LONDON — The FTSE 100 is on a bit of a slide, having dropped 1.3% to 6,336 points today to continue a recent downtrend. However, it’s still a long way from its 52-week low of 5,260 points set a year ago. In fact, it’s up 22% since then, so we really shouldn’t worry too much about the gloomy headlines.
But things aren’t so good for some of our companies, with a few falling to new lows. Here are three from the indexes that are struggling.
Anglo American plc (LON:AAL)
Anglo American plc (LON:AAL) shares are still sliding, as the firm’s exposure to the struggling iron-ore market is hurting it more than some of its sector compatriots. Since the start of June, the slump has been accelerating, and the shares hit a 52-week low of 1,430 pence this morning — they climbed back a bit to close at 1,440 pence.
What I can’t help wondering about Anglo American plc (LON:AAL) is whether the shares are now oversold. Sure, there’s a fall in earnings per share of 7% forecast for the year to December 2013, but that puts the shares on a forward P/E of only 10.5, and there’s a 3.7% dividend yield forecast that should be well-covered. Forecasts for 2014 drop the P/E to just nine.
Greggs plc (LON:GRG)
High-street baker Greggs plc (LON:GRG) has had a hard time over the past year, with the shares now down about 20%. The price hit a 52-week low of 396 pence in May before recovering to nearly 420 pence, but it’s on the way down again — it hasn’t gone quite as low as it did last month, but at 398 pence it’s pretty close again.
Forecasts for Greggs plc (LON:GRG) suggest a fairly large fall of 12% in EPS, putting the shares on a P/E of 11.5 — lower than the FTSE average, but not outrageously so. But there’s a dividend yield of 4.8% being forecast, which is a pretty good return. There’s no guarantee it will be paid, of course, but the payout was lifted by 1% for 2012, and forecasts indicate a cover of about 1.8 times for this year.
Rockhopper Exploration Plc (LON:RKH)
Shares in some of our oil and gas explorers are struggling, too, especially those involved in the Falklands area, like Rockhopper Exploration Plc (LON:RKH). Rockhopper Exploration Plc (LON:RKH) has seen its shares plunge by more than 50% over the past 12 months, with the price touching on a low of 129.5 pence yesterday and closing just half a penny above that today.
At interim results time in December, chairman Pierre Jungels opined that the company is set “to continue along the value creation path that I’ve set out in previous statements and begin to address the under performance of the current share price” — and an AGM resolution passed on Tuesday enables the board to repurchase the firm’s shares, should favorable circumstances arise.
The article 3 FTSE Shares Crashing to New Lows originally appeared on Fool.com.
Alan Oscroft has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
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