May29 Weekend Papers Stocks and Shares Tips

Online Stock Trading - Weekend and Investors Chronicle Share Tips

Investors Chronicle

Share Tips of the Week:
Buy French Connection at 89p; speculative - picking up market share from better trading in recent weeks.
Buy NWF Group, 117p - attractive yield.
Sell Barclays Bank at 279p; doubts about growth and regulatory challenges
Sell Wilmington at 122p; further cuts in forecasts are likely

Share Tips Updates:
Keep buying EKF Diagnostics, at 23p.
Keep selling Asos, at £23.33.
Homeserve, now good value at 512p.

Share Tips Bits:
Keep buying
Breedon Aggregates, 16.5p,
Albemarle & Bond, 320p,
Hansteen, 87p,
Development Securities, 232p,
Plant Impact, 33p.

News Tips:
Buy Tullow Oil
JJB Sports high enough at 24p

Aveva fairly priced at £15.27
Buy Hogg Robinson Group at 64p, - ongoing global economic recovery.
Quintain Estates speculative good value at 49p
Telecom Plus fairly priced at 527p
First Derivatives good value at 492p

Results Share Tips:
Buy Metric Property Investments, 110.5p;
Buy Dairy Crest Group, 389p;
Buy Mitchells & Butlers, 320p;
Buy National Grid, 622p;
Buy Entertainment One, 153p;
Buy Mitie, 232p;
Buy IGas Energy, 74p;
Buy Vectura, 69p;
Buy Marks and Spencer, 392p;
Buy Great Portland Estates, 413p;
Buy Paragon Group of Companies, 196p;
Buy Cove Energy, 85p.
Sell Talk Talk Telecom, 140p;
Sell Cable & Wireless Communications, 44p;


The Sunday Telegraph

Questor Tips:
Buy Electrocomponents at 285p, continues to forge ahead with a clear growth strategy.


The Mail on Sunday
Midas Share Tips
Buy Innovation Group at 19p, they have put their house in order and have further to go.

Tip Update: Take profits in G4S, tipped at 183p in November 2008, now 281p, but hang on to some.

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Stocks and Shares Tips

Stocks to Trade - Friday Newspaper Share Picks

Investors Chronicle stock picks

Barclays trading for Q1 2011 was uninspiring, management referring to a 'subdued macroeconomic environment,' Barclays also revealed it would set aside £1bn to cover compensation payments for PPI mis-selling. Shares, on 10 x broker earnings forecast for 2011, are highly rated. Doubts about Barclays' prospects for growth and regulatory challenges going forward mean the share price is vulnerable. Sell.

French Connection's financial performance has been deteriorating. The share rating – at 11 x forecast earnings – is not too high and it is a recovery story. Buy.

- see here for yesterday's  Shares Magazine picks

The Independent

Investment Share Tips

Buy Qinetiq at 112.5p - trading at 7 x forward earnings
Buy Endace at 465p - governments and businesses are increasing spending on cyber security and as financial firms have to meet stringent compliance, regulation, and risk-management criteria, prospects are also "very exciting".
Buy Shanks at 121.5p.
SKS - 5 year chart with 200 day moving average



The Daily Telegraph
Sportingbet, agrees to buy Australian online rival Centrebet, funding the deal through a £130 million share-and-bond issue.

Questor Share Tips
E-books are big business, as Amazon can testify. Bloomsbury (Harry Potter publishers) is focussing heavily now on e-books and sales have soared from £8K to £1.5 million. Buy at 131.5p

BMY 10 year chart with 200 day moving average


BMY 3 month chart with 200 and 5 day m.a. - traders say not to buy a stock when the 5 day moving average is pointing down


Podcast - Buy Pennon, Shanks at 121.5p, (waste recycling)

Buy James Fisher at 544.5p

Comment
Burberry and Jaguar Land Rover are proof that the UK has excellent prospects for the future.

See also - trading moving averages video

Financial Times
Rank Group asks investors to reject Guoco Group’s £585.8 M takeover bid, saying the group has “a strong position in fundamentally attractive markets”.
Tullow Oil agrees to pay $305 M to increase its stake in Ghana’s giant Jubilee offshore oilfield to 36.5%.
London and Stamford has a £1 bn war chest to target new acquisitions in markets such as south east distribution real estate, London residential, and prime retail assets.

Lex
Irish Life and Permanent - shareholders are right to resist a mandatory €4bn recapitalisation of the banking division which would be tantamount to expropriation by the state.

Lombard
Glencore - the lack of a bounce in the share price is due to commodity jitters, resistance to the price and concerns over governance – in particular the appointment of Simon Murray.

The Times
Financier Nathaniel Rothschild and former BP boss Tony Hayward to launch a new investment vehicle as they try to raise £1 billion for acquisitions in the oil sector [incredible but true allegedly - Ed. or is it just me?].

Comment
Bonus culture lives on with payouts of £22 bn - the figures could fan public anger over City greed but will be warmly welcomed at the Treasury.

