Even after this week's rise in the shares, the Reckitt Benckiser stock trades on around 15 times 2009 earnings, its lowest valuation since 2000. With a pledge to lift the dividend to levels that ensure it is among the highest in its peer group, analysts have pencilled in a final payout of around 70p to 75p, offering a 2.5 per cent yield, says the Sunday Telegraph.
Cleanliness is next to godliness, as Francis Bacon, once proclaimed. So long as that remains the case, Reckitt remains a good place to park your money in uncertain times, the paper recommends.
The key message is that Rexam's business is more robust than the market has given it credit for of late and it should prove its mettle in the coming months. Hold on, this is a solid defensive investment in troubled times, says the Mail on Sunday.
Although Greggs’ like-for-like sales are said to have risen 6.2 per cent in the first half, at least some analysts predict that once price inflation is taken account off, volumes are actually flat, says the Sunday Telegraph. As a result, and with costs increasing, last week's first-half numbers were a little shy of expectations. Questor advises avoiding the shares and buying a sausage roll instead.
Shaftesbury now stands at a 14 per cent discount to Cazenove's "bottom of the cycle" net asset value estimates, while the rest of the sector trades on an average discount of double that. It is a justified valuation, however, and Sunday Telegraph' Questor rates the stock a buy.
Compass shares have wobbled recently due to concerns about sky-high commodity prices, but as Merrill Lynch says, the trading update is upbeat, justifying Questor's decision to select Compass as one of six tips of the year. After a strong run, there may also have been an element of profit-taking last week, meaning that the Sunday Telegraph's decision to continue buying into the Compass story holds firm.
Santander must be one of the best banks to own in the coming few years, but there may be better returns elsewhere, particularly for UK investors, who will want their profits in sterling. On balance, it is probably time for existing and soon-to-be shareholders in Santander to cash in the shares, says the Mail on Sunday.
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