The FTSE 100 appears to be trading sideways at the moment, hovering around 6,000 points, while bullish buyers and bearish sellers tussle for control. Sentiment is all over the place.
But at times like this, there are still some unbelievable FTSE 100 bargains to be had.
Value focus
In all this back and forth share price flux, I’m maintaining my long-term value investing outlook. It’s founded on the wisdom of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. Both say that short-term fluctuations will make solid companies cheaper than they have any right to be.
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And buying good companies at historically low price-to-earnings ratios? That is the time when private investors will make their best investments.
I’m still swerving away from speculative punts in tourism and travel. I’m not going anywhere near Carnival cruise lines or easyJet. Instead here are two high-yield FTSE 100 dividend bargains in sectors I think will bounce back stronger.
FTSE 100 finance
The short-term concern for the insurance industry is the costs that have to be paid out for the coronavirus claims. I’m more focused on the fundamentals of Legal & General (LSE:LGEN), the market-leading pension fund investor and full-service financial business. Is it a solid company? Yes, if a recent 174% solvency ratio is anything to go by. Are profits, revenues, earnings per share, and dividends trending higher long term? Legal & General ticks all these boxes.
Short-sellers — those who place bets on company share prices to fall — have tried to push down the Legal & General share price under 180p in recent weeks, but it keeps bouncing back.
Remember the last week in April? Doom-mongers placed big bets that the financial services giant would follow Lloyds, Barclays, and RBS to cancel its 2020 full-year dividend. They got their fingers severely burned when LGEN kept its payout promise. And the yield remains a hefty 9% today.
We are in for shaky times ahead. I have no doubt of that. But as the economy recovers over the next 18 months, the Legal & General share price will rise. In the meantime, I’m delighted to be able to increase my shareholding at a bargain P/E ratio of just 6.
FTSE 100 housing
At a share price under 500p, FTSE 100 housebuilder Barratt Developments (LSE:BDEV) remains 43% cheaper than it was in February 2020.
On a 5.9% yield and a P/E ratio of 6.7, the shares are historically cheap.
UK housing markets are only just starting to reopen. So an investment here may be too early for the more cautious among you. But I’d say there is clear pent up demand.
Barratt has confirmed it is eligible for Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 corporate financing facility. This supports firms “deemed to be a material contribution to the UK economy” by buying from them one-year redeemable debt notes, offering vital operating capital for those who take it up.
The £5bn FTSE 100 business restarted building on 11 May. That’s two days before the government greenlit estate agents to reopen, and allowed the estimated 450,000 renters and buyers planning moves pre-lockdown to start up again.
Uncertainty about how long it will take for this sector to recover is keeping prices low. But again — think strategically, and think long term — and you are more likely to profit from what I think are FTSE 100 dividend bargain shares.
