Latest news with #BarclaysPLC
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Microsoft (MSFT) Deal with Barclays to Introduce 365 Copilot to 100,000 Employees
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the best wide moat stocks to buy now. On June 9, it was announced that London-based financial services giant Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) plans to introduce Microsoft 365 Copilot to 100,000 employees as AI takes center stage at enterprises. A Microsoft representative said: 'Microsoft 365 Copilot will be integrated into the bank's own colleague productivity tool, creating a single agent that enables employees to access the bank's broad ecosystem of collaboration tools, portals and online resources all from one place, making it simpler to find information, improve productivity, and enhance employee experience,' These AI-powered tools include an AI agent, which assists employees with different tasks, a content search feature that is personalized according to an individual's profile, and Colleague Front Door, an agentic dashboard powered by Microsoft Viva. Image by Tawanda Razika from Pixabay The massive deal was rolled out after a pilot deployment of Microsoft 365 Copilot across 15,000 Barclays employees. Microsoft offers a comprehensive portfolio of software, cloud infrastructure, and hardware devices. Its primary offerings include Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, Windows, and Xbox, driving strong enterprise and consumer adoption worldwide. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Globe and Mail
10-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Barclays Plans to Trim IB Workforce by More Than 200 to Reduce Costs
Barclays PLC BCS intends to reduce 3% of its workforce in the investment banking (IB) division in the upcoming days. This is part of CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan's plan to boost the division's profitability. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Details of Barclays' Job Cut Plan More than 200 employees in IB, global markets and research will likely be affected. These would also include managing directors, among the most senior roles. These job cuts aim to expand the bank's capability to invest in priority areas, one of the people familiar with the matter stated. Barclays has been focused on gaining market share in European rates, equity derivatives and securitized product trading. During its investor update last year, the company stated that these efforts are anticipated to boost revenues by £500 million by 2026. In IB, the company is aiming to grow its revenues from equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, with a specific focus on the health care, industrial, technology, and energy transition sectors. While it is prioritizing growth in other areas, Barclays remains committed to its transatlantic IB model, despite ongoing investor pressure over the years. A Barclays spokesperson stated, 'Like other banks, we regularly assess our talent pool as part of our routine operations to ensure ongoing investment in key focus areas.' Rationale Behind Barclays' Move This move aligns with Barclays' ongoing efforts to improve efficiency through streamlining business operations and focusing on core businesses. In April 2025, it announced a collaboration with Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. to transform its payment acceptance business. Further, in February 2025, it divested its Germany-based consumer finance business. In November 2024, the company acquired Tesco's retail banking business and changed its operating divisions effective in the first quarter of 2024. Over the past six months, Barclays shares have gained 36.3% compared with the industry 's growth of 23.1%. Currently, BCS carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Streamlining Efforts by Other Global Banks Last week, a source familiar with the matter said that Citigroup C will cut about 3,500 jobs at two of its technology centers in China by the start of the fourth quarter of 2025. The reduction will take place at the China Citi Solution Centres in Shanghai and Dalian. Most of the jobs that are being cut are full-time. Citigroup mentioned that some of the roles would be moved to its technology centers elsewhere without specifying the number of jobs or locations. The move is part of the bank's strategy to simplify and reduce its global technology operations to improve data management. Similarly, after shutting its retail banking business in the United States in 2021, HSBC Holdings PLC HSBC is now set to close its business banking division in the country. This announcement comes amid the company's ongoing business simplification efforts and accelerated shift toward the Asia and Middle East regions. This was first reported by Reuters. This move will likely affect nearly 4,500 HSBC clients. The bank will aid the impacted clients in transitioning to a suitable alternative provider and will continue to serve some clients in the Mid-Market and Global Network Banking Business. Only $1 to See All Zacks' Buys and Sells We're not kidding. Several years ago, we shocked our members by offering them 30-day access to all our picks for the total sum of only $1. No obligation to spend another cent. Thousands have taken advantage of this opportunity. Thousands did not - they thought there must be a catch. Yes, we do have a reason. We want you to get acquainted with our portfolio services like Surprise Trader, Stocks Under $10, Technology Innovators, and more, that closed 256 positions with double- and triple-digit gains in 2024 alone. See Stocks Now >> Click to get this free report Citigroup Inc. (C): Free Stock Analysis Report Barclays PLC (BCS): Free Stock Analysis Report HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC): Free Stock Analysis Report