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Thursday Newspaper and Magazine Tips

Trading Stocks - Newspaper and Shares Magazine Tips

SHARES MAGAZINE

Share Plays of the Week
Globo – Buy
Vectura – Buy (also tipped in Independent yesterday)

Share Plays Updates
Monitise – Buy
Salamander Energy – Buy
Ffastfill – Buy
Entertainment One – Buy

The Oil Sector
Oil Major - Buy Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’...
Oil Minnow - Buy New World Oil & Gas...
Explorer - Buy Chariot Oil & Gas...
Producer - Buy Ithaca...
Emerging Markets - Buy Essar Energy...
Infrastructure - Buy Baltic Oil Terminals...
Services - Buy Lamprell...
Technology - Buy Denbury Resources

Agenda

Wm Morrison – Buy
Hornby – Buy
Micro Focus – Buy
EKF Diagnostics – Buy
Diageo – Buy
Aveva – Sell
Northumbrian Water – Sell
Talk Talk – Sell
HMV – Sell

Small-Caps
YCO – Buy
William Sinclair – Buy
Photo-Me - Buy
reNeuron – Speculative Buy
OMG – Sell

PLUS Market
Worldwide Natural Resources – Speculative Buy

Griller
Simon Lockett, CEO of Premier Oil... - Buy Premier Oil

Commodities
Buy Pathfinder Minerals

Speciality Finance Share Tips
Buy Begbies Traynor,
Buy Better Capital
Buy Ultimate Finance

FINANCIAL TIMES
Richard Branson to bid for the 600 Lloyds Banking Group branches for sale.
Canadian banks and pension funds go hostile in their bid for TMX Group
Private equity firm Exponent is preferred bidder for BBC Worldwide’s magazine business.

The Times

Euro crisis 'could mean return to the drachma'

Tempus share tips

Hogg Robinson - weak hold
Telecom Plus shares (one of Robbie Burns favourites) speculative but interesting
Hold on to BTG.

Comment

OECD calls for Bank of England to raise interest rates. But that would tip the economy back into recession.

News that Sony's websites have been hacked in 4 countries followed by admission that mobile phone JV Sony Ericsson has found a data breach at its Canadian unit.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

Questor Share tips

Gem Diamonds - hold at 270p
ICAP - buy at 476p - shares are once again rated a buy after recent falls
Pennon (owns South West Water and Viridor waste recycling group) - buy at 663p after excellent results yesterday

UK growth still flat - economy hampered by weak spending
[buy more stuff you know it makes sense !]

Amazon to create 900 jobs in Scotland
Farmville herd (Zynga) set for summer market flotation
JJB Sports: it will take 5 years to fix business
Mortgage approvals fall by 6% in April in the UK

THE INDEPENDENT


Investment Share Tips
Aveva - pricey - hold at 1581p
Innovation - buy at 18.5p
Hogg Robinson - 59.25p

Stock Market Report
Utilities takeover talk switches to Severn Trent

Stock market news
Nationwide profits surge as bad debts fall
Shareholders block Robert Walters pay awards
3,000 jobs to go as Focus administrator pulls the plug
Google to introduce alternative to credit cards

THE GUARDIAN

Nationwide says it is not in the race for Northern Rock

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Midas and Questor Share Tips

Stock Trading Online - Wednesday Stock Picks

The Times

Homeserve is pursuing targets in the US and Europe.

Iain Dodsworth is said to have sold TweetDeck, to Twitter for $40 million.

Tempus share tips
Hold Great Portland Estates
Hold CandW Worldwide
Tullow Oil is heading for interesting times.

TLW - 10-year chart with 200 day moving average

check out here for info. on stock charts and moving averages

Financial Times
US Treasury sells $5.8 bn stake in AIG.

Lex

Marks and Spencer: - international expansion is a top priority, M&S needs more money to spend, so maybe it should consider cutting the dividend.

UK banks: - rating agency’s move to put 14 of the UK's 18 banks under review is not cause for alarm, but downgrades seem inevitable which means funding costs will rise.

The Independent

Investment Share Tips

Buy De La Rue at 840p
Buy Holidaybreak at 269.5p
Buy Plant Impact at 32.5p

The Guardian

Cable & Wireless putting faith in rising returns from hosting other companies' IT in secure data centres – i.e. 'cloud computing' [the Internet to you and me - Ed.].

The Daily Telegraph

Nestlé rumoured to have paid $1 bn for Prometheus Laboratories, makers of equipment used to diagnose bowel complaints.

Questor share tips

Buy Ryanair at 3.359 euros
Buy Pennon at 663p

Avoid Glencore at 525p (buy Xstrata instead) -
Mr Glasenberg should do rather well out of the listing but the market may not. There are likely to be better opportunities elsewhere in the market with less risk. There are still areas of the business that have not been looked into. One way to profit from the Glencore IPO would be by taking a stake in miner Xstrata, which is now a "sitting duck". Glencore owns almost 35% of Xstrata. Glencore is widely expected to make a full offer for the company – at a premium. It may also sell its stake, but this is considered less likely.

Xstrata 2 year chart with 200 day moving average (XTA used to be 40 UKP at one time)


Glencore's revenues of $145bn only gave net profits of $3.8bn. Xstrata had revenues of just $30.5bn, but net profits of $5.4bn.

But even if there is no acquisition, Xstrata's commodities are impressive. Avoid Glencore.

Daily Mail

If you thought the financial crisis was coming to an end then you need to think again after revelations this week. Credit ratings agency Moody’s has said it may downgrade 14 UK banking lenders.

Market Report

Rumours are that Nasdaq boss Bob Greifeld ready to have another bid for the LSE after dropping out of battle for the New York Stock Exchange.

Midas Share Tips

Buy Chi-Med at 447.5p. China is a big place and the Chinese government is finally taking an interest in the health of its comrades.
Midas says - Chi-Med is loss-making, due to heavy investment, but it should be profitable next year. Long-term the outlook is very healthy. The share price is currently 447.5p and many brokers believe this should increase to at least 550p this year. There should be some encouraging news over the summer. Buy.

