A stock market crash always triggers mixed emotions. There’s the obvious gloom and worry. I don’t like seeing the value of my Stocks and Shares ISA holdings fall. Yet for long-term investors like me, there’s a positive.
A stock market crash is also a massive opportunity to buy FTSE 100 shares at a discount. It means that most (if not all) of the companies I have been monitoring are suddenly going cheap, or at least cheaper than before. It’s like a massive seasonal sale, for shares. I’m not doing this to make a quick profit, I’m looking to buy shares that I will want to hold for years and years. Decades, ideally.
Naturally, this risky. Typically, every stock market crash is triggered by bad news, either economic or political. Right now, the big worry is skyrocketing inflation. Consumer price growth is heading into double digits all over the world, including the UK.
That will force central bankers to hike interest rates and taper bond purchases, putting an end to the era of easy money. For the last quarter century, investors have been relying on US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and others to effectively backstop their portfolios, by stepping in with stimulus at every wobble. They did it after the financial crisis, and again in the early stages of the 2020 Covid pandemic. Central bankers can no longer do that. In this stock market crash, investors are on their own.
Despite that, I would take advantage of any market crash in the days ahead to deploy some of my £20,000 Stocks and Shares ISA allowance. I would target individual FTSE 100 shares that are falling through no fault of their own. When shares fall across the board, investors sell indiscriminately. The good get dumped along with the bad. It’s the good shares I want to buy, which is why I’m doing my research now.
I’m looking for stock market crash bargains now
I’m trawling through the FTSE 100 looking for shares trading at low valuations and, ideally, with high dividend yields too. When I have selected a few, I will examine their recent company reports. I will look at how reliable their earnings are, and how reliable dividend growth has been over the years. I will also check to see whether profit margins are rising, and if they are climbing consistently.
That will give me a feel for how well each company can withstand a stock market crash. I will also look at the external threats they face from competitors. Do they have a strong defensive ‘moat’ to protect themselves from rivals? Are they vulnerable to a cheap and cheerful new entrant, with a lower cost base? This takes time but, as I said, I’m looking for shares I will want to hold onto for decades, ideally.
Do they have pricing power which will allow them to pass on inflationary costs to customers? If the answer to these questions are broadly positive, then I would line them up as potential buying opportunities in the next stock market crash.
I suspect it won’t be far away, given the gloom out there right now.
