Image source: BT Group plc Few expected BT (LSE:BT.A) to deliver the market-beating share price gains we’ve seen in 2025. This is a FTSE 100 company with persistent sales troubles and a balance sheet packing lots of debt. Yet the stock’s risen an impressive 22% in value so far this year. That beats the broader FTSE index‘s 17% rise over the period. Can BT shares enjoy more substantial price gains in 2026? One especially bullish analyst does — in fact, they think the telecoms giant will surge 77% between now and next December, to 312p per share. Is this just…
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Image source: Getty Images Artificial intelligence (AI) is only of limited use in helping investors decide which FTSE 100 stocks to buy. All it does is trawl the internet for facts and opinions, then bundle them into something that sounds authoritative but lacks true insight. To be fair, AI seems to understand its own limitations. So when I asked ChatGPT a really stupid question, it was ready for me. Here’s what I wrote: Can you tell me the best FTSE 100 stock to buy, please? It replied: “I can’t honestly tell you there’s a single ‘best’ stock to buy today, because…
Image source: Getty Images IAG (LSE: IAG) shares have been the hottest property on AJ Bell over the last week. According to data from the broker’s platform, the stock in International Consolidated Airlines Group (to give it its full name) was bought more than any other by account holders. The number of buys over the seven-day period for the British Airways owner accounted for more than one in every 20 purchases made! So what’s going on here? Why are so many investors snapping up these shares? Cheap The first thing to point out here is that the share price has…
Quarterly reporting is often blamed for corporate myopia, an overemphasis on meeting short-term earnings expectations at the expense of long-term value. Most US companies operate on investment cycles measured in years, not quarters, and investors often price stocks on even longer earnings horizons. In this context, changing reporting frequency does little to shift managerial behavior, while incentive structures — particularly executive compensation cycles — exert far greater pressure on short-term decisions. The question for financial analysts is whether reducing reporting frequency would improve long-term decision-making or simply weaken transparency and market efficiency. The evidence shows that it would not, and…
Image source: Getty Images I’ve already got one eye on next year, hunting around for the big themes and which growth shares could outperform the rest of the market. Even though I’m still building my list, I thought it would be worth checking in with ChatGPT to see if the AI bot had some ideas that I might have missed. The answer was pretty surprising. A rather generic pick ChatGPT told me that if it had to pick one high-conviction growth share heading into 2026, it would select Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). In terms of reasoning, it spoke about how the company…
Image source: Getty Images The FTSE 100 might be made up of the largest companies by market cap, but that doesn’t mean some stocks can’t fly under the radar. This is especially true when hunting for income stocks. By looking at future dividend forecasts, some can appear more attractive with careful research. Distracting with share price gains One I’ve spotted is M&G (LSE:MNG). At the moment, the dividend yield sits at 7.41%. Over the past year, the share price is up an impressive 35%. To begin with, some might wonder why I think this stock is flying under the radar…
Image source: Getty Images At the start of 2025, I saw various reasons to be concerned about where the stock market might go. 2025 is not over yet, but so far we have avoided a stock market crash April did see a ‘correction’, commonly defined as a sudden fall of 10% or more, whereas a crash requires 20% or greater. The FTSE 100’s 11% fall in the first week of April now feels like a distant memory. Indeed, since then, the flagship UK share index has risen 26%. But is the British economy 26% stronger than in April – or…
As we approach closer to 2026, investors may be looking for new ways to make passive income. I believe buying shares is one great way to achieve this. This is because investors only need to research the companies they’re invested in, not manage them. One tax-efficient way to buy shares for this purpose is to use a Stocks and Shares ISA. You can invest up to £20,000 a year into one, and the dividends received are be tax-free. Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The…
Image source: Getty Images I love the idea of earning an effort-free passive income. Who doesn’t? With a Stocks and Shares ISA — the world’s best investing product, in my view — the chances of achieving this can be exponentially higher. The investing ISA combines two powerful forces: the wealth-creating potential of the stock market, and protection from damaging capital gains, dividend and income taxes. With one of these products, a five-figure second income to supplement the State Pension is closer than it sounds. But how large would your ISA need to be to deliver this kind of return? Please…
Image source: Getty Images The FTSE 100 currently has nine stocks trading at single-digit price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios. A P/E ratio is a quick way of telling us how much the company is earning compared to the price we pay to buy shares in the company. The metric is many an investor’s first stopping point when seeking the cheap shares that can provide handsome returns. For context, the FTSE 100 average P/E ratio is around 19 at the moment. The (American) S&P 500 is as high as 29. Therefore, these three Footsie stocks, all with a P/E below 10, could be…