Diploma. Diploma shares have more than doubled since being tipped by Midas and are now 364.5p. Dividend is progressive and the shares should rise as economic recovery gathers momentum. Investors should hold on. New investors could consider buying on weakness.

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Tuesday Papers Share Tips

Stock Trading Online - Tuesday Newspaper Share Tips and Stock Picks

FINANCIAL TIMES

AIG and its largest investor, the US Treasury, set to raise at least $8.7 bn via sale of stock on Tuesday.

The Independent

Marks and Spencer posts 12.95 surge in pre-tax profits
Italy has been added to list of suspect eurozone countries
Yandex on the way to biggest Internet float since Google

Investment Share Tips

Buy Mitie at 220.4p
Buy Stobart at 128p
Buy Vectura at 67.5p - fallen back from 86p but near-term future could be very promising


Daily Telegraph
Shire in $2 bn bid for Cubist Pharmaceuticals.

Questor Share Tips
Buy Ryanair at 3.359 euros - Ryanair thinks high oil prices will lead to some airlines going broke, and consolidation. Still a buy says Questor

Buy Imperial Tobaco at 2165p
Company announced new dividend policy and interim results confirm short-term bears overstated their case

From Tuesday
Buy Afren at 159.3p
Buy Scottish and Southern Energy at 1341p

Comment

After fiasco of CDOs, anything the credit-rating agency clowns say about Europe's sovereign debt crisis needs to be taken with a sack full of salt.
The Times

Tempus share tips

Hold Mitie
Avoid Alterian
Lonrho shares attractive, but speculative.

Comment

LinkedIn’s flotation has raised concerns of another tech bubble but, in the UK at least, this is definitely not happening.


Daily Mail

Midas

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Weekend and IC Share Tips

Investors Chronicle

Stock Market Tips - Weekend Newspapers and Investors Chronicle

Investors Chronicle
Share Tips of the Week:

Buy United Business Media at 599p; deserves a rerating, good outlook for dividend growth.
Buy Koninklijke Ahold at Eu9.71; planned share buybacks and dividend increases.
Buy Vernalis at 40p; speculative biotech - analysts suggest possible break-up value of 80p a share.

Sell Dunelm at 466p; high for a retailer with falling underlying sales and pressure on margins.

Updates: Keep selling SuperGroup, at £12.05.

Cello Group, fairly priced at 46p.

Hikma, fairly priced at 840p.

Share Tip Bits: Keep buying Yule Catto, 212p, Dignity, 756p, Mears, 254p, and BAE Systems, 337p. Keep selling Xchanging, 83p.

Land Securities good value at 799p after revaluation of property portfolio.

Autonomy high enough at £17.50 after acquisition of Iron Mountain's online storage businesses.

Blinkx good long-term value at 135p after strong revenue growth in last full-year.

Keep buying Crystal Amber, 97p, which should make an £8.7m profit on its investment in bid target Pinewood Shepperton.

African Barrick Gold a buying opportunity at 461p after recent share price slump

Simon Thompson says keep buying Netcall, LMS Capital, and Elektron, but take profits in Workspace.

Graeme Davies suggests 5 stocks with exposure to emerging markets growth: KSK Power Ventur, Standard Chartered, CSF Gold, African Barrick Gold, and New Britain Palm Oil.

9 stocks that are the market's 'most dependable' according to stock screening techniques : Tesco, WH Smith, Halma, Restaurant Group, PZ Cussons, Sage Group, Aggreko, Fidessa, and IG Group.

Results :

Buy GW Pharmaceuticals, 125p;
Buy Petroneft Resources, 61p;
Buy Tanzanite Ore, 12.5p;
Buy Babcock International, 689p;
Buy Cranswick, 782p;
Buy Compass, 576p;
Buy Elektron, 41p.
Sell Mothercare, 445p;
Sell Enterprise Inns, 86p;
Sell Yell, 7p;

The Times

Tempus share tips

Hold SABMiller;
B uy Booker on weakness;
Long-term, Grainger shares look like good value.


The Independent

Investment Stock Picks

Hold SABMiller
Hold TalkTalk Telecom.


Daily Telegraph

Questor Share Tips
Buy Scottish and Southern Energy, £13.41,
Buy Afren, 159.5p, current operations are performing better than expected - H2 drilling programme looks exciting.


Mail on Sunday
Midas: Buy Chi-Med, 447.5p, develops healthcare and consumer products for Chinese market. Lossmaking but should move into profit next year and could reach forecasts of at least 550p a share.

Update: Hold Diploma, tipped 3 years ago at 170p - now 364.5p, new investors chould buy on weakness.

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Thursday Stocks and Shares Tips

Stock Market Tips - Thursday Newspaper Tips

Glencore share price debuts at 530p - up around 3% so far.

Financial Times

GE to make share $12 billion in buy-backs over next few years.

LinkedIn’s IPO lives up to hype, at $45 a share it is raising $351 million.

Shire pharmaceuticals agrees to buy US company, Advanced BioHealing, for $750 million - gaining access to Dermagraft skin substitute that helps restore damaged tissue.

Amec, engineering services co., pays $280 million for US project management company Mactec.

Compass: - CEO of the largest catering company by revenues in the world has improved operating margins dramatically - now a good defensive bet for investors.

Lombard

Prudential Regulatory Authority expected to police City risks far more fiercely than the FSA ever did.

Insight

Quantitative easing not dead but it might be snoozing.

