While the ASX's fall of 5.5% in the first four trading sessions of 2016 is disappointing for short-term investors, it also creates an opportunity for long-term investors to buy high quality stocks at even lower prices.
Certainly, the ASX may fall further in the coming days and market sentiment could decline in the face of continued volatility in the Chinese market. However, the long-term growth story for China and the global economy is bright, with the world's second-largest economy enduring a somewhat painful transition as it seeks to be led by consumer, rather than capital, spending.
Therefore, long-term investors may wish to be 'greedy when others are fearful' (as Warren Buffett famously stated) and buy the likes of Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP) and Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC).
In the case of Domino's, it is a geographically diversified company which has operations across the globe, thereby providing a relatively resilient revenue stream. Evidence of this can be seen in the fact that Domino's has posted an annualised rise in sales of 14% during the last decade, with earnings increasing by 15.2% per annum during the same time period.
Furthermore, Domino's has expansion potential. For example, it is aiming to double the number of its stores in Asia over the medium to long term and, in markets where it already has a large presence, M&A activity is likely to pursued, such as in France where Domino's recently purchased the Pizza Sprint chain and in Germany where it initiated a joint venture last month. And, with Domino's having the scope to further diversify its menu, it has the potential to grab a larger market share of the wider fast food market in the coming years.
With shares in Domino's falling by 2% year-to-date, they are slightly cheaper than at the turn of the year and now trade on a price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 2.3. While this is higher than the ASX's PEG ratio of 1.4, Domino's resilience, expansion potential and forecast earnings growth rate of almost 30% per annum during the next two years make it a strong buy.
Similarly, packaging company Amcor has also seen its share price fall in 2016, with it being down 3% since the turn of the year. Like Domino's, Amcor has a high degree of geographic diversity and is targeting the emerging world through an acquisition strategy which recently saw it purchase a tobacco packaging operation in Brazil as well as a specialty packaging operation in India.
Such purchases position Amcor for the strong growth in demand for consumer goods (and their packaging) which is expected to take place over the long term due to rising wealth in developing nations. And, in the shorter term, Amcor is forecast to increase its bottom line by 8.6% in the 2017 financial year. This makes its premium price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.3 (versus 15.7 for the ASX) appear to offer fair value, especially given its track record of growing earnings by almost 16% per annum during the last five years.
Moreover, with Amcor having a beta of 0.85 and Domino's having a beta of 0.81, both stocks could prove to be less volatile than the wider index during a bear market. As such, buying them now at discounted prices seems to be a sound move for long term investors.
