HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA). I don’t hold this stock but I’ve been thinking about buying it for ages. The Asia-focused bank is a money making machine. It posted a reported profit before tax of $30.3bn in full-year 2023. That was up 78% on the previous year, so it’s growing rapidly too.
The board paid share buybacks of $7bn over the year, then blithely served up another $2bn for the first quarter of 2024. Then $3bn in both Q2 and Q3, after profits continued to beat already upbeat expectations.
The HSBC share price is up 20.8% over 12 months, yet still looks great value trading at just 8.01 times earnings. Plus there’s a bumper trailing yield of 6.68%.
Why so cheap? Investors are concerned by the fears of a trade war between China and the West. The board is trying to ease their fears by dividing operations into two. Let’s see if that helps. Another concern is that falling interest rates may squeeze net interest margins.
I’ll stop right there. I reckon I’ve found the cheap share I’m going to buy. Although now I’ve written about it, I’ll have to wait a couple of days.
