A round-up of share tips from the financial press

The stocks and shares the British press is tipping – and recommending you avoid – this week.

Three to buy

Land Securities

The Times

Property giant Land Securities, the firm behind the “Walkie Talkie” tower, has £14.5bn of property in London. But it is surprisingly well positioned against a downturn in “speculative” office space, having off-loaded over £1bn of assets in recent months, including Haymarket House in Piccadilly, citing risks to the commercial property market if Britain votes to leave the European Union in June. 1,162p

Just Eat

Shares Magazine

Orders continue to rise at Just Eat, the online takeaway firm. It charges restaurants a commission of 14%, making the business ultra-cash generative. It has so far resisted paying shareholders a dividend, in favour of ploughing its cash into further expansion, but as the company’s cash balance continues to swell to £193m, future payouts could be tasty. 405p

Braemar Shipping

Shares Magazine

The shipping industry has taken a battering in recent years, but shipping services group Braemar looks well positioned. The company is benefiting from low oil prices and recent profits were up 20%, thanks to strong tanker volumes. Broker Stockdale puts the shares as high as 575p. 453p

Three to sell

Thomas Cook

The Sunday Times

Recent terror attacks in Egypt, Tunisia, Paris and Belgium tragically underline the threats faced by Thomas Cook’s tourism business. Its summer bookings are down by 5%, pushing shares to a three-year low, and package holidays appear to have had their heyday, alongside high-street travel agents, as online giants muscle in on the company’s turf. 70p

Premier Foods

The Daily Telegraph

After another set of lacklustre results, the cake and custard maker is struggling to justify why it batted off a takeover approach earlier this year. Chief Executive Gavin Darby collected £1.7m for running the business last year, but it is “safe  to assume” that if the offer had been accepted, the current board’s “services might not have been required”. 38p

Motorpoint

Shares Magazine

Shares in the second-hand car retailer “do not deserve” their rich valuation of 17 times predicted earnings. Motorpoint, which only recently listed, admittedly has a strong business with high profit margins. But the company is trading at twice the rating of its competitors, even though the used-car market is oversupplied. “The price is wrong.” 227p

And the rest

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Buys
Arm Holdings The chipmaker is using deals to expand into robotics (IC) 941p
Brooker Its acquisition of retailer Budgens should deliver good growth (Times) 175p
Burberry The fashion brand is finally getting serious about cutting costs (IC) 1,116p
Carr’s Its livestock feed division is a resilient business (Shares) 142p
Grainger The property firm has always been deft at flipping houses (Times) 233p
Greggs Its shops have been modernised and sales are rising (IC) 1,096p
Marston’s The pub group is bumping up margins by rolling out pizza ovens (Times) 153p
NewRiver Retail The property firm has one of the highest dividends in the sector (Telegraph) 314p

 

Sells
DCC Shares have doubled in two years and it’s time to take profits (Times) 6,385p
InterContinental Hotels Its hotels in the Middle East are suffering with the oil price (IC) 2,639p
Mitchells & Butlers Sales are sliding at the pub operator and the future looks “bleak” (IC) 283p
SSP Recent terrorist attacks have hit business at the airport retailer (Times) 309p

 

Directors’ dealings

Carlos Miguens is almost unheard of in the UK, but in Argentina he is well known as one of the country’s richest industrialists, with interests in everything from hydropower to beer, property and lemon growing. He is also chairman of London-listed Patagonia Gold, which has a vast landholding in the country’s largely untapped gold-rich south. It struggled to invest under Argentina’s former government, but the government has now changed and Miguens personally pumped £5.5m into the company this week, to co-fund a new gold mine.

A German view

Germany’s healthcare group Fresenius continues to post steady growth, notes Boerse Online. Profits before exceptionals expanded by almost 14% year-on-year to €362m in the first quarter of 2016; they have quadrupled in ten years. Sales climbed to €9.6bn, up from €6.5bn a year earlier. The group’s (separately listed) core dialysis services and products business, known as Fresenius Medical Care, grew earnings by 7% and is hoping to boost net profits by 15% this year.

Another key division, Kabi, which specialises in infusions and liquid generics, benefited from newly approved drugs and rivals’ supply shortages. Fresenius’ hospital business, Helios, looks set to keep growing by 3% a year, reckons Wirtschaftswoche. Sanford Bernstein’s target for the stock is €73.


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