Last year was a lacklustre one for the FTSE 100 — but not if you followed the share tips from the Standard’s crack team of stock pickers. The Standard City portfolio returned almost 20% in 2023. Today we offer our recommendations for the star share price performers in 2024.
DFS
DFS took a hammering in 2023. Shares in the furniture store had rallied during Covid as locked-down Brits forced to spend hours on the sofa realised it needed replacing. But this surge in demand in 2020 and 2021 was just brought-forward purchases from 2022 and 2023. Add to that interest rate rises making furniture finance unfavourable and the stock has now sunk some 60% from its 2021 peak of 300p.
I’m betting this warped sales pattern will end in 2024, while cooling rates will mean more houses being bought — and you can’t move in to new digs without somewhere to sit. Tipped at 116p. Simon Hunt
YouGov
Even if 2024 was not set to be an election-packed year across the globe, pollster YouGov would look interesting.
The Aim-listed firm now takes much of its turnover from corporate market research, so should benefit from tech’s recovery, where it does a lot of data analysis for the major streaming platforms. Whilst there has been talk of YouGov quitting the London exchange, that’s not an immediate concern when the stock is trading at a cheap price to earnings ratio of 15. That’s well off its historical average and looks good value. Tipped at 1145p. Lucy Tobin
The Prudential
This year I suggest the Prudential, which is now mostly an Asian focused insurer with some offices here. It has been in the doldrums a long time, a lot of investors have given up on the Far East, which means the Pru has a low valuation.
It would be a great acquisition for a major financial institution out there and could have deals up its own sleeve. Price: 820p. Simon English
Urban Logistics
There is plenty for property investors to have a bet on in 2024, but one potentially safer gamble is eyeing the unglamorous world of industrial real estate.
With Savills forecasting occupier demand for prime high-quality and highly rated London warehouses could push up values of property in this sector in the capital by 17.5% by 2028, Urban Logistics may be worth a look at. The firm has a solid tenant base and has 30 sites in the South-East. With the share price currently hovering at 122p per share, down from a peak of 199p in April 2022, it could be an attractive time to shop for sheds. Joanna Hodgson
Weir Group
FTSE 100-listed engineer Weir supplies the equipment and spares needed by mining customers to extract metals in a more sustainable and efficient way. As demand increases for copper, cobalt or nickel in order to keep up with net zero targets, Weir looks well positioned to benefit from structural growth trends.
Its large aftermarket share of revenues provides resilience and the Glasgow-based company has just upped its margin target to 20%. Shares rose by 14% last year, with a strong order book meaning there’s good chance the positive trajectory will continue in 2024. Shares are tipped at 1902.5p. Graeme Evans
Spirent Communications
Investors in the once high-flying Crawley-based telecoms testing company endured a torrid year in 2023. A profit warning brought on by a downturn in spending in China — one of its biggest markets — sent the shares diving in October. They have recovered slowly but steadily since then, but are still no higher than they were five years ago.
A global economic recovery and the long-term ramp-up of investment in 5G networks around the world should underpin a pick-up in sales — and the share price, which is currently 118p. On top of that it is just the sort of London-quoted British company that could get taken out by private equity at a fat share price premium. Jonathan Prynn
Berkeley Group
As the London property market’s biggest single developer, Berkeley Group looks well-placed to harness the pent-up demand when interest rates fall in 2024. Its long-serving CEO Rob Perrins has pledged to return profit not redeployed into the business to investors, in effect giving the FTSE 100 firm a strong foundation to its investment case.
And with mortgage rates already coming down, the stock is already looking like good value after a torrid 2023. With home loans becoming more affordable, the Cobham-based builder is also well-placed to benefit from planning reforms to boost the use of the brownfield development sites in which it specialises. Tipped at 4704p. Michael Hunter
Playtech
The market's been betting against gambling software giant Playtech ever since a takeover bid collapsed two years ago, amid a wave of bad news including a scary-sounding legal fight. But the shares have slid so far that it looks like something’s been forgotten — Playtech still makes an awful lot of money. Compared with profits, and its rivals, the firm looks a bargain: not many tech firms trade at a single-digit price-to-earnings ratio.
Why should market sentiment change in 2024? Well, buried in recent reports of a bid for 888 was a key nugget — the board’s looking at splitting Playtech in two. A serious step in that direction will prompt investors to see this undervalued share in a new light. Tipped at 431p. Daniel O’Boyle
