Wednesday newspaper share tips: Legal&General, Inchcape
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Wednesday 16 Mar 2016
(ShareCast News) - Worries surrounding Legal&General's capital position and future dividends appeared to be unjustified, The Times's Tempus said.
The insurer's full-year capital surplus, on the basis of the European Solvency II requirements, printed at £5.5bn or about 169% of what it required to support underwriting, below the numbers reported by rivals Aviva and Prudential.
Nonetheless, that was above the company's own target of 140% and it was becoming increasingly difficult to compare individual firms' numbers on account of the new regulation.
"What is obvious is that it is becoming difficult to compare the numbers from the individual insurers, which is increasing the market's uncertainty," Tempus said.
As well, L&G, like the other big players, had the option adding to their reserves by acquiring any smaller closed annuity books that came on the market, the tipster pointed out.
The historical yield was still approaching 6.0% too.
Its bulk annuity sales were also set to rise again, the company's share of the auto-enrollment market could only grow and it had a foothold in the US.
"L&G would seem to be in all the right markets and the price fall looks overdone given that dividend yield, Buy," Tempus said.
Inchcape saw solid signs of improvement in its business last year, but cautious sounds from management were reason enough to steer clear of the stock for now, Tempus said.
The self-described provider of car sales for vehicle manufacturers faces uncertainty in many of the markets it serves, such as Greece, Ethiopia, and Russia.
Management was also cautious about Hong Kong.
Furthermore, it has yet to promise a repeat of the £100m in buybacks - courtesy of its strong cash generation - carried out over the past three years.
Trading well back from the highs reached last May, the stock was selling on 13 times earnings, which "doesn't look like a high rating" Tempus said.
Nonetheless, the shares are best avoided for now as there is "no obvious catalyst for further immediate progress," Tempus concluded.
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