The Times

Tempus share tips

Compass shares high enough
Experian shares have farther to rise in the long-term.
Hold Amec.

Comment

European finance ministers have agreed a €78 bn rescue package for Portugal.

The Independent

Cairn Energy expected to extend the deadline for its $9.6 billion deal to sell its Indian assets to Vedanta yet again.

Investment Share Tips

Buy Experian at 796p - world's biggest credit reference agency - sound long-term investment
Buy Heritage Oil at 232.5p - market has priced in bearish outcome - ample space for upside gains

The Guardian

Mary Portas - 'queen of shops [yes, we had never heard of her either - Ed.] , enlisted to find ways to revitalise Britain's high streets [lower prices - offer home delivery service - put thatched roofs on all shops - our free advice - Ed.].

Lloyds' - clawbacks of banker's wonuses should start with the £1.45 million paid to Eric Daniels.

The Daily Telegraph

Questor share tips

Buy Cineworld at 205.5p - Cinema is a risky business and Cineworld is heavily reliant on movie studios, but it is heavily invested in digital technology and, provided there is a strong range of 3D releases, its near term future looks bright. Questor first recommended Cineworld at 120p in March 2009, they are now 71.25% higher. Buy

From Wednesday

Buy Cluff Gold at 89p - at the Questor update the shares were at 104.5p – however, the shares are still a buy for exploration success as 75% of Baomahun is still unexplored. But investors must bear in mind the inherent risks of any exploration programme

Buy Vodafone at 169.7p

From Tuesday

Buy Cranswick at 783.5p

Comment

Gordon Brown would be a hopeless IMF chief [surely not - he did after all "save the world"] .

Daily Mail

Stock Market Report

Revived bid / stakebuilding speculation, and upgrade by City broker UBS, sparked a useful rally in BG Group.

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IC Share Tips Friday 13

Stocks and Shares Online - IC Share Tips

Investors Chronicle Share Tips from Friday 13 May
Buy Jupiter Fund Management at 311p; a leveraged play on global equity markets.
Buy Grainger at 120p; a buying opportunity for long-term investors.
Buy Restaurant Group at 322p; strong cash generation and respectable yield.
Buy GCM Resources at 195p; speculative for its coal deposits in Bangladesh.

Share Tips Updates:
Keep buying Rank Group,
Keep buying Premier Foods,
RSM Tenon,

Tip Bits:
Keep buying Go-Ahead Group, £15.10,
IMI, £10.53,
Hansard Global, 168p,
Diageo, £12.73.
BG Group, £14.13,

Standard Chartered the only bank worth buying

Keep buying Capita, 734p, and Serco, 560p, outsourcing stocks back in favour.
London Mining, 407p, and Cluff Gold, 96p, for their exposure to Sierra Leone's potential.
Keep buying Xcite Energy, 226p, market disappointment at the maiden reserves report for the Bentley Field is a clear over-reaction.
Sell Pace, 95p, vulnerable to further profit warnings.

Keep buying Kalahari Minerals, 225p, the collapse of a Chinese takeover bid not the end of the story

Comment Tip: Companies
Crystal Amber, 93p, short-term trading buy for its 29% stake in bid-target Pinewood Shepperton.

Funds Share Tips:
Buy 3i Infrastructure, 118.5p, for income in the long term, and low/medium risk rating.

Company Results Tips:

Buy Zytronic, 218.5p;
Buy FirstGroup, 345p;

Buy N Brown Group, 304p.
Buy Imperial Tobacco Group, £22.19;
Sell Tui Travel, 247p;

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Shares to Buy from Tips in Newspapers

Shares to Watch - Friday Share Tips

Why has blogger been unavailable all day ? Well, I don't know, Google carried out some maintenance and broke their blogging system for 24 hours, but that explains why these share tips are bit late today !

Investors Chronicle Share Tips

Buy: Grainger
Jupiter
GCM Resources
Restaurant Group

Financial Times

Trading Post - Long yen versus the Aussie dollar is the bet.

Facebook admits it hired a PR group in the US to generate stories critical of Google’s approach to privacy.

Advent International and Carlyle Group are considering listing German producer of refractory metals, H.C. Starck, , on the stock market.

Clinton Cards' like-for-like sales drop 3% for the 40 weeks to 8 May.

Dixons Retail's sales fall 2% for the year to 30 April.

BT unveils 71% increase in pre-tax profit for 2010-11.

Handbag manufacturer Coach plans to move up to 50% of its manufacturing out of China due to rising labour costs.

Shares in fashion retailer SuperGroup fell pver 20% on Thursday on evidence of a slowdown in UK sales growth.

Insurer Aegon reports net profits of €327 million in Q1 2011, below expectations of €345 million.

Goldman Sachs shares fell 3.5% as analysts say bank may still face charges from the US DoJ for its conduct during the financial crisis.

The Times

Council of Mortgage Lenders say 9,100 homes were repossessed in Q1 vs 7,900 in Q1 of 2010.

Europe must take immediate action to avoid another financial crisis, the IMF warned yesterday.

William Hill, suffered one of the biggest shareholder rebellions of the year soi far at its AGM yesterday when over a third of investors refused to endorse its executive pay.

Old Mutual reports 4% drop in Q1 sales to £369 million.

Tempus stocks and shares tips

Hold RSA
Hold Aegis
Buy Cookson.

The Independent

Investment share tips
Buy 3i at 290p - it failed to confirm the market's worst fears yesterday and there is encouraging news in the pipeline
Buy Tullett Prebon at 393p
Hold Clinton Cards at 17p.

