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£5k to invest? 2 penny stocks to buy in April!

Royston Wild thinks these penny stocks could help him make terrific returns over the next 10 years. Here’s why he’d buy them in April.

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I’m searching for the best penny stocks to buy for my portfolio in April. Here are just a couple that have attracted my attention today. I’d happily spend several grand on each in the coming days.

Investing for the EV boom

Investing in retail stocks is particularly risky today as the cost of living crisis worsens. The immediate outlook is particularly dicey for sellers of big-ticket items like car retailer Lookers (LSE: LOOK) too.

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Still, at current prices of 67.2p I’m considering adding the penny stock to my portfolio. This is because Lookers currently trades on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 8.7 times. This is comfortably below the bargain benchmark of 10 times and below. I think profits here could surge over the long term as the electric vehicle (EV) revolution rolls on.

EV sales are soaring as concerns over the environment and rising petrol and diesel prices grow. Experts believe this momentum is set to click through the gears as the decade rolls on too. Electricity regulator Ofgem believes that almost one in four British households will have bought one of these low-carbon vehicles by 2030.

Government and businesses are spending huge amounts on infrastructure to make this a reality too. Today, eEnergy announced plans with EO Charging to install 50,000 charging points in office locations by the end of the decade.

Lookers has a network of 150 locations across the country. And it sells cars from dozens of the world’s leading motor manufacturers like Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and BMW. It’s therefore well placed to exploit the blooming popularity of EVs.

Going for gold

I believe that buying gold stocks remains a good idea today. Bullion prices have retreated from the near-record highs struck earlier in March. But at $1,930 per ounce, they remain in range of another attack on those peaks.

It’s my opinion that gold could surge higher again before too long, too, on account of soaring inflation. Prices are rising at an alarming rate and above what economists were predicting, too. This gives plenty of scope for precious metals to surge again.

Today, for example, it was announced that German consumer price inflation hit 41-year highs of 7.3% in March. This beat market predictions by around a full percentage point. Prices increases are set to get even more intense across the globe too as energy prices increase and supply chain problems continue.

I can buy gold or gold-backed financial instruments like exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to benefit from rising metal prices. However, I’d much rather buy a gold-producing stock like Centamin (LSE: CEY). This way I can play the gold price boom while also receiving dividends.

And today Centamin’s dividend yield sits at a tasty 4.6%. I’d buy this penny stock despite the threat that a resurgent US dollar could pose to gold prices.

Royston Wild has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Vertu Motors. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

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