Given the rally into the Christmas holiday period that investors enjoyed in December, many investors went off on their summer vacations in good spirits and expecting the market to reopen in January with some positive momentum behind it.
How wrong that assumption has turned out to be!
Since the first day of trading for calendar year 2016 the market has closed lower on all but one of the 10 trading sessions. As it stands, the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has lost over 9% so far in 2016 with the opening of trade on Monday suggesting investors will need to brace for another lower close today.
Arguably the market turmoil has created some enticing buying opportunities.
Here are three stocks which all hit new 52-week lows last week and which arguably might now be attractively priced.
1. Ainsworth Game Technology Limited (ASX: AGI) – many analysts have favoured the outlook for peer Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) in recent times and that viewpoint has proved correct with Ainsworth's share price having slumped around 20% in the past 12 months, while Aristocrat's has soared 44%.
With Ainsworth hitting a new low however, value seekers may feel that they are being more than adequately compensated for the weaker earnings outlook. Based on Thomson Consensus forecasts for financial year (FY) 2016, the stock is now trading on a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 12.5 times.
2. AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) – like most other financial service providers, AMP's share price is always going to struggle during bouts of market turmoil. Given the link between equity market levels and revenues this cyclical scenario can be exploited by savvy, long-term investors.
With a consensus forecast for 2015 (AMP operates on a calendar year basis) of 38.5 cents per share, the new low means the stock is trading on a prospective PE of 13.4 times.
3. National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) – with the exception of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ), NAB had the worst performing share price of the big four banks over the past 12 months. With NAB's share price trading at a fresh low of $26.75 this morning, the forecast earnings of $2.54 imply a PE of 10.5 times.
The question on everyone's lips right now is just how much further this market shakeout has to run…. nobody knows for sure but as Winston Churchill once said "never let a crisis go to waste."