The Guardian
Viewpoint

The slump in commodities might be more than just 'froth' - Glencore's CEO is unworried about the market volatility but the volume of copper and aluminium being imported into China is now falling.

Daily Mail

An analyst trip to Yorkshire seems to have paid off for Greene King. A series of bullish notes on the pubs operator were sent out as a result.

Daily Express

Stock Market News

Speculators liked Scottish & Southern Energy yesterday as bid rumours emerged around a trio of UK utilities.


The Daily Telegraph

Leading opposition figures in Kazakhstan have accused Glencore of illegally privatising assets worth up to $7.6 billion.

Households in the UK suffer most significant drop in income since 1981, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies

Keller shares slump 20% on Thursday after issuing a profits warning.

Output at FTSE 100 Kazakh company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation grew substantially in Q1, but warned that costs are rising.

Questor Share Tips

Supergroup - sell at 1219p
Shares fell 22.5% yesterday as the company said sales growth at its core retail division had slowed from 91.8% in Q3 to 39% in Q4. It also has not opened as many stores as it had hoped, and said the warm weather in March and April meant it had the wrong kind of stock in its shops. If yesterday's fall had happened just once it would be an unfortunate but costly blip and possibly a buying opportunity. But this has happened before. In these uncertain times we prefer to invest in steady and stable stocks.

BT - buy at 199p

Questor Share tips from Thursday
Barratt Developments - buy at 118p
HSBC - buy at 646p

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Newspaper Stocks and Shares Tips

Stock Market Today - newspaper stocks and shares tips

Financial Times
Apollo Global Management launches $509 million offer for Idol show and Elvis mansion.
Chinese airline and logistics group HNA, is paying €431.6 M for a 20% stake in Spain’s NH Hoteles,
Imperial Tobacco launches programme to buy back £500 million of shares a year.
BP receives approval to complete purchase of 10 exploration and production blocks from Devon Energy in Brazil.

Lex

LinkedIn IPO: - potential investors should heed the warnings in the company’s IPO prospectus about its future revenue growth rate.
Adecco - the world’s largest recruiting company by sales, is a good barometer of the jobs market and on Tuesday it announced Q1 results confirming the world is in recovery-mode.
Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion but it would be better off saving its money and giving it to investors.


The Times

Tempus stocks and shares tips

CSR - good speculative gamble.
N Brown attractive enough, but concerns persist over the retail environment.
IHG - high enough .

Stock Market Comment
Tesco investors nervous about headwinds facing company, both in its home market which is saturated and some of its forays overseas, like the US adventure.

The Independent

Investment Stocks and Shares Tips
Buy IHG at 1298p
Buy Hansard Global at 164p
Sell Johnston Press at 7.5p.

The Guardian

Viewpoint Column
Skype deal is dotcom deja vu - people are already naming this period Bubble 2.0 in the US.

Pace - even by Pace's accident-prone standards, this year's calamities are shockingly spectacular.

The Daily Telegraph

Questor Stocks and Shares Tips

BG Group - hold at 1412p
Capita Group - buy at 741p - upbeat trading statement yesterday proved Capita expects trading conditions to be strong during H2 of 2011. Pipeline of new business is very strong.

Daily Mail

Stock Market Report
Professional investors responded to renewed gossip that Sage Group’s days of independence are numbered.

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Tuesday May10 Newspaper Share Tips

Share Trading Tips - Tuesday Newspaper Tips

For Investors Chronicle tips from Friday - click here

Financial Times

Chipmaker CSR has called into question its takeover of US imaging and video technology group Zoran after it reported a drop in revenues and widening losses.

Volkswagen has increased stake in MAN and has announced a tender offer .

Hertz has launched a $2.2 bn offer for rival Dollar Thrifty

Recent approach by Bain Capital for Micro Focus has increased debate about the UK software company's long-term growth prospects.

Lex

UK banks: PPI (payment protection insurance) - the amount set aside by banks in the UK to compensate customers for payment protection insurance mis-selling caper may not be enough.

The Times

Serco is in talks with Blackstone about buying a stake in an Indian business processing company and call centre.

Tempus share tips

Inmarsat shares - good value; at just over 11 x this year’s earnings
Hiscox shares have potential.
Centrica's shares have fallen too far

Comment

Banks abandon their fight over payment protection insurance.

The Independent

Investment Share Tips

Hold Serco at 547.5p - reassurance means they are a hold
Hold Hiscox at 414p
Buy Lonmin at 1562p

The Guardian

Viewpoint

Greece will crash, build up the buffers - targets on deficit-reduction have been missed and the economy is a mess.
The moral of the payment protection insurance scandal - don't rip off your customers - banks ought to apologise for their "fancy legal footwork" over PPI.

The Daily Telegraph

Goldman Sachs, an investor in Facebook since January, will cash out the whole of its stake in LinkedIn when it floats later this month.

Questor Share Tips

Hiscox - buy at 414p - in good position to benefit from rising reinsurance rates
Inmarsat - hold at 619p
Comment

The Greek government's request for bail-out restructuring is unlikely to get a sympathetic hearing from other European countries.

Daily Mail

Stock Market News

Kesa Electricals shares rise on revived bid talk, then blow a small fuse when gossip suggests the pre-close trading statement may contain another profits warning.

Comment

The banks retreat over the mis-selling of payment protection insurance suggests banking industry has something to learn from António Horta-Osório at Lloyds Banking Group [he was previously the CEO of Santander - frequently rated very low in consumer surveys in the UK - Ed.].

