May 2026 - Breakouts

#UKSTOCKS #RPI #MTRO #POLR #FTC #XPP

Introduction

Breakouts for this month!

This screen is run 12 times a year at the beginning of each month, thus providing a monthly view. Sorry it’s a little late this month - Just so much going on!

If you have not yet seen the full list of screens or the 2026 schedule, here is a link to that original article.

The Breakout Screen

Screen Overview

This screen is available in the Sharescope Filter Library, in fact, in this situation, there are two of them, they’re titled…

• Briefed Up - M01 - Breakouts - 12m

• Briefed Up - M01 - Breakouts - 3m

The reason for two screens in this situation is simply to make the process easy for you to switch between 12 month and 3 month breakouts. In a more bullish environment the 12 month breakout is perhaps more appropriate, to identify the strongest stocks. In a more bearish environment the 3 month breakout would perhaps be more appropriate, to identify stocks which may be leading a recovery.

For those of you needing any orientation with filters, this Sharescope article is very useful, as it also includes details on how to access the library and these filters.

Do remember, for additional help and support, all Sharescope subscribers can book free training sessions here.

Screen Frequency

Every month, on the first Saturday of the month, 12 times a year.

Screen Objective

• Identify stocks that have broken above the high of the 12 month range prior to this month and are still holding that high now (Briefed Up - M01 - Breakouts - 12m), or

• Identify stocks that have broken above the high of the 3 month range prior to this month and are still holding that high now (Briefed Up - M01 - Breakouts - 3m)

PURPOSE - Identify potential momentum plays - Could continue higher.

Screen Settings

Stock Universe Settings

• Market Cap: Default - £10m to No limit - To exclude small illiquid stocks

• Sectors: Default - Exclude “Tobacco”, “Industrial Metals and Mining”, “Precious Metals and Mining”, and “Oil, Gas and Coal” - To exclude sectors I don’t typically invest in

• ISIN Country of Register: Default - Exclude “JP” and “FR” - To exclude these specific foreign registered stocks

Note: My default stock list is always “LSE shares (excluding Investment Trusts (ITs))”.

Base Settings

• For “Briefed Up - M01 - Breakouts - 12m” - Price is higher than the high of the 12 month range prior to this month

• For “Briefed Up - M01 - Breakouts - 3m” - Price is higher than the high of the 3 month range prior to this month

Optional Settings

(To potentially return less results)

• Forecast EPS (for next year) is greater than 0 - Forecast to make a profit next year

• Forecast EPS (for next year) upgrade percentage (in the past 3 months) is greater than 0 - Brokers have upgraded next years earnings forecasts in the past 3 months

May 2026 - Breakouts

I have decided to go with consistency again this month and stick with the “Briefed Up - M01 - Breakouts - 12m” filter. It should show stocks that are holding up particularly well in this environment.

The baseline returns 52 stocks, 24 more than the 28 last month.

This month again, I have not changed the market cap upper limit so that those of you who wish to look into the larger caps on the list can do so. The market cap lower limit default (£10m) has not been changed either.

Again this month, I checked the “Forecast EPS (for next year) is greater than 0” setting - I have a feeling that this will actually become the new default as I rarely want to invest in companies forecast to make a loss next year.

The above settings reduced the list from 52 stocks to 39 (which is 11 more than last month).

Settings Used

Stock Universe Settings

• Market Cap: £10m upwards.

• Sectors: Exclude “Tobacco”, “Industrial Metals and Mining”, “Precious Metals and Mining”, and “Oil, Gas and Coal”

• ISIN Country of Register: Exclude “JP” and “FR”

Base Settings

• Price > High between 13m and 1m (ago)

Optional Settings

• Forecast EPS (for next year) is greater than 0 - Checked and set to 0

• Forecast EPS (for next year) upgrade percentage (in the past 3 months) is greater than 0 - Unchecked

Actual Settings

Results

“Our View”

The Top 5, with a market cap less than £2,000m (which is where I typically invest) are RPI, MTRO, POLR, FTC, and XPP (where I have not already covered them this year).

For OXIG see January 2026 Breakouts here.

For SAGA see February 2026 Breakouts here.

For KLR, CKN, and MPE see March 2026 Breakouts here.

For VLX and CMCX see April 2026 Breakouts here.

AMS has also been overlooked as there is a bid in progress there.

