With property prices having surged higher over recent years, obtaining a generous yield from a buy-to-let investment is becoming increasingly difficult.
That task is further complicated by increasing taxes and the potential for regulatory change, which could lead to added pressure on landlord cashflows.
By contrast, a number of FTSE 100 stocks offer high dividend yields that could increase in the long run as their dividends rise. Here are two such stocks that could be worth buying today due in part to their low valuations.
Persimmon (LON:PSN) FTSE 100 housebuilder Persimmon (LSE: PSN) released a trading update on Thursday that showed continued progress in improving customer satisfaction scores. This could help to improve its long-term growth outlook, since it lags a number of industry peers in this area.
Although the company’s revenue declined by 4.5% to £1.754bn, it is on track to meet expectations for the full year. Since it is adopting a more targeted approach to the timing of new home sales releases on certain sites in its efforts to improve customer satisfaction levels, a drop in sales is anticipated in the short run.
With Persimmon having a dividend yield of 12% due to its generous capital return plan, it continues to offer income investing appeal. Since shareholder payouts are due to be covered 1.2 times by profit in the current year, they appear to be affordable at a time when the business has a healthy balance sheet.
While its future prospects could be hurt by continued political and economic uncertainty, the company’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 6.9 indicates that it offers a wide margin of safety. As such, now could be the right time to buy a slice of it for the long term.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) While Persimmon’s business is highly dependent upon the performance of the UK economy, Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) offers investors exposure to a wide variety of international markets. Therefore, it may provide a degree of diversity, as well as growth potential, as a result of its position within fast-growing economies around the world.
Certainly, the company has experienced a challenging period in recent years. Regulatory issues have held back its financial performance, as well as investor sentiment. Now though, the bank is forecast to post a rise in earnings of 18% in the current year. Since it trades on a price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of just 0.6, it seems to offer a wide margin of safety.
While Standard Chartered’s dividend yield stands at just 3.3% at the present time, the company’s earnings growth rate suggests that it could produce impressive dividend growth over the coming years. With dividend payments being covered 2.8 times by profit, the company could raise shareholder payouts at a brisk pace without hurting its financial standing. As such, it could become an increasingly popular income share that delivers an improving total return over the long run.
Peter Stephens owns shares of Persimmon and Standard Chartered. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Standard Chartered. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.
Motley Fool UK 2019