Don’t you love it when news is due from your favourite FTSE 100 stocks? Oh, and I see a top FTSE 250 stock too.
Maybe my life lacks excitement, but three of my top picks are due to update us in July, and they mark a few highlights of my month.
And all of them look like cheap buys to me.
Builder update
My first pick is Persimmon (LSE: PSN), set to deliver a trading update on 6 July. Persimmon shares have slid in 2023, as we face so much pain in the housing market and with interest rates.
The whole sector is down, in fact.
The Persimmon dividend is set to fall, with its special dividends cut. But we’re still looking at yields of around 6% based on forecasts.
The most recent figures we have from the sector are a bit old now. So I reckon a lot of investors will be keen to see July’s updates. We should have trading news from Barratt Developments (13 July) and Vistry (20 July) too.
I do expect more pain, and the second half could be harder before things get better.
But for the long term, this is one of my key sectors to buy in 2023. And I rate Persimmon as possibly the best pick.
Financial results
The financial sector is the other one I see as cheap this year. And we’re due first half results from one of the market’s favourites, Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY), on 26 July.
What will I be looking for? Forecasts suggest financial firms should lead the FTSE 100 in profit growth this year. And they’re set to pay a big chunk of the year’s predicted £84.8bn dividend bonanza.
So, news on the dividend prospects. I want to see that, and get a feel for anything that could damage the cash payout.
With Lloyds being the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, I want to see how provisions for bad debt are looking. And liquidity measures in general could be key.
For more news of the sector, NatWest Group should post H1 results on 28 July.
Fund management
If folks don’t have the cash to buy shares, then they won’t hand over as much money for managers to invest. That’s the thought, and it lies behind a fall in the Jupiter Fund Management (LSE: JUP) share price.
We should have H1 figures from the FTSE 250 fund manager on 27 July.
We might see a tough outlook, and the shares could dip. But I rate Jupiter as a long-term buy for income investors. What’s my reasoning? It’s really quite simple.
The UK stock market has easily beaten other forms of investment for more than a century. We might be in a tough couple of years now, but I expect it to carry on in the long term.
If that happens, money should flow back to fund managers, and they’ll be able to make nice profits and pay us big dividends. Forecasts suggest 8% from Jupiter this year.