Shoppers feel the squeeze and retailers and big High Street names have already issued profit warnings.

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Friday IC Share Tips

Shares to Watch - Magazine Share Tips from Friday May6

Investors Chronicle Share Tips

Share Tips of the Week: Buy International Personal Finance at 364.5p; less than 9 x 2012's forecast earnings looks a 'snip'.
Buy Capita at 714p - long-term growth should reassert itself , plus there is a reliable dividend.
Buy Arian Silver at 34p; a buying opportunity after recent weakness, plus substantial exploration upside.
Buy Hansteen at 85p; rental yield is 'compelling', especially due to its exposure to the booming German market.

Updates:
Keep buying STV Group now at 168p.
Keep buying William Hill, now at 218p.
Wait for Ideal Shopping Direct documents, tipped in June 2010 at 162p - now target of a private equity-led offer at 220p a share.

Share Tip Bits:
Keep buying Paragon at 176p, for exposure to buy-to-let market.
Keep buying Greene King 495p, Lamprell 365p, Coastal Energy 402p, Tikit 294p, and Persimmon, 468p.
Keep buying Avon Rubber at 260p, it appears set for a stronger H2.
Micro Focus could be worth a short term punt at 370p, as any firm offer will likely be over 400p.
Keep buying Griffin Mining at 60p, global zinc market is forecast to tighten after next year.

Simon Thompson still rates his 'bargain' selections as buys - namely Polo Resources, Noble Investments, PV Crystalox, Pilat Media, and Acal.

Six 'penny shares with promise': Vialogy, Rurelec, Wasaurbi Energy, Allergy Therapeutics, Motive TV and Goldplat.

Results Tips:

Buy Egdon Resources at 19.5p
Buy Bisichi Mining at 205p
Buy Green Dragon Gas at US$12.75
Buy GGG Resources at 34p
Buy Ithaca Energy at 139p
Buy Aurelian Oil & Gas at 66p
Buy Fenner at 364p
Buy Anglo-Eastern Plantations at 767p
Buy Titan Europe at 95.5p
Buy Randall & Quilter Investment at 111p
Buy Harvey Nash at 75.5p.
Buy Hasgrove at 55p
Sell Home Retail Group at 218p

Gold: Sandy Jadeja at Cityindex says some technical indicators suggest gold is overbought, but there is no sign of a price-top yet.

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Sunday Papers Share Tips May8

Share Trading Basics - Weekend Newspaper Share Tips and Rumours

Sunday Times

British Airways planning a bid for the Portuguese airline TAP, which is up for sale.

Planned merger between the LSE and the Toronto stock exchange could be stopped by Canadian banks.

Dubai-based billionaire Hussain Sajwani chairman of Damac Holding, has secretly built a large stake in Northacre, a property company specializing in luxury London flats.

Estate agent Marsh & Parsons has received a number of bid approaches.

Rank has advised investors not to accept a £586 M takeover bid from its main shareholder.

HMV close to selling its Canadian business but negotiations to sell Waterstone’s are at an impasse.

Comment

Economic Outlook: eurozone looking unappealing and battered. Parts are held together with artificial support.

Commodities: Fears raised that investors in UK funds are over-exposed to this volatile market, just when prices may have peaked.

Commodities giant Glencore has some dark secrets, for example betting on grain while the developing world riots over food.

HSBC’s chief executive Stuart Gulliver is embarking on a great leap forward, but where will it lead 'the world's local bank'?

Soaring fuel prices, civil unrest and weak consumer spending has kept shares in Thomas Cook and Tui Travel from progressing.

The Observer

Bankers still in denial about reasons for financial crisis - light-touch regulation got us into this mess, but bankers are resisting attempts to tighten up the system every inch of the way.

Banks' PPI (payment protection insurance) was in fact a racket [which was evident to anyone with half a brain 10 years ago - Ed.] - Lloyds has decided to cut its losses. Barclays looks like it is going to do the same. HSBC, and RBS need to follow, even if the final bill is £8 billion. [Can't understand why people hate bankers so much]

The Sunday Telegraph

Questor share tips

Buy NBT at 395p - manages domain names for big clients - substantial amount of recureing revenues

Questor podcast - Cash in on cars
Lookers is a hold at the moment
Go-ahead - passenger numbers up due to high oil prices - shares till yield 5.4% - still a fan
Johnson Matthey - catalyic converters and other converters - 12% of profits from converters for opiates - but should start selling more to the Chinese - double digit earnings increases fo the next 3 years


Commodities prices hit sizeable correction, just as Glencore releases its prospectus for one of the world's largest ever floats.

Goldman Sachs' flotation was the top of the equity bubble in 1999 [the top of the tech bubble was actually in 2000 - Ed.], and Blackstone's IPO rang the bell for private equity in 2007.

Mail on Sunday

Midas share tips

Buy BATM Advanced Communications. Survivor of the dotcom boom - two distinct divisions to help telecoms companies transmit data faster and more securely. The shares are 24p and have not been helped by poor communication skills and the Nokia Siemens setback. But the co. is innovative, cash-generative and provides phone operators with a service they desperately need. Buy and be patient.

Anite
Tipped in 2009 at 28p. Investors should sell up to half of their Anite shares at 67.5p; new investors should consider buying a few.

The flotation of commodities trading giant Glencore has all the hallmarks of being a defining moment for the stock market.

