You've heard all about how shares are now inflated and there are no bargains left.
But there are also experts saying the market will continue to rise, thanks to low interest rates and economies recovering from COVID-19.
So if equities are expensive but will rise, what the heck do you buy?
Redpoint chief executive Max Cappetta runs a quantitative model for his Tax Aware Australian Share Fund, and reckons he's found a good one.
"One of the stocks we've had an eye on and we have a position in at the moment is Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX: RWC)," he told The Motley Fool's Ask A Fund Manager this week.
"We see that it's a stock that currently is on track to probably double their earnings from 2018. And yet is still trading at 30% below the price that it traded at its highs in 2018."
Image source: Getty Images
So what does Reliance Worldwide do?
Unlike the technology and green energy shares that have taken off in the past couple of years, Reliance is in a decidedly old world industry.
"They're a plumbing business essentially – rather quite boring," said Cappetta.
"They're sort of behind the walls. You don't really see their product. It just sort of happens in the background."
The fund manager admitted the plumbing supplies industry doesn't have the growth glamour currently favoured by investors.
"It does remind me a little bit of the 1999-2000 period, both here in Australia and offshore, where everybody was about clicks and order as opposed to bricks and mortar," Capetta said.
"A lot of the old school businesses, certainly their growth profile is maybe not as strong as some of these IT and tech stocks. But if they are trading at an attractive valuation and can grow earnings meaningfully over the next 2 or 3 years, then I think they do have a part to play in people's portfolios and can deliver the good returns."
Why does Reliance have a bright future?
Reliance is expected to benefit from the infrastructure spending and government support that will get economies out of the pandemic doldrums.
The company operates multiple regions, which gives it room for growth.
"Their plumbing products will be in great demand. [That] really supports their growth here in Australia, in the United States and also a growing business through Europe," said Cappetta.
"It's one of the stocks that we think at the moment is underappreciated. They did have a very good half-year update the other day, which the market responded to quite positively. And we expect for that positive sentiment to continue in the near term."
Cappetta added Reliance is ready to profit from recent investments.
"While they've been around really for many decades, over the last 5, 10 years the company has been quite acquisitive, both in Australia and internationally," he said.
"What we saw in their financial statements from last year is really a strong positioning in terms of all of those transactions that they've put together into the business – now actually starting to build momentum and causing incremental profit growth the way that we actually like to see it."
At the time of writing on Tuesday afternoon, Reliance shares are up 6.29% to $4.48.
The company was founded in 1949 and currently has a market capitalisation of $3.54 billion.
