The Stocks and Shares ISA deadline day is just a couple of weeks away. To maximise my current year allowance, I want to try and invest any surplus funds I have before then. After the clock resets, I have another 12 months using my fresh allowance. Within my ISA, I don’t have to pay any capital gains tax when I sell stocks from that year (or indeed stocks I’ve held for years within the ISA). So before the deadline kicks in, here’s what I’m thinking about two stocks in particular.
A FTSE 100 stock I’d buy
A company that I’m considering to buy for my Stocks and Shares ISA is WPP (LSE:WPP). This is a large multinational advertising company. Within the scope of advertising also comes public relations, media and other elements. The share price is up 88% over the past year.
I like the business because, for my ISA, I’m looking for sustainable companies for the long run. The nature of advertising means that it’ll always be demanded by clients. Sure, the medium might change away from TV and more towards mobile or other channels, but given the size and scale of WPP, it can have fingers in all of these pies.
This has been seen over recent years. If I ignore the large impairment taken on during 2020, the business weathered the pandemic well. Revenue was only down by 7.3% versus 2019. During the year it also managed to reduce net debt by £0.8bn at a time when a lot of other firms were increasing debt levels.
The risk here is any knock-on impact of the £3.1bn impairment charge taken on recently. This was charged as a reduction in the value of acquisitions it had made pre-Covid. If further reduction in valuation happens, this would likely also reduce the value of the share price.
One I won’t buy for my Stocks and Shares ISA
Despite the recent rally in the share price of Cineworld (LSE:CINE), I’d stay away from it as a stock for my ISA. It may be up over 100% in the past 12 months, but this ignores the crash of early March 2020.
The impact of the pandemic has been drastic on the cinema operator. We’ll see the extent of it on Thursday when full-year results are released. Regardless of the loss, I’m staying away. Even if sites can reopen in May, I think people will be very cautious about going back to the cinema.
Large releases have been postponed until later in the year anyway. For example, the next James Bond movie is now due on screens in September. So I think this summer will continue to see low occupancy, compounded by a desire to be outside and to socialise.
Even if Cineworld can get through to the end of 2021, I think the fundamental business model of a traditional cinema operator is going out of fashion. Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are continuing to see large sign-ups.
Of course, given that the stock is so cheap, my risk of not buying could be a huge missed opportunity. It could easily generate high returns for an investor willing to take the risk of a turnaround in coming years due to the low valuation currently.
