I note that I reviewed Tesco (TSCO) shares in January when they had sunk to 180p. It was a fairly full note and most of the argument it included still informs any appraisal of Tesco shares even if they have climbed 32% since then. I took a long term positive view on the shares and see that the market has compressed that long term into a matter weeks.
We have now had the 2014 prelims for both BP (BP.A) and Shell (RDSA) which gives us the opportunity to do a bit of comparing and contrasting of these two giant, integrated, international oil and gas businesses. Basically and very simply, they have much in common as investments at this time.
There is something in the air? Is it one of Mr. Putin’s fighter bombers ploughing unannounced down the Channel in the mad February winds, hoping not to be noticed? No its the BAE Systems (BA.) share price at 524p.The Observer Corps - sorry I mean the radar – plots it as not only flying high but also but in new territory.
The New Year’s rapid increase in the BP (BP.) share price has been testimony to some old market truths; buy for book value and buy when the last man has heard the bad news.
Sometimes one is drawn away from the comparative safety- a term I used advisedly because a lack of safety is a characteristic of all equity investing - away from big blue chip shares to smaller much more speculative versions. Such was the situation last October when my wandering eye fell upon Imagination Technologies (IMG); a company with big prospects, low profits, a high price to earnings multiple and a name to conjure with; It has a touch of stardust about it. The sort of name that for some reason puts you in mind of a Steven Spielberg film starring a charming pint sized alien creature lost in space.
We have had a recent trading statement from Dixons Carphone (DC.), the recently merged Dixon’s Retail and Car phone Warehouse companies, which I had reviewed positively in late May 2014. The pre- merged Dixon’s Retail share price was then 44p in its old form. The adjusted share price chart indicates that the new form share price was then around 300p. In the next seven months, the share price rose reaching a peak of 470p last month – a useful increase of an estimated 56%. Since then, the share has retreated 8% to 345p. So where does it go from here?
The recent downtrend in Centrica (CNA) shares (269p last seen) has found some resistance. They have bounced off a low 258p level where they were, on last year's dividend payout of 17p, on an historic dividend yield of 6.5%. Was the market assuming that a dividend cut was discounted or that the share was horribly oversold because there might be no dividend cut?
The last dregs of 2014 vanished down the drain of time weeks ago but the uncertainty and discord it represented, are still with us; or rather, to be precise, with me. My last computer went into some kind of electronic fit in the beginning of this year, leaving me bereft as I try to cope with the subtle differences between them.
To accompany my note yesterday on British Land (BLND) I now revisit Land Securities (LAND) which I last wrote on bullishly in April 2014, when the shares were 1063p. Like British Land they got into new price territory this week 1208p bit have since come back within the uptrend to 1200p.
I last had a look at British Land (BLND) a year ago. The share price was then 621p. Since then it has increased by 26% to 785p last seen. The chart looks perky and it is to be noted that the share price has just climbed into new territory, which looks encouraging, giving potential leg room for more upward momentum in the share price trend.
