Mortgage Advice Bureau (LSE: MAB1) has endured a bad start to 2022 amid heightened fears over rising interest rates. The financial services share has lost 21% of its value since this year’s trading began and was last trading at £11.50.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that investors have been heading for the exits. Even with that recent share price weakness Mortgage Advice Bureau carries a meaty valuation. For 2022 the business trades on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 24.9 times.
Increasing interest rates have the potential to significantly dampen the housing market and, by extension, mortgage activity. If this happens then Mortgage Advice Bureau, with its chunky earnings multiple, could see its share price plummet.
A rock-solid homes market
It’s my opinion, though, that recent share price weakness could represent an attractive dip buying opportunity for me. So far trading news from the firm has remained encouraging and in January it said that “the underlying fundamentals driving levels of consumer demand for housing and mortgage products remain strong”. That’s despite the removal of the Stamp Duty holiday in the second half of 2021.
There’s been a wealth of other data highlighting the robustness of the British homes market too. This week, building society Nationwide said that house prices were up 12.6% year on year in February, speeding up from the 11.2% rise recorded a month earlier.
Fresh trading updates from some of London’s listed housebuilders have also illustrated the resilience of homebuyer demand today. Today Taylor Wimpey declared that “demand for our homes remains strong.” While on Wednesday its FTSE 100 rival Persimmon claimed that “the new year’s trading has started well” and lauded its “robust forward sales position.”
Critically Taylor Wimpey also suggested that homebuyer activity will remain solid even if interest rates rise. The company stated that while “further rises in the base rate are anticipated this year, we expect affordability to remain good and the cost of servicing a mortgage to remain attractive compared to the cost of rental.”
Strong profits and dividend growth on the cards?
My main concern for Mortgage Advice Bureau is that homes supply may fail to match the scale of demand. This imbalance could have an adverse impact on the amount of work it’s required to do.
Yet despite this threat, City analysts expect the company’s earnings to keep growing. Current forecasts suggest profits will soar 22% and 18% in 2022 and 2023. Pleasingly this leads to predictions of spectacular dividend growth as well. Mortgage Advice Bureau is predicted to pay a 34.7p per share dividend in 2022, up from an anticipated 28.4p for last year.
The good news keeps coming too as the full-year payout for 2023 is expected to leap to 40.9p. This drives the dividend yield from a healthy 3% for this year to an improved 3.6% for next year. I think Mortgage Advice Bureau is a great dividend growth share to buy right now. I think it could prove to be a terrific income stock for me for years to come too. I’d buy.
The post 1 of the best dividend growth stocks to buy today! appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
Inflation Is Coming: 3 Shares To Try And Hedge Against Rising Prices
Make no mistake… inflation is coming.
Some people are running scared, but there’s one thing we believe we should avoid doing at all costs when inflation hits… and that’s doing nothing.
Money that just sits in the bank can often lose value each and every year. But to savvy savers and investors, where to consider putting their money is the million-dollar question.
That’s why we’ve put together a brand-new special report that uncovers 3 of our top UK and US share ideas to try and best hedge against inflation…
…because no matter what the economy is doing, a savvy investor will want their money working for them, inflation or not!
Best of all, we’re giving this report away completely FREE today!
Simply click here, enter your email address, and we’ll send it to you right away.
More reading
How changing jobs could cost you up to £25,000 in pensions savings!
Stock market crash: 4 crazy tales from this latest meltdown!
1 cheap FTSE 250 stock I’d buy for its 6% dividend yield
5 investment secrets from your junior ISA
Parents watch out! 125,000 Child Benefit claimants owe money to HMRC
Royston Wild owns Taylor Wimpey. 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.
