The stock markets have run-up so much in the past year, that many FTSE 100 stocks look quite good right now. Not all of them will make good buys for the next decade, however, a time horizon we like here at the Motley Fool. But some will, as always, stand out. Like these three stocks.
Unilever: FTSE 100 consumer goods giant
Unilever (LSE: ULVR) has had a really poor past year at the stock markets. Its stock price has performed miserably and when I look at its price chart, its trend line is flat. The pandemic of course impacted it and more recently, I reckon that rising inflation could be making investors jittery about it. At the same time, I just cannot overlook its solid performance.
In 2021, its underlying sales growth was the fastest in nine years and its earnings rose too. It also has positive expectations for this year. Its earnings could be impacted by “very high input cost inflation” as it says in its latest update, but it expects things to get better in the second half of the year. And as a big consumer goods company, I think it will continue to perform over the next years as well. I have not bought the stock, but I think 2022 is the year I will.
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Smurfit Kappa Group: FTSE 100 growth stock
In direct contrast to Unilever is the packaging provider Smurfit Kappa Group (LSE: SKG), whose share price has doubled in less than five years, before falling back a bit. Even now, it has come a long way from 2017, though! It was a high performer even before the pandemic, but Covid-19 might just have been the big turning point for it. As lockdowns necessitated e-commerce, we all know by now how the sector boomed. And Smurfit Kappa grew with it too. This year might be a bit tricky for it, considering that it is impacted by high cost inflation too. But, a dip might just be a good time to buy this promising stock that I have long regretted not buying earlier.
Segro: warehousing biggie
If Smurfit Kappa’s performance is solid, Segro (LSE: SGRO) is even better. Its share price has almost tripled over the past five years. And I think it is quite likely that the best is yet to come. Segro also benefits from the strong surge in online shopping and it is expanding fast as a result. As a real estate investment trust (REIT), it is a bit of a challenge to compare its market valuation with non-finance stocks, but if I do consider its price-to-earnings ratio, it does look incredibly cheap at 3.6 times. There is always the possibility that the company’s growth could slow down when we are finally past the pandemic. But I reckon that would only be a relatively short-term correction. And here I am talking of stocks that I can buy and hold for the next decade. It is one stock I will definitely buy this year.
