LONDON (ShareCast) - At 227¼p, or seven times current-year earnings, Marks & Spencer shares are at their cheapest for a decade and should find support from the dividend alone. But in light of this week’s bounce, await any move back towards 200p before buying in says the Times.
That shares in NWF Group have doubled in seven weeks says more about how far they had fallen than any sudden change in its fortunes. All the same, yesterday’s sale by the Cheshire-based small cap of its garden centres for a better than expected £14.5m is a welcome advance. However, with no further update due until February, the shares, on a hefty 23 times forward earnings, have run far enough. If you have profits, take them says the Times.
In these markets it takes a brave pundit to advise a "buy" on a retailer. despite yesterday's good performance from Halfords. If it is retailers you are after, Halfords is at least as robust as any other. However, in these markets it is difficult to construct a solid case for investment. Hold says the Independent.
It would be a stretch too far to suggest that Halfords offers fantastic upside in the current climate. But with a new chief executive now in place in the form of David Wild and a 6% yield, the outlook is favourable for existing investors to happily hold on says the Telegraph.
Construction services group May Gurney's chief executive Philip Fellowes-Prynne says his company is the victim of poor sector sentiment and it shares should be 20p to 30p higher. On the numbers and the kind of work May Gurney does, he is probably right, says the Independent, but even he concedes that an economic meltdown would be damaging. Unless May Gurney, which is a solid company, can differentiate itself, the shares will continue to underperform. Hold.
Powerleague's numbers yesterday were the results of two halves. The group, which runs five-a-side football centres, said that revenues were doing very well, up more than £3m to £26.3m. Pre-tax profits on the other hand were flat, at a touch under £5m. A cautious hold says the Independent.
Aberdeen Aseet is not issuing new shares to its Asian backer. Rather, Mitsubishi is buying existing stock off current shareholders – and at 140p, a useful 11% premium to Wednesday’s closing price. Aberdeen’s profits should be underpinned by the scope to cut costs after recent acquisitions. But at 132½p, or ten times current-year earnings, Aberdeen’s premium to its peers is enough reason to avoid says the Times.
The Mitsubishi deal will give Aberdeen rapid entry into Japan. An army of 300 Mitsubushi salesmen will now be able to start flogging Aberdeen’s products to the second-largest pension market in the world. Mitsubishi, though, will take a cut of everything it sells on Aberdeen’s behalf and, crucially, figures on the fee sharing arrangement are missing from the deal announcement. Nevertheless, the stock looks attractively valued on current metrics. Buy says the Telegraph.
Taylor Nelson shareholders who accept WPP's bid will get a decent premium to the prevailing share price before the bid speculation as well as a stake in the second-largest advertising company in the world. At this price, WPP itself looks pretty decent value. Now that WPP has stated that it will not be increasing its offer, shareholders would be well advised to accept says the Telegraph or sell in the market if they think the offer will lapse.
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