Liberum Securities’ portfolio of ‘invincible’ stocks for the downturn has been whittled down to just seventeen names.
The stockbroker, in a note, said the portfolio had been “whipsawed” once again in the month of June as the commodities, natural resources and cyclical stocks took their turn in the firing line.
“We never had so few stocks on the Invincibles list as this month. The number of UK stocks drops from 43 to 17 and the number of European stocks drops from 48 to just 5,” said analyst Joachim Klement.
It leaves remaining ‘picks’ such as Standard Chartered PLC (LSE:STAN), Man Group PLC (LSE:EMG), Imperial Brands PLC (LSE:IMB) and Homeserve PLC (LSE:HSV).
Other names among Liberum’s remaining ‘invincibles’ were Compass Group PLC (LSE:CPG), BH Macro (LSE:BHMG), JLEN Environmental Assets Group Ltd (LSE:JLEN), Mediclinic International Plc (LSE:MDC), Vivo Energy PLC (LSE:VVO), and Telecom Plus PLC (LSE:TEP).
The broker’s list also included aerospace and defence names Meggitt PLC (LSE:MGGT) and QinetiQ Group PLC (LSE:QQ.), as heightened geopolitical tensions are expected to translate into bigger defence budgets, elsewhere, transport shares Go-Ahead Group PLC (LSE:GOG) andTrainline PLC (LSE:TRN) were highlighted by the broker as well.
British Gas owner Centrica PLC (LSE:CNA) was another stand-out name for Liberum.
Commentating on the past few weeks, meanwhile, analysts Joachim Klement and Susana Cruz said: “in June and July the market focused on the economic consequences of high inflation and rapid monetary tightening.
“Recession is the theme of the day and that means that demand for commodities is likely to drop sharply, taking commodity stocks with it.”
“The winning trade of 2022 has been to buy energy and mining stocks and stick with them.”