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Barclays PLC (BCS): Among Cheap Rising Stocks to Buy Right Now
We recently published a list of the 10 Cheap Rising Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we will look at where Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) stands against other cheap rising stocks in which to invest. On May 2, US stocks notched their longest winning streak since 2004 as the United States and China signaled a willingness to have trade talks. The broad market index rose 1.47%, which helped it erase the losses since the Trump administration announced reciprocal tariffs on April 2. READ ALSO: ChatGPT Stock Advice: Top 12 Stock Recommendations and 11 Worst Performing Stocks in S&P 500 So Far in 2025. Trump told Time magazine on April 22 that his administration was engaged with China on striking a tariff deal. The US president also said he expects announcements on many other trade deals to be made over the next three to four weeks. During an interview with NBC on May 2, the US President stated that tariffs on Chinese imports will eventually be lowered: At some point, I'm going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them. They want to do business very much … their economy is collapsing.' Jay Hatfield, founder and chief investment officer of InfraCap, believes the worst of the uncertainty around tariffs is over. He shared the following remarks while talking to CNBC: 'The confusion about whether there's really talks going on with China or not took some steam out of the market. Our view is that we've reached peak tariff tantrum and so it's likely to be more positive than negative.' A spokesperson for China's Commerce Ministry has said the country is currently assessing proposals shared by Washington to begin trade negotiations. Analysts view the statement as a subtle shift in tone from Beijing that could potentially open the door for talks on tariffs. The stock market has also received a boost from the latest jobs data shared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The American economy added 177,000 new jobs in April. While this was slightly down from 185,000 jobs in March, the gain was still stronger than the average pace of monthly job growth in the last three months, which reflected the resilience of the US job market. An investor looking at a stock chart, representing the bank's securities dealing. For this article, we sifted through screeners to identify stocks with returns of 10% or more over the past 30 days, a forward P/E ratio of less than 15, a trailing P/E ratio of less than 15, and a P/B ratio of under 1. From there, we picked the 10 stocks with the lowest forward P/E ratio and ranked them in descending order. All data is as of the close of business on May 5, 2025. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). 30-day returns: 24.37% Forward P/E ratio: 7.26 Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is a diversified bank with five divisions: Barclays UK, Barclays UK Corporate Bank, Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, Barclays Investment Bank, and Barclays US Consumer Bank. In April this year, the company announced a strategic partnership with Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. to transform and expand Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS)'s payment acceptance business. Under the agreement, the two firms will work together to create a standalone entity. Barclays plans on investing around £400 million in the business, mainly during the first three years of the partnership. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) reported a beat on profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2025. It posted a pre-tax profit of £2.7 billion and income of £7.7 billion, both coming above analysts' expectations. The results were driven by strong investment bank performance, whose income increased by 16% year-over-year. The company generated a return on tangible equity of 14%. While talking to CNBC on April 30, CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said that he expects high market volatility moving forward due to ongoing trade tensions. However, he also sees this as an opportunity to profitably help clients manage their risks in uncertain times. 'It's calmer now but I imagine it will continue to go up and down. Beyond that, as you've seen in our results, that market volatility helps us help clients manage their risk, we can do so in a profitable way that helps them as well and helps markets income, as long as you manage your risk well.' With returns of over 24% over the past month and a low forward P/E ratio, Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is among the cheap rising stocks to buy right now. Overall, BCS ranks 7th among the 10 Cheap Rising Stocks to Buy Right Now. While we acknowledge the potential of BCS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BCS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Barclays PLC (BCS) the Best Undervalued UK Stock to Buy Right Now?
