It is always worth taking a look when there is a big fall in a well-owned FTSE-100 stock. Today’s performance dog is Centrica (CNA) which probably supplies many of you via its British Gas brand with gas and electricity and which has blamed a combination of energy price moves, the weather and utility market competition for a 30% fall in earnings per share in 2014…and most strikingly a 30% fall in the dividend it is going to pay.
Hello Share Truckers. One of my biggest ever killings came about by my having hardly any work to do. It was the amazing rise and rise of British Gas.
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?
I last covered Centrica (CNA) in early February. I suggested it was a buy at 311p. This proved to be a profitable trade more quickly than I anticipated. Now that the share price is recovering from its latest drop, I have a slightly alternative indicator for going long; the explosion of berries growing in trees!
I’ve been watching the steady decline in British energy supplier, Centrica (CNA), with a sense of growing expectation. Normally this isn’t the sort of stock to get excited about. However, once in a while stale old businesses can provide some wonderful trading opportunities. Centrica might very well be on the cusp of one right now.
Shares in Centrica (CNA) shares have lost 15% in the last two months, thanks to some negative comments from Labour leader Ed Miliband and subsequent brokers’ downgrades. The stock, currently trading at 340p, offers short to medium term upside potential.
The Centrica (CNA) narrative does not read like a John le Carrier novel. But its story has to be understood and explained if for no other the reason than it is a significant provider of high dividend yield income in the age of quantitative easing, low interest rates and low annuity rates.
The Centrica (CNA) share price, after peaking at 365p early this month, has come down by 4% to 350p, last seen. At that price the shares yield a near 4.7% on 2012’s recently declared annual dividend payout of 16.4p. So at that price, are they ripe for buying as a dividend yield stock that is likely to see dividends maintained and hopefully increase?
