We have some interesting company updates coming our way in September. Some of them are dividend stocks, and I’ve been thinking about which ones might be undervalued now.
One of them is Vistry Group (LSE: VTY). Formerly Bovis Homes, the housebuilder has seen its share price slide this year.
Vistry will post first-half results on 8 September, and I suspect they’ll be pretty decent. I’m basing that on the interim updates we’ve already had from Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon in August.
Both reported a healthy start to 2022, despite rising interest rates. The full effects of inflation won’t be seen for a while yet, though. So we might not actually see any improvement in housebuilder share prices in the second half of the year.
Vistry, meanwhile, is on a forecast dividend yield in excess of 6%. And after an H1 share buyback programme, it doesn’t seem to be short of cash.
Investment
Before that, though, on 2 September, we’ll have full-year results from Ashmore Group (LSE: ASHM). Ashmore is an investment manager specialising in emerging markets. And, like the whole investment sector, its share price has been suffering.
The sector could suffer more pain on two counts. Firstly, a lot of investors are withdrawing funds from equity investments. And secondly, as stock values suffer, investment managers lose out in performance-related fees.
Ashmore’s dividends don’t offer the highest yields on the market. But they have two things going for them. Last year’s was more than twice covered by earnings, so I see a safety buffer there.
And if the same 16.9p payment is maintained this year, it would yield 8%. I think there’s a fair chance the final dividend might be reduced. But the company already maintained its interim dividend at 8p per share.
Solar
My final pick is Foresight Solar Fund (LSE: FSFL), and we should have first-half figures on 15 September. Foresight is different from the other two — its share price has risen in 2022.
The investment company puts money into solar power farms in the UK, Australia, and Spain. And it’s got to be sunny in at least one of those countries, right? Seriously, though, the weather does bear on the efficiency of solar power.
But Foresight isn’t one of those ‘jam tomorrow’ renewable energy hopes. No, it’s making profits and generating cash to pay dividends. Forecasts suggest a yield of around 5.4% for the current year, even after the share price rise.
We are still in relatively early days for the industry, and I suspect there could be a little volatility in the medium term. But I see a decent candidate for a long-term investment here.
Second half
The big hurdle facing all three of these companies is the second half of 2022. More specifically, the big unknowns regarding just how bad the economy might get before things improve.
So I’d be wary of making any investment decisions just on these upcoming events. But I will use them as a basis for further research.
