Today, I’m looking at two hot growth stocks that have surged in 2018. I own both companies in my personal portfolio so I’m pleased to see that both stocks have recently broken out to new all-time highs. Is it too late to buy these stocks now?
JD Sports Fashion
JD Sports Fashion (LSE: JDS) is a company that I have long been bullish on. I like the company’s exposure to brands such as Nike and Adidas and I also like the international expansion story. So I’m pretty pleased with the stock’s recent performance as it is up 50% this year and it has jumped 17% since I tipped it as my top stock for July less than two months ago. These are impressive returns when you consider that a number of businesses across the UK high street are pretty much on life support right now. The fact that the stock has recently broken out to new highs suggests that investors are bullish here. Is it too late to buy now?
When I covered JDS back in late March, the shares were trading at around 350p and with analysts forecasting earnings per share of 23.5p for the year ending 28 January 2019, the forward P/E was 13.7. I saw considerable appeal at that valuation. However, fast forward to today, and the stock now trades on a forward P/E of 19, despite the fact that the consensus earnings forecast has risen to only 27.1p per share. On that P/E, there’s less value on offer, so I’m inclined to rate JD as a ‘hold’ for now. I still like the growth story here but the shares don’t offer as much value as they have in recent months.
GB Group
Another growth stock that I have historically been bullish on is identity specialist GB Group (LSE: GBG). I named it as a ‘blockbuster growth stock for 2018’ back in late December when it was trading at around 430p and since then the shares have risen to around 625p, for a year-to-date gain of approximately 45%. Like JD Sports, the stock has recently broken out to new all-time highs. Should investors jump on the growth story now?
GB released a positive AGM statement in late July that showed that the company continues to advance. The group advised that during the first quarter of the year it secured a number of contracts and that it was now working with the likes of Aldi and Hugo Boss in Germany, Indonesia’s fourth-largest bank BNI, and money transfer company MoneyGram. It also advised that it had made a “good start to the year” and that it was on track to deliver results that are “in line with market expectations.”
I continue to see a lot of potential in the growth story here as identity theft is such a big problem. However, the shares are certainly not cheap at present as they are now trading on a forward P/E of 43. With that in mind, I see GBG as a ‘hold’ too right now. This is a stock to buy on the dips, in my view.
