Best UK Stocks: September 2026
London has spent a decade being written off (outflows, delistings, take-privates), and the result is a market trading at a persistent discount to both its own history and its US-listed peers. The exodus is the setup. MoatMap scores 1,300+ LSE and AIM names to find the businesses whose cash flows never justified the pessimism.
MoatMap scored 1,089 UK stocks on 2026-09-01; 658 cleared the $250M market-cap floor this list applies. The market's average StockRank is 52. Basic Materials is the most represented sector in the top 10 (4 names).
September 2026 edition · data as of ·How we score stocks·All United Kingdom stocks, refreshed daily
Top 25 UK Stocks by StockRank
| # | Ticker | Company | Score | Q | V | M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | THX.L | Thor Explorations Ltd. | 100 | 95 | 85 | 50 |
| 2 | SRB.L | Serabi Gold plc | 100 | 93 | 76 | 57 |
| 3 | HSP.L | Hargreaves Services Plc | 99 | 67 | 82 | 74 |
| 4 | LSC.L | London Security plc | 99 | 83 | 52 | 86 |
| 5 | YU.L | Yü Group PLC | 99 | 83 | 72 | 63 |
| 6 | RSG.L | Resolute Mining Limited | 99 | 83 | 66 | 68 |
| 7 | ASY.L | Andrews Sykes Group plc | 99 | 85 | 56 | 76 |
| 8 | ATYM.L | Atalaya Mining Copper, S.A. | 99 | 86 | 50 | 81 |
| 9 | SEPL.L | Seplat Energy Plc | 98 | 69 | 60 | 86 |
| 10 | HANA.L | Hansa Investment Company Limited | 98 | 83 | 58 | 74 |
| 11 | DAR.L | Dar Global PLC | 98 | 80 | 57 | 75 |
| 12 | JET2.L | Jet2 plc | 98 | 62 | 78 | 72 |
| 13 | KLR.L | Keller Group plc | 98 | 72 | 65 | 75 |
| 14 | BPM.L | B.P. Marsh & Partners PLC | 98 | 72 | 77 | 60 |
| 15 | RICO.L | Ricoh Company, Ltd. | 97 | 53 | 66 | 90 |
| 16 | FEML.L | Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited | 97 | 89 | 51 | 69 |
| 17 | MPE.L | M.P. Evans Group PLC | 97 | 81 | 59 | 69 |
| 18 | PAY.L | PayPoint plc | 97 | 62 | 77 | 68 |
| 19 | IAG.L | International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. | 97 | 70 | 74 | 63 |
| 20 | AAIF.L | Aberdeen Asian Income Fund Limited | 97 | 83 | 61 | 63 |
| 21 | LUCE.L | Luceco plc | 97 | 76 | 56 | 75 |
| 22 | SAG.L | Science Group plc | 97 | 81 | 58 | 68 |
| 23 | MONY.L | MONY Group plc | 97 | 82 | 51 | 73 |
| 24 | CMCL.L | Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc | 97 | 86 | 76 | 44 |
| 25 | BXP.L | Beximco Pharmaceuticals PLC. | 96 | 67 | 71 | 68 |
Ranked by StockRank (Quality + Value + Momentum composite) at a minimum market cap of $250M. A new edition is generated on the first scoring run of each month.
Director buying reported in the 90 days to : PAY.L, AAIF.L, LUCE.L, MONY.L, CMCL.L · Full United Kingdom insider feed
Active share buybacks in the 180 days to : JET2.L, KLR.L, BPM.L, FEML.L, MPE.L, PAY.L and 2 more
The London Discount Is a Feature, Not a Verdict
The FTSE's cheapness is structural, not cyclical: UK pension funds spent two decades rotating out of domestic equities, index composition skews to old-economy sectors, and the post-2016 political discount never fully unwound. But cheapness has consequences. The UK became the developed world's most active market for take-privates and inbound acquisitions, with private equity and US corporates repeatedly paying 30-50% premiums for listed UK businesses. When public markets misprice, buyers arrive privately.
The market splits in two. The FTSE 100 is a global-earner index (energy, miners, pharma, banks) that happens to list in London: a play on world cash flows at UK multiples, with dividend yields amongst the highest in developed markets. The mid-cap and AIM tail is where screening does its best work: thinner coverage, genuine growth franchises, and the country's most aggressive buyback programmes, many filing daily repurchase notices MoatMap tracks.
One mechanical note: UK shares quote in pence (GBp) while financials report in pounds, a recurring source of hundred-fold errors in casual analysis. MoatMap normalises this in scoring, but it's worth knowing when you check numbers against other sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the best UK stocks to buy right now?
- The table above ranks MoatMap's top 25 LSE/AIM-listed stocks by StockRank, a composite of Quality, Value and Momentum percentiles across 1,300+ names. It refreshes monthly with a stated data date, and each ticker links to a full breakdown including RNS insider and buyback filings.
- Why are UK stocks so cheap compared to the US?
- Structural outflows (pension de-equitisation), sector mix (little listed tech), and a sentiment discount dating from 2016. The evidence that it's an over-discount rather than a fair one is the takeover tape: acquirers keep paying large premiums to buy UK-listed companies outright, which is what happens when private valuations exceed public ones.
- Are UK dividends worth it?
- The FTSE's dividend yield is persistently among the highest in developed markets, and the UK levies no withholding tax on dividends paid to foreign shareholders, an underappreciated structural edge over most of Europe. Shareholder yield (dividends plus buybacks) is even stronger, as UK plcs have become heavy repurchasers of their own discounted shares.
- What about AIM stocks? Too risky?
- AIM is a barbell: it hosts both genuine growth franchises and speculative shells. A factor screen with a market-cap floor keeps the shells out while catching established AIM businesses that fell below institutional radar. Liquidity is thinner than the main market, so treat the smaller names as patient positions.
- How often does this UK ranking refresh?
- A new edition forms on the first scoring run of each calendar month and the page states its data-as-of date. For a daily view, use the ranked-stocks screener filtered to the United Kingdom.