[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Diageo (LSE:DGE) shares have really kicked off 2026 in style. They’ve risen an impressive 12% in value, much to the relief of beleaguered investors like me. This recent strength has reduced losses over the last 12 months to 16%. Someone who bought 101 shares in the FTSE 100 company a year ago would have seen the value of their investment drop from £2,173 to £1,823. Dividends of just under £86 would have helped take the edge off, however. While Diageo still faces enormous challenges, I think we could be seeing the start of a heroic…
Author: user
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images In turbulent economic times, the defensive nature of companies on the FTSE 100 can be highly attractive to investors looking for safe passive income. The last year or two might have been the beginning of a sea change in this regard, with 2025 going down as a banner year for the Footsie. London’s leading index bagged a 21% return (with dividends on top!), even outgunning the AI-heavy S&P 500. It’s 5% ahead of it so far in 2026 too. With many believing that more economic bad weather might be forming on the horizon, is the…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images I’m trawling for additions to this year’s Stocks and Shares ISA and simply can’t get past Barclays (LSE: BARC). I’m dead keen on the FTSE 100 bank, but have a nagging doubt: is this the wrong moment to jump in? Five years ago was a cracking time to snap up Barclays. The shares are up 196% since then. Even buying 12 months ago would have been smart. The stock’s climbed 56.5%, with a 1.87% trailing yield thrown in. We all know past performance is no guide to the future, but can’t help drawing conclusions anyway. When I…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images GSK shares are doing really well at the moment. Year to date, they’re up about 20%. There’s another UK healthcare stock that’s performing far better in 2026, however. This year, it’s up almost 40%. An exciting health stock The stock I want to highlight today is hVIVO (LSE: HVO). It’s a small London-based healthcare company that specialises in services for clinical trials and lab testing. Today, it provides end-to-end early drug development services to some of the largest biopharma companies in the world. To date, it has completed around 2,000 trials. At present, this stock…
[ad_1] Image source: National Grid plc One of the reasons some investors like buying energy distributor National Grid (LSE: NG) shares is the income potential. The shares currently yield 3.4% — and the company aims to grow its dividend per share each year in line with a key measure of inflation. If it can deliver on that goal, it could mean that someone buying some National Grid shares today could effectively have them pay for themselves over the course of time, thanks to dividends. How much might 100 of the shares earn in dividends? For example, at the moment, what…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Think of a UK growth share, any UK growth share! It might sound like something a magician would ask an audience member from the stage. Unfortunately, the UK market has not been able to pull incredible growth shares out of the hat in recent years on anything like the scale of US-listed stocks such as Nvidia or Alphabet. But while the London market does not offer many tech shares with big market capitalisations, there are plenty of other growth opportunities to consider among smaller-scale listed businesses. New tech for old tech As an example, one…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images BP (LSE: BP) shares look to me like one of the more compelling dividend income opportunities in the FTSE 100. With high cash generation and strong forecast earnings growth, future dividend yields may be much higher than many investors assume. So what sort of dividend income could the company deliver, and what will drive it? Earnings and cash‑flow drivers BP’s recent Q4 and full-year 2025 results showed annual operating cash flow at $24.5bn (£17.9bn), despite softer commodity prices. This was supported by record operational performance: upstream plant reliability hit 96.1% and refining availability reached 96.3%.…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Barclays (LSE: BARC) shares look mispriced to me given the strength of its recent performance and the scale of its upgraded ambitions. It has delivered rising income, firmer profitability and a clearer path to higher returns. Yet it still trades at a big discount to its closest peers and to its ‘fair value’. With analysts expecting steady earnings growth and management committing to substantial capital returns, how high could the shares go? Earnings growth drivers The engine driving long-term rises in any company’s share price is earnings (‘profits’) growth. A risk for Barclays is tough…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images There are a lot of FTSE 100 shares that could do well in 2026. However, there’s one type of stock that looks poised to do particularly well and that’s ‘HALO’ stocks. No idea what a HALO stock is? Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything below (and highlight one I like the look of today). What are they? HALO is a new term coined by Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO and CNBC contributor Josh Brown. It stands for ‘heavy assets, low (chance of) obsolescence.’ Stocks with these characteristics have come into focus recently as fears over AI disruption…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The FTSE 100 has surged recently. Earlier this year, it hit 10,000 for the first time ever. Could the large-cap index go on to hit 11,000 this year? I think it’s possible – here’s why. The investment environment is changing For much of the last decade, the FTSE 100 has struggled. Because investors have been mainly focused on technology and growth stocks (particularly in the US). The Footsie mainly consists of ‘old economy’ companies like banks, insurers, oil companies, miners, and consumer goods businesses. So it has been ignored by a lot of investors. However…