Top 5 FTSE-listed shares for July

Summary

• Investing in the stock market can get better returns in the long term than a savings account.
• Some stocks that could be worth noting include Bloomsbury, Auto Traders, among others.

Investing in the stock market could be greatly rewarding. If you know which stocks to choose, the returns from investing in the market would be more than what you would make on a savings account in the long run.

Here are five hot stocks that are making all the right noise this month.

Bloomsbury Publishing (LON: BMY)

The shares of the publishing company that published the Harry Potter franchise have a one-year return of 77.34 per cent. The shares have a market capitalisation of £277.47 million and a dividend yield of 2.60 per cent.

For the year ended 28 February 2021, the revenues of the company increased by 14 per cent to £185.1 million from £162.8 million a year ago. Profit before tax jumped 31 per cent to £17.3 million compared to £13.2 million a year ago. It also announced a final dividend worth 7.58 pence each share compared to 6.89 a share a year ago. It announced a special dividend worth 9.78 pence per share.

Reach (LON:RCH)

The shares of the digital publishing company have a one-year return of 314.25 per cent. The shares have a dividend yield of 1.36 per cent and a market capitalisation of £948.56 million.

In a trading update for the four-month period till 25 April 2021, the company said that year started on a good note as print and digital both segments performed slightly better than expected. New registrations stood at 6.2 million compared to 5.8 million, seen at the beginning of March. The company’s digital revenue increased by 35 per cent, though total print revenue fell 10.4 per cent, and circulation dropped 7.9 per cent.

Auto Trader (LON: AUTO)

The automotive classified advertising company’s shares have a one-year return of 25.99 per cent. The shares have a market capitalisation of £6,359.10 million.

For the year ended 31 March 2021, the company’s revenue fell 29 per cent to £262.8 million from £368.9 million a year ago. Trade revenue fell 31 per cent to £225.2 million from £324.3 million a year ago. The company said this happened primarily due to a decision to give free advertising to their retail customers in the months of April, May, December and February and in June at a much lower rate. Consequently, the profit before tax fell 37 per cent to £157.4 million from £251.5 million.

Bunzl (LON:BNZL)

The shares of the multinational outsourcing company have a 16.58 per cent one-year return. The shares have a dividend yield of 2.09 per cent and a market capitalisation of £8,812.57 million.

The company said the group’s revenue is expected to increase by 6 to 7 per cent at constant exchange rates in the first half. The company’s acquisition of Comax generated £14 million in revenues in 2020. Its other acquisition Harvey Distributors made revenues worth AU$7 million.

Pearson Plc (LON: PSON)

The shares of the multinational publishing company have a one-year return of 46.74 per cent. The shares have a dividend yield of 2.37 per cent and a market capitalisation of £6,257.10 million.

For the first quarter of 2021, the company’s underlying revenue growth was of 5 per cent due to good progress from the repositioning of its business. Global Online Learning increased 25 per cent. Though, English Language Learning fell 4 per cent because of the continuing impact of Covid-19 on English.