*****
SATURDAY

TIMES

Tempus share tips

Danger seems minimal in holding on to the shares of utilities Centrica, Pennon Group, National Grid and Tesco.

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Friday Newspaper Share Tips

Share Trading Basics - Friday Newspapers and Investors Chronicle Share Tips

Warren Buffett aka the Oracle of Omaha says the e-mail he always reads is the one he gets from Howard Marks - he also recommends Howard Marks' book - The Most Important Thing (I don't think he gets a cut of the sale price)The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)

Warren Buffett is of course  a long-term investor, Oscar Carboni is the exact opposite - a short-term day-trader who bases his trades on technical analysis. I have been follower of Oscar for a few years now via his website http://www.livewithoscar.com/ - just recently, back in March, Oscar made a famous call on Fox TV with Neil Cabuto, where he said the SnP was headed for 1650 before the end of 2011. One thing I like about Oscar is that he is willing to put his predictions out on the block for all to see - so we shall see! Since then Oscar has started appearing periodically on a number of TV shows including this clip from CNBC.



Investors Chronicle Share Tips

Buy -
Capita, - it is premature to say its market has turned, but 2011 holds more promise. Long-term organic growth looks likely to reassert itself. Now looks a good time to buy.

Hansteen,
International Personal Finance,


Arian Silver -
The price of silver is booming (or at least it was). Arian Silver, one of the few pure silver plays on the London stock market, is starting to benefit from rising cash flow – this is financing exploration, the real driver of Arian's value. The silver price has soared 145% over the past year (except in the last few days). Despite this, Arian's share price has retreated from 54p around the start of the year. Buy.

Financial Times
Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta, said the company’s troubled bid for Cairn India should get the go ahead this month.

US private equity group Carlyle is facing questions over its investments in two Chinese companies accused of fraud.

The Lex Column

Commodities suffer an epic rout as billions of dollars go down the drain and no doubt some funds and investors were buried in margin calls.

The president of the ECB has opened the door to a more gradual exit strategy by saying “closely monitor” inflation instead of maintain “strong vigilance”.

Lloyds Banking Group: the new chief executive apears to be getting all the bad news out at once early in his tenure, but there are still too many things pointing in the wrong direction.

THE TIMES

Tempus share tips
Smith & Nephew - solid long-term hold
Hold Rexam
Avoid Vedanta Resources.

THE INDEPENDENT
Google and Facebook hold talks about possible tie-ups with Skype.

Investment Share Tips
Buy Randgold at 4900p
Buy Costain at 227p
Sell Flybe at 172.5p

The Guardian

Viewpoint Column
Rout in the commodity markets could be due to a number of reasons. But the fact is that the global economy is still alarmingly weak.

Lloyds bows to the law – the CEO's decision over backdating compensation shows the way for other banks

Flybe - the airline has not quite lived up to its reputation as resilient.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

Questor Share Tips
Diageo - hold at 1230p
Go-ahead Group - buy at 1495p

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Newspaper Share Tips May5

Stock Market Investing - Newspaper Share Tips

UPDATE :
Share tips from Shares Magazine

Computer Services firm IDOX. With strong recurring revenues and the ability to add more value for money, acquisitions mean the shares are too cheap, currently at 20.0p. The firm's mainly local authority clients now have clarity on budgets. Buy.

Tricorn. Pipe manipulation specialist. Buy ahead of results for year to 31 March (6 Jun). An update on trading should sustain an earnings upgrade cycle already responsible for a 107% increase in the shares over the last 12 months. The company also looks set to pay its frist dividend. Despite a hefty re-rating the firm trades just 7.4 x the March 2012 consensus forecast e.p.s. of 3.1p.

Today's stock market news
Bank of England and the ECB leave interest rates unchaged, which is good news for home loans. Analysts say the Bank of England may leave interest rates unchanged until November at the earliest, and possibly even until 2012 - which has got to be good for mortgage rates and people looking for home loans. See here for recent mortgage rates available - mortgage rates

RIO TINTO has just denied it is interested in Alcoa.

FINANCIAL TIMES
Applied Materials plans to buy rival Varian Semiconductor for $4.9 billion in cash.

$4.9 billion cash offer by ConAgra Foods for Ralcorp, its second try, for the food producer has been rejected.

Lex

ConAgra/Ralcorp: - aside from the self-interest of management, Ralcorp may simply feel it is worth more.

The poor man’s gold (silver) has made some even poorer after prices drop over 12% in two days as speculators head for the exits.

The pricing of the RenRen IPO shows the hysteria around Chinese tech stocks as they have drift into the heavenly ether.

Lombard

With cornerstone investors to take 31% of the $10bn IPO, Glencore will pull off one of the largest flotations in the history of the London stockmarket.

The Times

Tempus share tips

Hold Sage Group.
BBA Aviation - an interesting buy if any further weakness.
Hold JD Wetherspoon

Comment

Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg swears not to sell any of his shares, post-IPO.

The Independent

Investment Share Tips

Hold Rightmove at 1039p
Buy Henderson at 156.5p
Buy Spirent at 136p

Times are dark for all but the strongest retailers.

The Daily Telegraph

Intel's new 3D chip technology, mostly because of its power efficiency, may be a threat to ARM Holdings, the dominant supplier of chips to the world’s smartphones and tablets.

ARM who design chips for Apple’s iPhone fell 44 to 558p ahead of the announcement from Intel.

Questor Share Tips
Buy Legal and General at 119.5p
Standard Chartered - hold at 1593p

Comment

UK is not Portugal, but it might become so.

