Sunday newspaper share tips

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

A round up of the share tips from the Sunday newspapers.

Pile of newspapers

The Sundays: We round up the share tips

Sunday Telegraph

With more than 80% of its revenues coming from government sources, Balfour Beatty's earnings over the next couple of years look pretty secure.

The company, which operates in facilities management, railway and civil engineering and infrastructure investment, recently said its order book increased from the £12.1bn seen at its half-year update.

That is because one major plank of the current economic firefighting is infrastructure spend, particularly in the US, although there is a question mark over government spending beyond a two-year horizon. Another factor in Balfour's favour is sterling weakness, as companies with foreign currency exposure are likely to see a strong earnings boost.

With good visibility, proactive management and exposure to infrastructure spend and currency benefits, shares are a buy at 350.25p.

Jamie Oliver is leading a campaign to support Britain's pig farming industry, with a Channel 4 show this week called Jamie Saves Our Bacon. One company that will benefit from an increase in sales of pork is food producer Cranswick.

It has so far managed to withstand difficult markets by passing on higher raw material costs. And it is not too reliant on just selling meats to customers such as Sainsbury's, as it recently introduced a line of continental cheeses and has a pet foods operation.

The group has managed to refinance its £120m debt facility out until 2013, which is a sign of support from bankers. Shares, at 600p, are a buy.

Mail on Sunday

Motor insurance specialist Admiral is well regarded on the stock market and its shares, at 891.5p, have proved more resilient than most. The group, which operates brands including elephant.co.uk and confused.com, sells via the internet and the phone so its costs are lower than those of many competitors.

It is also successful at pricing insurance properly, which means it manages to pass on most of the risk to the reinsurance market. Overall profits for 2008 are expected to be about £201m, an increase of 11% on 2007. Admiral is not immune to the recession, but higher premiums should help to offset any reduction in the volume of business.

Admiral is also expanding into Europe, where there is huge potential for low-cost insurance products. Buy.

Pawnbroker H&T stands out from the rest of the high street as it recently said its 2008 profits would be higher than brokers' forecasts. The company should do well from the recession, while it also benefits from having tripled its number of stores over the past decade to 105 and from the high price of gold.

Chief executive John Nichols, who has been in the business for 12 years, has focused heavily on improving customer service and making stores light and bright. Brokers expect profits of about £11m for 2008 and nearly £11.6m in 2009. Shares have risen to 194p since September, but are still seen as a buy.

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