We recently published a list of the . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) stands against other best undervalued UK stocks to buy right now. The global markets entered 2025 in the hope that the bullish run of the fourth quarter will continue in the first quarter of 2025. However, the uncertainty due to the tariffs led to the reversal of all gains made in the fourth quarter leading to a loss of 4.5%. However, on the positive side, the UK and the European market saw some excellent returns during the first quarter of 2025. Rory McPherson, the Chief Market Strategist of Wren Sterling, noted that the first quarter of 2025 was the best quarterly return quarter for the UK market since 2022. For the European market, it was their best quarterly return in over a year. The performance of the UK and the European markets was based on several factors. Firstly, for Europe, the approval of a 500 billion Euro infrastructure fund and the lifting of restrictions on defense spending in Germany helped take the overall European market higher. This was also backed by the continued stimulus from the Chinese government to help fire up the engines of China and Germany. On the other hand, the UK market mainly benefitted from the better-than-expected corporate earnings, particularly from the banking sector. The UK's banking sector reaped the advantage of its diversification, followed by its cheaper valuations, and increased profitability. As per Wern Sterling's report, the UK banking sector grew its earnings by 30% year-over-year during the first quarter of 2025, which was similar to the growth of the Magnificent Seven in the United States. On top of this, the sector benefited from its extremely cheap valuation as compared to the top US stocks. The report also highlighted that the UK's banking sector is using its excess cash to buy back stocks and increase dividends which makes it even more lucrative for shareholders. On April 24, Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor, joined CNBC to talk about the impact of tariffs on the UK's economy. He segregates the impact of tariffs into two portions, which are the impact on growth and the impact on inflation. He said that unfortunately, if we talk about the impact on growth, tariffs will have an impact in the longer run due to the closed nature of the global economy. Bailey elaborated that if we reduce the trade and openness of the global economy it directly impacts the growth trajectory of the economy. On top of this, there is the uncertainty effect which has led CEOs and consumers alike to postpone investment decisions. He noted that the UK already has a high saving rate, which shows that the people are simply uncertain about the economic and policy conditions that are restricting them from making investment decisions. In terms of the inflationary impact, Bailey remains confident that the tariffs are not having an inflationary impact. He explains that inflation factors in a lot of other indicators, for instance, if trade with the United States is restricted the economy can redirect its exports to other markets. On the other hand, retaliation from the UK government could also lead to a deflationary impact. To conclude, Bailey is more concerned about the impact of tariffs on growth as compared to inflation. He noted that the UK administration not only needs to address the supply and demand side issues related to growth but also has to tackle the trade issues with effective policies. To curate the list of the 11 best undervalued UK stocks to buy right now, we used the Finviz stock screener, Seeking Alpha, and Yahoo Finance as our sources. Using the screener we aggregated a list of UK stocks that are trading below the Fwd P/E of 15. Next, we cross-checked the Fwd P/E of each stock from Seeking Alpha and earnings growth from Yahoo Finance. Finally, we ranked these stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that hold stakes in them, as of Q4 2024. Please note that the forward P/E data was collected on April 23, 2025. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). An investor looking at a stock chart, representing the bank's securities dealing. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is a financial services company based in London, United Kingdom. It operates as a diversified bank that provides a range of services including personal and retail banking, corporate banking, investment banking, wealth management, credit cards, and more. The bank has a presence in more than 50 countries around the globe. On April 17, Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) announced entering into a strategic partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to transform the company's payment acceptance business. Under this partnership, the company will invest around £400 million within the first three years to accelerate its business transformation. In addition, Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) has already been working on executing its three-year strategic plan, which resulted in a Return on Tangible Equity of 10.5% for the year, which exceeded the guidance of 10%. Moreover, the profitability before tax also improved to £8.1 billion, after improving by 24%. On April 7, J.P. Morgan analyst Kian Abouhossein maintained a Buy rating on the stock. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is one of the best undervalued UK stocks to buy right now. Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) in its Q4 2024 investor letter: 'We bought global bank and financial services provider, Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS). We expect shares to benefit from a recovery in global capital markets and net interest income (NII) growth driven by macroeconomic hedging and asset flows. The bank is also planning to expand its investment banking advisory business. Moreover, its U.S. credit card business presents opportunities for either a potential sale or a quicker earnings recovery. Taken together, we see a reasonable path for Barclays to pursue its return targets, which include the distribution of £3 billion and £10 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases between 2024 and 2026 and achieving a return on tangible common equity of about 12%.' Overall, BCS ranks 8th on our list of best undervalued UK stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of BCS to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BCS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. 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Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Barclays PLC (BCS) The Dirt Cheap Stock To Invest In Now?
