Newspaper and magazine share tips

By This Is Money
Updated: 10:59 EDT, 20 February 2009

Each week we round up share tips from national newspapers and investment magazines. For the Mail on Sunday's stock picks, read the Midas column.

Share: All the latest tips.

The Times

Go-Ahead's share price has halved since September as the market bet that its key South of England franchises would be hit by job losses in the City. Despite an upbeat trading statement yesterday showed that the 60,000 jobs lost in London have yet to hit rail revenues. Avoid.

Ladbrokes' numbers may appear flat but in the context of the deepening recession they are an oasis of resilience. Ladbrokes is a much more diversified business than a few years ago when almost all of its bets involved horses and greyhounds. Hold.

The Daily Telegraph

BAE Systems has seen its shares rise by about 16% since they were recommended in November. The company spent a net £1.4bn on acquisitions in the period – but still ended the year with net cash of £39m. Following these impressive numbers, shares in BAE Systems remain a buy.

Morgan Crucible's 2008 figures revealed that full-year revenues rose 20.5% at actual currencies, with organic growth coming in a 4% on constant currency basis. Questor feels that the shares are a hold, despite the large falls the company could surprise on the upside. Hold.

Thursday

The Times

Sports Direct reported yesterday that sales were up 12%, but they again declined to disclose like-for-like figures. The shares are cheaper than those of its rival JD Sports Fashion, but until Sports Direct begins to generate more light and less heat. Avoid

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C) has seen revenue per available room fall 21% for the first five weeks, he has enforced a salary and recruitment freeze, cut about 300 jobs (including 92 in the UK) and halted all nonessential capital expenditure. Avoid.

The Daily Telegraph

The telegraph picked its ten stocks to benefit from during a recession. They are London & Stamford, Ablemarle & Bond, Park Group, Dignity, Healthcare Locums, Restaurant Group, Experian, Provident Financial, Amlin, Hiscox, Advanced Medical and London Capital.

WEDNESDAY

The Times

Making sausage skins is, apparently, recession-proof. Devro, which makes collagen products for the food industry, reported full-year pretax profits were up by 21%, to £18.8m. The shares were up by 3p to 87p last night, on a forward multiple of just under 12 times. Buy.

Anton Bilton, the property tycoon, whose grandfather, Percy, founded the Bilton property empire, yesterday announced plans to raise up to £125m in new equity. Mr Bilton himself is committing a further £15m towards the deal. One to watch.

The Daily Telegraph

Yesterday, the BG Group upped its offer for the Pure Energy group yesterday by 25% to A$995m (£444.5m). Shares in Pure jumped to A$8.36 after the announcement. BG Group's shares are currently trading on a December 2009 earning multiple of 14 times. Buy.

Full-year results from Croda were excellent, as expected. The speciality chemicals group delivered a staggering 78% rise in annual pre-tax profits to £98.4m. The shares are now up more than 30%. Buy.

TUESDAY

The Times

Yesterday Lancashire Holdings, the marine and energy reinsurer, reported a drop in full-year pretax profits, from $391.9m to $97.6m (£68.5m), having taken a battering from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. However, te shares, which trade at a modest discount to book value and at a discount to those of peers, have risen by 87% since mid-October. Hold.

There have been plenty of ups and downs in the 25 years since Ramco Energy floated on the old Unlisted Securities Market. Ramco's shares have outperformed the oil and gas sector for most of the past year, suggesting that plenty of hope is invested already in the renewables project. Avoid for now.

The Daily Telegraph

For a company that has fallen into the red and raised money through a rights issue priced at a hefty 47pc discount, Catlin, it has to be said, is weathering the storm rather well. On Thursday, the Lloyd's of London insurer reported that premiums for property reinsurance and energy risks rose approximately 10% during January. With the shares currently yielding 6%, and trading about six times forward forecast earnings, they still look attractive. Buy.

Fidessa managed to post a 40% rise in revenues at a turbulent time for its customers. Fidessa expects to see a growing trend of financial companies outsourcing and getting rid of their internal systems as they cut costs because of the global financial crisis, and this is something it hopes to benefit from. The shares are yielding 4%, trading at 13 times forecast earnings. Hold.