Back in May, I tipped inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon as a gamble of the week, as the company’s share price looked very depressed. At that time, markets were relatively calm as the world’s central bankers seemed to have tamed them with their money-printing antics. That was bad news for Tullett Prebon (LSE: TLPR), which thrives when the prices of shares and bonds move around a lot (known as volatility) and people trade more. As a result the shares looked very cheap on seven times earnings while offering a chunky dividend yield of 6.4%.
Over the summer, the backdrop has changed somewhat. There has been constant speculation about when the money printing will end – some believe the Federal Reserve could start ‘tapering’ off the amount of money it’s printing as early as this month – which has seen markets become more volatile. The company has also released a decent set of interim results and kept a tight grip on costs.
On top of this, regular talk of takeovers in the inter-dealer broker sector have resurfaced. As a result, Tullett Prebon shares are up nearly 50% since I tipped them. That has left them no longer looking as cheap as they did – they now trade on ten times forecast earnings, and offer a 4.3% yield. That’s not particularly expensive, but a 50% gain in that short period of time is not to be sniffed at, so it’s time to take some profits on this trade.
Verdict: take profits