Colin McLean's 3 Stock Picks

Colin McLean, manager of the SVM UK Growth fund, gives his three stock picks for long term returns

Emma Wall 10 March, 2017 | 2:25PM
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Emma Wall: Hello and welcome to Morningstar. I'm Emma Wall and I'm joined today by Colin McLean, Manager at the SVM UK Growth fund to give his 3 Stock Picks.

Hello Colin.

Colin McLean: Hello.

Wall: What's the first stock you'd like to highlight today?

McLean: I'm going to highlight DCC (DCC) which is a business that moved into the FTSE 100 in early 2016. It's involved in a distribution of a fuels and has moved in some – into some other areas more recently. It's an Irish business originally, but now operates globally.

Wall: And why do you like that stock?

McLean: We like the stock because, we like management of it and the management have delivered organic growth with some acquisitions for more than 15 years, so it's been a very steady consistent, growing business. And what's interesting about that sort of company as it's grown, it's moved up till eventually getting into FTSE, but it doesn't get a lot of coverage, so there are still a lot of analyst still got to pick up on this.

Wall: And what's the second stock you'd like to highlight?

McLean: Another stock that features in our portfolio is Ashtead (AHT), which is involved in the plan, are very large in the U.S. We like the fact that it's got a U.S. earnings, a dollar earnings, we're positive on the currency. But it's benefiting from some trends that are happening in the U.S. and certainly we'll benefit more as infra stock share picks up and spending there picks up. So, it's got a lot of opportunity from the recovery in the U.S. economy and the areas in particular I think that President Trump is going to try and boost.

Wall: Because the cross currency has been a very positive impact on companies that are listed in the U.K. but perhaps earnings elsewhere over the last six months. But Trump is an unknown so how concerned are you about that uncertainty?

McLean: I think the President will have difficulty in delivering 4% or 5% growth rates. That's going to be quite difficult from an economy with low population growth. But I think you can reorient the economy a bit and I think for businesses say like Ashtead, I think that's probably going to be a positive. So, I think the U.S. will continue to grow quite strongly. And it's almost getting to quite a tight position in terms of labor. So, I think shows just how good that recovery has been since 2008.

Wall: What's your third and final pick?

McLean: My final pick is also a theme, and we own a number of gaming stocks, say stocks like Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) which came into FTSE last year from a merger and also GVC holdings which is involved more in infrastructure prevention and service into the gaming industry. These mergers point out an industry that is institutionalising as the company's merge, the risk reduce, they are diversifying out of some of the areas that might have be more questionable and regulatory environment.

So, it's letting them broaden into a much more secure environment, some cost cutting and some cross-selling. So, it's quite an interesting industry, that's not so well researched or followed, and there are some very dynamic businesses and GVC Holdings would be one of those.

Wall: Colin, thank you very much.

McLean: Thank you.

Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
Ashtead Group PLC6,182.00 GBX0.42Rating
DCC PLC5,590.00 GBX-0.53
Flutter Entertainment PLC21,350.00 GBX2.74Rating
SVM UK Growth Retail  

About Author

Emma Wall  is former Senior International Editor for Morningstar

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