Stock Watch

3 - December - 2008

Sheridan Admans, Investment Adviser at The Share Centre

The Share Centre's top 5 buys from the last 7 days (24th - 28th Nov):

1. Taylor Wimpey - Investors bravely taking a punt on a recovery.
2. Rio Tinto - Traders buying after BHP Billiton pull out of deal to buy the mining giant.
3. Royal Bank of Scotland - Investors buying hoping that with Government intervention prospects will improve.
4. Tesco - Buying ahead of the busy Christmas period.
5. Barclays - Buyers still have hope within the banking sector of a recovery.

The Share Centre's top 5 shares to follow:

1. National Grid (Lower Risk) - Defensive qualities prove attractive in these markets.
2. BP (Lower Risk) - Oil is getting weaker but certainly a commodity we cannot live without.
3. GlaxoSmithkline (Medium Risk) - Defensive stock in uncertain times.
4. United Utilities (Medium Risk) - Results last week show that water is still very much a profitable business.
5. ITV (Higher Risk) - Gamble on advertising rates in New Year or a takeover appearing.

Ratio of buys to sells = 79:21

Top 5 most searched for companies on www.share.com:

1. Taylor Wimpey
2. RBS
3. Barclays
4. Tesco
5. HBOS

The Share Centre's Share of the Week (24th - 28th Nov)

Tesco - 292p - Sector: Food & Drugs Retailer Recommendation: Buy
Risk Category: Low
Investment Class: Balanced

Opinion

Despite its vast size, supermarket giant Tesco remains one of the most dynamic companies in British retailing. Its success is down to a consistent strategy well executed, concentrating on keeping prices down, margins steady and extending range and volume.

The Tesco brand continues to go from strength to strength and 30,000 jobs are to be created over the next year with Poland being a major source of investment. And in its first year of its 'Fresh n Easy' convenience store brand in the US the company has opened 100 stores with further expected to be rolled out in 2009. It was planned to open 200 retail outlets in the US in 2009 but erring on the side of prudence in these tight credit markets it has scaled the number back. It would also seem that issues arising from the US may not appear as bad as first thought; it did reveal £60 million of trading losses in the first nine months to September but reported booked sales of £76 million in the six months to 23 August.

Tesco is not exempt from a global turn down. Evidence of this was seen when Tesco reported in November that sales in South Korea dipped. However in China like for like sales were up 8%, while Malaysia was up 2%. Tesco is likely to suffer the woes that other retailers face in these uncertain times but is should be taken into consideration that it is a global brand with a diverse, growing portfolio of regions that demonstrate further growth potential. Tesco has excellent management track record and at current market prices looks attractive to the longer term investor. Top of Form

This data is from Sheridan Admans, Investment Adviser at The Share Centre. This is not intended to constitute an offer or agreement to buy or sell investments. Moneyextra.com Ltd recommends you should consider taking advice before acting on any article. Share prices, their values and the income from them can go down as well as up and investors may get back less than their original investment. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.