How To Buy J Sainsbury (SBRY) Stocks & Shares (2024)

Q3 Trading Statement, 6 January 2024

• Q3 retail sales up 6.5% (exc fuel), up 4.4% inc fuel with fuel sales down 7.2%

• Q3 grocery sales up 9.3% year-on-year

• Q3 general merchandise sales down 0.6% over same period

• Christmas general merchandise sales down 3.7% year-on-year

• Q3 clothing sales down 1.7%, Christmas clothing sales down by 6%

• Profit before tax for 2023/24 expected in range £670m – £700m

J Sainsbury plc is a UK-based merchandiser and retailer company. The company operates through three segments: Retail – Food, Retail – General Merchandise & Clothing, and Financial Services, with the latter including Sainsbury’s Bank plc and Argos Financial Services.

The company’s brands include Argos, Habitat, Tu and Nectar.

The company has over 600 supermarkets, more than 800 convenience stores, and a workforce of more than 152,000.

Here’s what there is to know about buying and selling J Sainsbury stocks and shares.

Tax treatment depends on one’s individual circ*mstances and may be subject to future change. The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, any form of tax advice.

Why consider owning stocks?

It’s worth asking yourself why you want to buy shares. Are you looking for capital growth, income from potential dividends or a combination of both? Your investment objectives should determine what type of shares you invest in, whether high-growth technology shares or more defensive companies with a potentially reliable dividend stream.

Most investors look for sound fundamentals, including a track record of consistent earnings growth, a strong market position, or products or services with future growth potential. These should provide a solid platform for future share price growth.

That said, other factors such as takeover rumours can drive up a company’s share price. Investors may also be attracted by recovery plays, with a depressed share price providing the potential for a rebound.

How to buy stock

Once you’ve decided which company to invest in, there are several steps to buying shares.

1) Open an account

Whether you’re a seasoned share trader, or new to stock-market based investments, you’ll need to open an account with a regulated brokerage to buy shares in Sainsbury’s.

Stockbroking is a competitive marketplace and services for DIY investors come in a range of guises – from online trading platforms run by some of the biggest names in financial services, to investment trading apps that work off your smartphone or tablet.

Before opening an account, bear in mind the following:

• Keep your ultimate financial goals in mind
• Be prepared to ride out stock market ups and downs
• Aim to keep trading costs to a minimum
• Remember that share investing can prompt tax charges, for example, when selling part of your portfolio, unless you use a tax-efficient wrapper such as an individual savings account or ISA.

And before buying any shares, it’s worth asking yourself these questions:

• Should I take professional financial advice?
• Am I comfortable with the level of risk in question?
• What’s my investing budget?
• Do I understand the company in which I’m looking to invest?
• Am I protected if my platform/adviser goes out of business?

2) Where is J Sainsbury traded?

The ticker symbol for Sainsbury’s is SBRY. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange which is open for trading from 8am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

3) Do your research

To find out more about Sainsbury’s, visit the company’s online investor relations page.

It is also worth comparing Sainsbury’s valuation to other comparable supermarket companies. One way of doing this is to look at the relative price-earnings, or P/E, ratios – shares trading on a high P/E have high expectations of potential future growth.

Another useful research tool can be brokers’ 12-month share price forecasts, which are available on financial websites. There are a number of brokers following Sainsbury’s shares, and their price forecasts give an indication of the upside and downside potential of Sainsbury’s share price over the next year.

4) What’s your investing strategy?

People tend to invest in one of two ways: either with a lump sum purchase, or via, smaller steadier amounts over time.

The latter method benefits from a process known as ‘pound cost averaging’, a stock market technique which helps you pay less per share on average over time in falling stock markets. Rather than waiting to build up a lump sum, it also means an investor’s money can be put to use in the market straightaway.

Note that drip-feeding an investment may sacrifice capital growth if the share price is rising and you will also pay more in share-trading fees.

5) Place an order

Once you’re ready to buy Sainsbury’s shares, log in to your investing account or trading app. Type in the SBRY ticker along with the number of shares you want to buy or the amount of money you’re looking to invest.

Many brokers allow you to add a ‘stop loss’ once you have bought the shares, which allows you to limit your losses should a share price fall.

6) Review Sainsbury’s performance

Whether your share portfolio is crammed full of companies or holds only a handful of stocks, it’s vital that you review how each component is performing on a regular basis: monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Doing this gives you the opportunity to review performance and consider whether any adjustments to your holdings are required – to maintain the status quo, buy more stock, or sell existing shares.

How to sell stock

At some point, you may want to sell your holdings. To do this, log in to your investing platform, type in the SBRY ticker and select the number of shares you want to sell.

Note that if you’ve made a substantial profit, you may be liable for CGT. The CGT tax-free allowance for the tax year 2022-23 is £12,300, reducing to £6,000 from 2023-24.

How to invest in Sainsbury’s via a fund

Investing directly in individual stocks can be an absorbing and, hopefully, profitable experience. It may also qualify you for shareholder perks specific to the company in question.

Investing directly in companies can, however, leave you more vulnerable to stock market volatility and unforeseen swings in share prices.

That’s why financial experts recommend that most people invest in a diversified mix of asset classes and funds that hold a ready-made portfolio of upwards of 50 different company shares.

Being a large UK corporation that features on the FT-SE 100 stock market, Sainsbury’s is found in many UK equity and index tracker funds.