News

Wednesday tips round-up: Debenhams, Persimmon, Autonomy

24 October 2007 05:35:00

Debenhams looks like a solid recovery play. The dividend yield, at just under 6 per cent, is attractive and looks safe, while management has done the right thing by investing in new ranges and its stores - so another warning looks unlikely in the short term.

This is not yet a safe investment and anyone taking a punt will need to be aware of the potential downside, but yesterday's news was encouraging and for higher risk investors now could be the time to take a punt, says the Independent.

The Telegraph also says, with a dividend yield of 6pc, the stock is beginning to look attractive again. Buy.

Persimmon has already said that it wants to spend between £750 million and £1 billion each year for the next three years buying land. It could as easily buy a rival company: Redrow, Bellway and Bovis are tipped as possible targets. Persimmon looked at Wilson Bowden - the builder bought by Barratt for £2.2 billion - but declined to bid, believing that its upmarket Charles Church brand could grow fast enough organically. Spending a few million pounds buying back shares is small beer. Investors should buy into Persimmon's ambitions for growth, says the Times.

Autonomy claims that the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crisis is another opportunity. With litigation likely to grip the US mortgage industry companies will need to provide information based on email retrieval. However, the shares are priced to perfection on more than 30 times forecast 2008 earnings, and any kind of slip up, however small, could see the shares come back down to earth with a bang. For long term buyers this remains an exciting growth prospect, but in the short term Autonomy should take a breather. Hold, writes the Independent.

The Telegraph says the shares are not for the faint-hearted, trading on almost 40 times next year's earnings. Autonomy's growth, however, looks secure. Buy.

Ultra Electronics's interim figures, published in August, revealed a £575 million order book, equivalent to 18 months of historic sales. Investors who fretted about the size of the order book will take heart from the latest contract wins. Yet investors had been buying Ultra ahead of the news. The shares have gained 12 per cent since August, helped by the stock acting as a defence-sector shelter from interest-rate, housing or consumer worries. Ultra added 22p to 1192p yesterday, leaving it 70p shy of its record high this year. Growth prospects seem fairly priced in. Take profits, writes the Times.

Ultrasis is a technology company whose main product, an interactive computer program aimed at treating mental health patients, became available for prescription on the NHS in March. Ultrasis published its annual figures yesterday, showing a 27 per cent rise in revenues to £1.58 million, indicating that its "Beating the Blues" treatment is a hit for those doctors aware of its availability as an affordable alternative to the usual range of antidepressant drugs. Ultrasis edged down yesterday to 0.95p but should be prescribed as a buy for investors, says the Times.

In January Aim-listed Solana Resources looked dead in the water. A succession of questionable management decisions plus less than stellar newsflow from its oil and gas exploration activities left the shares languishing at under 40p, leaving shareholders with little hope of a turnaround and nursing some ugly losses. Giving the company any accurate valuation is hard given the lack of numbers to go on and investors should also be aware of the political risk involved in doing business in Colombia. But there could be more to play for here, and with more good newsflow, respected management and conservative reserve estimates, Solana looks worth a punt, writes the Independent.
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