Times of woe can be great for those prepared to take a bit of a risk when looking for growth bargains, and I’ve been trawling the FTSE indices to see what potential I can find. Here are three that I’m getting good feelings about:
Small oily
Invest in a small oil explorer now? Am I mad? Maybe, but I’ve been looking to see what’s wrong with Indus Gas (LSE: INDI) and why its shares are valued so lowly, and I can’t see it. We’re not looking at a loss-maker here, no: Indus has been in profit for several years and there’s a near doubling of EPS expected for the year just ended, which would put the 108p shares on a P/E of just 10.
That expectation is based on the firm’s Indian resources, with last December’s Competent Person’s Report suggesting the presence of 872 billion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas! That’s a lot of gas, but even that hasn’t pleased the punters over the past 12 months as the shares have lost 70% of their value.
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Indus isn’t one to bet the farm on, but I reckon a small punt could easily turn into a multibagger.
Telecoms wealth
I have to confess to taking my eye off the ball with AdEPT Telecom (LSE: ADT), which I really liked the look of a few years ago. I let it slip off my screen — and the share price has rocketed by nearly 1,300% in the past five years! That included a 126% rise in the past 12 months alone, and yet at 265p the shares are still on a P/E of a modest 15 with further growth predicted.
It’s growth with a good track record too. The year to March 2015 brought in the firm’s twelfth consecutive year of increased underlying EBITDA, with a rise of 13.5% — and it’s that kind of steady growth that builds into the big money.
Dividends only commenced in 2013 with 1.5p paid, but by this year shareholders saw 4.75p, and 6.7p per share by 2017 is currently forecast. The early massive share price appreciation is surely over, but AdEPT looks like it’s set for long-term profits.
Picks and shovels
My third choice is Gulf Marine Services (LSE: GMS), which provides various sized floating barge things to the oil industry in the Gulf. Not too exciting, you might think, but I’m seeing a picks and shovels business that has serious potential over the long term, especially when oil starts to recover.
Right now, Gulf Marine is on a valuation that’s so low it looks silly to me, with forward P/E multiples of just 6.8 for the year to December 2015, dropping to only 5.5 based on 2016 forecasts. And it’s currently profitable, with H1 revenue this year up 8% on 2014, although adjusted EPS did fall a little in line with a forecast full-year drop. But forecasters expect a return to growth in 2016, and there’s a unanimous Strong Buy rating on the shares from the analysts.
