Date: Thursday 06 Sep 2012
LONDON (ShareCast) - In the Financial Times, the Lex column urges caution on the apparent temptation of Nokia. The stock has collapsed 92pc in the last five years, hammered by the emergence of Apple’s iPhone. In the last month though the stock has recovered somewhat, buoyed by Apple’s victory in a US patent case against Samsung. Nokia doesn’t appear to face the same pressure on its operating system as its competitors because it doesn’t look or feel like iOS. On the other hand its latest offering, the Lumia, is considered make or break. If Nokia can break into the all important smartphone space then its stock looks undervalued (trading at just 0.2 times sales). The advice is to hold off until those sales figures are in.
In the Times, Tempus ponders the “paradox” of the lack of demand for housing and the high dividends that Persimmon, Galliford Try and Berkeley Group are handing investors. The answer is all three have a large part of their future developments sited in the prosperous south east of England and Berkeley and Persimmon have enough land to last them for up to eight and a half years. Berkeley in particular has seven significant London developments in the pipeline and trades at an industry leading 1.5 times net assets. Tempus thinks that’s about right, hold.
Tempus likes Advanced Medical Solutions, which makes wound dressings and treatments. A recent acquisition in Germany also allows it to sell sutures and collagens (with acceptance for the range by the NHS - a big market). Its LiquiBand wound sealant works on the same basis as superglue and offers significant sales prospects. Trading on about 14.5 times future earnings AMS is a buy for growth prospects and takeover possibilities.
BS