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) stands against other dirt cheap stocks to invest in now. The stock market has been experiencing volatility and has quickly shifted from the post-election highs to being priced for recession. As of April 8, the S&P 500 had declined 19% from the all-time highs. The magnitude of this fall is slightly shy of the bear market threshold, thereby creating a sense of confusion for the investors to pave their way forward. To talk about the investment strategy during times of volatility, Prime Capital Financial CIO Will McGough joined Yahoo Finance on April 11 for an interview. McGough noted that they have been telling their clients and advisors to prepare for the volatility before the start of 2025. This is partly due to the new regime in Washington DC and its policies. However, more importantly, the market has had two really great years with more than 20% gains back to back, as a result, the price-to-earnings ratios were extended to historical extremes and earnings growth was delivering around 15% to 20%. These figures suggested that the market was almost at its peak with very little upside potential left to explore, which pointed towards risks of volatility. McGough presented his investment strategy during this time of volatility. He highlighted that they have been advising investors to look for diversity and increased exposure, which essentially means to be cognizant of the exposure your portfolio has in terms of growth and value stocks. He noted that if you have the 'Mag Seven' in your portfolio, they are concentrated and are categorized as large-cap growth, which suggests that the portfolio should be balanced with value and dividend-paying stocks as well. McGough noted that this helps temper the volatility and provides some stability. He also highlighted that after 15 years the market is finally moving away from the Mag Seven and in this scenario, the investors simply need to look for Market Weight stocks rather than Overweight. Another area for investors to look at is the international market. McGough pointed out that for a greater chunk of recent history, the United States market has dominated international stocks, however, the current market tightening and Trump administration policies are encouraging international stocks to increase spending and promote revenue growth. Therefore this can be a good time for investors to look ahead of the United States market into international stocks such as those based in Europe and Germany. McGough concluded that all of the market situation points towards a single mantra of being diversified rather than placing all the eggs in a single basket. To compile the list of 10 dirt cheap stocks to invest in now, we used the Finviz stock screener, Seeking Alpha, and Yahoo Finance. Using the screener we first aggregated a list of stocks trading below the Forward P/E of less than 10 with earnings expected to grow during the year. After sorting the list by market capitalization, we cross-checked each stock's P/E and earnings growth from Seeking Alpha and Yahoo Finance, respectively. Lastly, we ranked the stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders, sourced from Insider Monkey's database. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). An investor looking at a stock chart, representing the bank's securities PLC (NYSE:BCS) is a Britain-based international financial services company that provides various banking services. The company operates through five key divisions including Barclays UK, UK Corporate Bank, Private and Wealth Management, Investment Bank, and US Consumer Bank. It has operations in over 40 countries around the globe. On April 7, J.P. Morgan analyst Kian Abouhossein maintained a Buy rating on the stock. The bank has been focused on executing its three-year strategic plan, which led to improved financial results in fiscal 2024. During the year, Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) delivered a Return on Tangible Equity of 10.5% which exceeded the target of 10%. In addition, profitability before tax increased by 24% year-over-year to £8.1 billion, reflecting strong operational and financial improvements. Moreover, Ariel Global Fund in its Q4 2024 investor letter stated that they expect Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) to benefit from the global capital market recovery. The fund expects the bank to pursue its target of distributing £3 billion as dividends and £10 billion as share repurchases to shareholders. It is one of the dirt-cheap stocks to invest in now. Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) in its : 'We bought global bank and financial services provider, Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS). We expect shares to benefit from a recovery in global capital markets and net interest income (NII) growth driven by macroeconomic hedging and asset flows. The bank is also planning to expand its investment banking advisory business. Moreover, its U.S. credit card business presents opportunities for either a potential sale or a quicker earnings recovery. Taken together, we see a reasonable path for Barclays to pursue its return targets, which include the distribution of £3 billion and £10 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases between 2024 and 2026 and achieving a return on tangible common equity of about 12%.' Overall, BCS ranks 10th on our list of dirt cheap stocks to invest in now. While we acknowledge the potential of BCS to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BCS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
