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.