It wasn’t a surprise to see UK shares of all shapes and sizes sold off brutally during the crash of early 2020. Covid-19 infection rates were heading through the roof and the global economy was entering uncharted waters. Panic is infectious and causing some truly irrational bouts of selling. Even shares that traditionally perform well in times like these, like gold stocks, plunged deep into the red.
FTSE 100 colossus Bunzl (LSE: LON:BNZL) was one of those UK shares to lose plenty of blood. It even toppled to six-year lows of £12.77 per share during the depths of the stock market crash.
However, Bunzl’s share price recovery has been truly staggering. This UK share’s more or less doubled in value during the following five months. As I type, it’s trading at £24.85 per share and perched within spitting distance of last April’s record tops, north of £25.
Bouncing from the stock market crash Bunzl’s rocketing share price shows why buying after stock market crashes is so important. They allow you and I buy great UK shares at rock-bottom prices as everyone else panics and sells everything in sight. You can then watch them rocket in value as emotions calm and their excellent value becomes apparent.
I’m certainly pleased I didn’t sell my Bunzl shares as the market crashed. In fact, I argued that the broad range of essential products and services this UK share provides — and in particular its range of critical medical and hygiene goods — would allow it to thrive and help its share price to bounce back.
Half-year results released today have rewarded my faith. Bunzl smashed broker expectations by reporting that revenues and pre-tax profits rose 7% and 17% in the six months to June. And it lauded the significance of “the breadth of the customer sectors and geographies the Group operates in and the wide range of products supplied,” along with sales of Covid-19-related items like masks and disinfectants and products at its grocery businesses.
Getting rich with UK shares Bunzl’s share price performance in 2020 has proved the wisdom of stock market geniuses like Warren Buffett. If you’d followed the Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) of Omaha’s instruction to “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful” and bought Bunzl shares in March, you’d have made spectacular returns already.
Buying shares after stock market crashes is essential if you’re serious about getting rich by investing. The rocketing number of ISA millionaires over the last decade — individuals who bought UK shares during the depths of the 2008/2009 financial crisis and watched them soar in value as economic conditions improved — provides perfect evidence of this.
But it’s not too late to go dip buying following the 2020 market crash. There remain many terrific UK shares that continue to trade below value. And The Motley Fool’s epic library of special reports and articles can help you find them and make a fortune.
The post Stock market crash: this rocketing FTSE 100 stock shows why NOW is the time to buy UK shares appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
Royston Wild owns shares of Bunzl. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. 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 2020
First published on The Motley Fool