Daily Mail

Comment

Everything about the Glencore float is whopping.

Market Report

Sellers dumped Imagination Technologies

Midas Share Tip from Saturday - buy Axis Shield at 312p

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Today's Newspaper Share Tips

Stocks and Shares - Wednesday Newspaper Share Tips

FINANCIAL TIMES

Nexar, the fund of funds business, is to buy UK-based Ermitage.

Experian has agreed to acquire Computec a Colombian credit information provider for $400 million.

Matterhorn Capital, the property investment vehicle, is entering the growing data centre market, with an investment of £250 million in two sites in SE England.

India's Adani Enterprises to buy Abbot Point Coal in Queensland for $1.98 billion.

THE TIMES
Citigroup to auction EMI next month.

Tempus share tips

Hold F&C
Cluff Gold offers an attractive speculative prospect
Sell Thorntons.

Comment

EasyJet’s fee for a booking by debit card has risen by 129% to £8 in less than a year. The cost of actually processing the transaction is around 20p.

Experian’s decision to pay $400 M in cash for local credit-check business, Computec, will raise eyebrows.

THE INDEPENDENT

Pierre Cardin seeking €1 bn for his global fashion empire.

Investment Column
Hold F&C Asset Management at 80p
Hold IP Group ay 50.25p
Buy Lamprell at 363p

Outlook

No end in sight for low interest rates.

THE GUARDIAN

Ryanair ready to talk with Fine Gael over sale of Aer Lingus stake.

Viewpoint Column

Thorntons blames bad results on the weather but the main problem is the make-up of Thorntons business.

The Daily Telegraph

Alcoa shares up on speculation that Rio Tinto preparing a bid for the group.

Questor Share Tips

Anglo American - buy at 3115p
Anglo American shares were given as a buy in May last year at £28.05 – they are now 11% higher. The shares are still a buy because of the positive pricing environment for commodities and the Anglo's ambitious expansion plans.

Unilever - hold at 1987p

Daily Express

A consortium led by investor Jack Petchey confirms it is behind takeover approach for car dealers Lookers.

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Tuesday Newspaper Roundup

Stocks and Shares - Tuesday Stock Market News

Financial Times

Teva Pharmaceuticals has entered into a $6.8 bn deal for US biotech group Cephalon, beating the approach from Canada’s Valeant.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange are closer to puting in a hostile bid for NYSE Euronext, as they try to scupper the agreed deal with Deutsche Börse.

The Lex Column

Big oil: - as the economy recovers worldwide, and the oil price climbs, earnings show how much cash these giants generate.

The Times

Matterhorn Capital investment company is set to invest £250 million in two data centres in South East England.

Unlike the USA and Germany, the UK economy is yet to pull away from recession decisively.

The Daily Telegraph

Lakshmi Mittal to buy a $300 million stake in KazStroyService - Kazakhstan’s leading oil services company.

25 million more people hit in second Sony cyber attack

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Weekend Papers Share Tips May1

Online Stock Trading - Weekend Newspaper Share Tips

SUNDAY PAPERS

Sunday Times

Firms including Warburg Pincus and CVC Capital Partners are battling to acquire Environmental Resources Management - a green consultancies firm put up for sale by Bridgepoint, for over $750 million.

Malaysia's richest family, the Kuoks, has bought the headquarters of insurance giant Aviva in their first move into British property.

USA Account: back to fighting over debt - the antics of property millionaire Donald Trump have proved a relief from economic problems, but there's no escaping rising fuel and house prices.

The Observer

West may be on the decline, but the rest of the world seems ready for a 40-year boom.

Paid-for news websites will probably have to spend money on advertising [on free sites presumably - Ed.].

The Sunday Telegraph

Sony Pictures TV is considering a bid for All3Media, the group behind Midsomer Murders and The Only Way is Essex, at a price of over £600 million.

Questor Share Tips

Gulfsands Petroleum - Hold at 289p - but braver investors may be willing to take a risk in this well-run company.
GlaxoSmithKline - Buy at 1305p
WPP - buy at 781.5p
Croda - buy at 1881p


HSBC's UK retail arm to announce dramatic cost-cutting as one of the priorities in a strategy review to be disclosed next week.

Mail on Sunday

Ryanair is making a 3rd attempt to buy rival Aer Lingus and create an all-Irish airline.

Midas share tips

Buy Axis-Shield at 312p
Midas says: Developing Afinion cost more and took longer than Axis-Shield expected and bringing it to market has been a challenge. But ASD is headed in the right direction. Testing in surgery is more efficient and more appealing so there is every reason to suppose Afinion sales will soar over the next five years.
Take profits as Hilton shares bounce back.


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SATURDAY PAPERS

The Times

Tempus Share tips

Qatar Investment Fund about to move from AIM to a full listing, which should improve liquidity.
Buy Ashmore Group

The Guardian

Royal wedding is the UK's Marie Antoinette moment - back in the real world, below this veneer of pomp, there is a social dislocation the cracks of which are starting to emerge.

Daily Mail

The upfront costs of the Royal Wedding celebrations, including the security arrangements, are said to have been around £50 million; more concerning perhaps is the blow to GDP caused by a lost day’s work, estimated at £5.9 billion.

Investment Extra

The conservative world of investment has moved into the modern era with the launch of Britain’s first Facebook-style social network for private investors - The Traders Own site.

Polo Resources chairman Stephen Dattels increased his holding in the company, by buying 6.4 million shares at 5.82p each.

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