As usual, Paul has kindly allowed me to provide the current view from the Small/Mid Caps with Paul Scott Substack database for the 5 stocks I am covering this month, so here they are…

Members of the Small/Mid Caps with Paul Scott Substack can click here to access details and commentary for the vast majority of all of the stocks from the above results. The full history for most UK stocks is available via the the new Small/Mid Caps Value Report Search App, which covers over 15 months of updates in some cases.

For example, here are the last five Small/Mid Caps Value Report Search App entries for RPI…

Note: As well as the five daily analysis table entries, the main article coverage for RPI in April last year, which can be accessed by clicking on the link within the app.

Members of the Small/Mid Caps with Paul Scott Substack get:

• Access to the complete history, and current view, of over 800 UK stocks via the Small/Mid Caps Value Report Search App

• Main section articles on over 250 of those UK stocks

• Morning RNS announcement analysis, out before the market open

• Daily analysis of up to 30 stocks a day, even more on very busy news days

• Exclusive interviews

• Up to 5 podcasts a week. and a weekly update video

• Access to an active and growing community of UK investors, where participation is encouraged

• A team (which includes me) with almost 100 years of joint investing experience, focused on delivering the best coverage of the UK stock market

My Commentary

Raspberry Pi (RPI) - Designs & produces low-cost, high-performance mini-computers for programming and more. Quite the popular stock, and product, at present. On Sharescope the EPS forecast for FY 12/2025 is 12.8c, and 12.2c for FY 12/2026. I also notice that the EPS forecast for FY 12/2027 is 14c. That’s a PER of >60x for 100% revenue growth and c.40% earnings growth over the (3 year) period. The product looks interesting and I am quite tempted to buy one just to see what it’s all about. But, at present, based on my usual valuation process, which perhaps does not really apply here, it could not be a conviction buy for me.

Metro Bank (MTRO) - UK-based retail bank focused on customer service and high-street presence. This looks great value, as the PER falls from 11.4x to a single-digit in FY 12/2027, on earnings that are forecast to grow at 40%+ per annum over the next 3 years. Not a sector I typically invest in but for those that do, it looks worth a deeper dive. Note that due to the recent strong performance of the share price, MTRO is now trading close to NTAV (last reported I can see is 163p/share).

Polar Capital (POLR) - Specialist fund manager mainly focused on technology and healthcare sectors. I like POLR, it’s been reporting net inflows since the turn of the year, the PER is c.12x, and there’s a 6.5%+ reasonably well covered yield too. Up 30% YTD but still looks decent value to me, for potential capital growth and for income too.

Filtronic (FTC) - RF/microwave equipment for aerospace, defense, and high-speed satellite communications. Plenty of hype here and one where you either buy into the story (SpaceX/Starlink, defense tailwinds, etc.) or you don’t. FY 5/2028 earnings are forecast at 5.3p, which is less than the 6p reported in FY 5/2025, on revenue that is forecast to grow just 4% over the same period. So, on a PER that is not forecast to be below 50x over the next few years, do you buy the story or not?

Xp Power (XPP) - Designs and manufactures critical power components for healthcare and industry. Almost doubled this year already, now on a FY 12/2026 PER of 36x (no dividend). However, it is worth looking at the forecasts beyond this, as that PER drops to 19x in FY 12/2028 based on earnings growth of 300%+, from 22.5p (in FY 12/2025) to 92.7p, as operational gearing kicks in.

Summary

The Small/Mid Caps with Paul Scott Substack

If you are not already a subscriber to the Small/Mid Caps with Paul Scott Substack and are interested in a 1 week FREE trial, click here to access all of the features mentioned above.

Sharescope

If you are not already a subscriber to the excellent Sharescope software we use every day over at the Small/Mid Caps with Paul Scott Substack, click here for the Small/Mid Caps with Paul Scott Substack deal and get:

• A discount to the annual subscription fee

• Access to this screen and all my other screens - Copy, amend and run them with your own parameters, as and when you want, across any markets you want to

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Thank You

If you have any suggestions for improvement, or any feedback at all, do please leave a comment.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next one!

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is vital that you check all figures in this article for yourself, as they may be inaccurate or may have changed since publication.

MORE IMPORTANTLY: No investment advice intended, for information only, I may hold all, some, none, of the stocks mentioned in this article - Do Your Own Research!

Jon