When it comes to consumer staples, the UK has a clutch of larger stocks which look relatively high quality bets for the investor. Note however that many UK consumer stocks are still comparing unfavourably in terms of their metrics versus peers in other markets.
This could reflect that the UK economy has continued to underperform since Brexit and the end of the pandemic. While many larger consumer stocks have decent non-UK revenues, they still rely heavily on UK consumer sales for much of their bread and butter.
Here are five high quality UK consumer staples stocks that you should be keeping tabs on.
J Sainsbury plc [LON:SBRY]
Shares in Sainsbury's have been doing well this summer, up 6.7% over the last month and 15% in the last six months. They had been oversold and now seem to be making something of a comeback with a £3 price easily realisable in the new few weeks. Despite a net loss in the last set of results, the market seems to have liked the revenue increase of 4.2% and there was a significant increase in earnings per share. Sainsbury's does in fact compare very well against its close European peers and merits further attention. The cash dividend and share buyback program seem to be helping to move the stock. If anything could be said to be holding Sainsbury's back, it is the balance sheet.
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Anglo-Eastern Plantations [LON:AEP]
Shares in Anglo-Eastern Plantations have been dropping since May, but the fundamentals look good and the current PE ratio under 5x makes the company start to look very attractive indeed. Anglo Eastern operates palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia but is also involved in areas like biomass and biogas. It also produces rubber. Investors seem to have focused in on the decline in revenue in its last set of results, but we believe the company could represent a potential turnaround story. The latest set of numbers from the company came out a week ago, and here we was a pick up in profits thanks to a reduction in fertilizer costs and an increase in the value of biological assets.
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