I think these FTSE 100 shares may blast off next year following recent price weakness. Read on.
Berkeley Group
Conditions have been famously tough for the housebuilders lately. Higher interest rates have hammered affordability for borrowers and sales of newbuild homes.
Things have been especially tough in Britain’s capital. This is reflected in London-focused Berkeley Group‘s (LSE:BKG) share price slump. So far in 2024 it’s fallen by a fifth.
Could the tide in London be about to turn, however? Analysts at Rightmove think so. It’s predicting the “beginning of [a] price resurgence… with the fundamental pull of the capital for both workers and international buyers predicted to start to reassert itself“.
With a return to office working likely to boost demand, it thinks home price growth in the capital will either match or maginally beat the broader UK average.
In an encouraging early sign, Berkeley said on 6 December that it had “seen a slight uptick in recent weeks“. This fits with conditions reported by other major housebuilders recently.
The business rightly remains cautious looking ahead. But with further Bank of England action tipped — Rightmove estimates there could be as many as four rate reductions in 2025 — things are looking much rosier for the homebuilders.
City analysts are tipping Berkeley Group’s share price to rebound in 2025. The 17 analysts with ratings on the housebuilder have assigned a 12-month price target of £48.05 per share.
That’s up 21% from current levels. I think now could be a great time to consider opening a position.
Antofagasta
Predicting the near-term share price movements of mining stocks is challenging. Commodities prices can be highly volatile, impacted by a multitude of related supply and demand issues alongside external factors like currency movements.
However, I think copper stock Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO) could well spring back to life in 2025. It’s down 4% in the year to date as China’s economy — a significant consumer of the red metal — has struggled.
City brokers share my optimistic take. Nineteen analysts have slapped a 12-month price target of £19.05 per share on the FTSE 100 miner. That’s a 16% premium from current levels.
Falling global interest rates, allied with ongoing economic stimulus in China, could lift prices of industrial metals in the New Year. But for copper, there are more specific factors that might pull it higher.
One is the pace at which electric vehicle sales (EV) are rising. This might be significant, as these low-carbon cars use between 2.5 and 4 times more copper than petrol-powered vehicles.
Researchers at Gartner expect 85m EVs to be on the road at the end of 2025. That’s up a whopping 33% from this year’s predicted levels. Some analysts think this number could be even higher.
Copper demand could also surge if sectors like artificial intelligence (AI), renewable energy, and telecoms continue their breakneck growth.
As one of the world’s top 10 red metal miners, Antofagasta’s well positioned to capitalise on booming demand. And it could deliver impressive profits growth over the longer term if price-boosting copper supply shortages worsen.
This post was originally published on Motley Fool
