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Biotech rally on Covid treatments becoming harder to justify
Thursday 23 Jul 2020Having been out of favour with investors for the last few years healthcare stocks have become hot property with some remarkable share price performances since the outbreak of Covid-19. The response to the virus has been impressive with over 90 candidate vaccines currently being tested globally with...
US earnings season unlikely to add clarity to full year outlook
Thursday 16 Jul 2020After US stocks racked up their best quarterly performance for 20 years in the three months to June, with the S&P 500 index gaining 20%, this month sees the start of the US reporting season. According to Factset, the consensus forecast is for a 44.6% fall in second quarter earnings for the S...
Red hot Tesla could put huge stock offering on the table
Thursday 16 Jul 2020Shares in Tesla have been on a tear this year, rallying right through the Covid-19 pandemic to close at record highs of $1,544.65 on 10 July, posing the question of whether the company should take the opportunity to raise more cash. At that price the stock had already jumped almost 43% in July...
Fevertree shares fall on margin concerns
Thursday 16 Jul 2020Shares in upmarket mixer supplier Fevertree Drinks ( FEVR:AIM ) fell flat on 14 July as investors focused on cautious comments regarding the firm’s gross margin instead of its sales growth in its latest trading update. Despite positive momentum in spirits and mixers in UK and US supermarket and...
Global company debt could jump by $1 trillion in 2020
Thursday 16 Jul 2020Global corporate net debt could jump by as much as $1 trillion this year as companies grapple with the massive impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The stark warning comes from the Janus Henderson Corporate Debt Index, which studies the long-term borrowing trends of companies from around the world. The...
Halma’s record profit streak set to end
Thursday 16 Jul 2020Health, safety and environmental electronics equipment designer Halma ( HLMA ) says a 17-year track record of consecutive annual revenue and profit growth won’t extend into next year. The downgrade – with management suggesting pre-tax profit will drop between 5% and 10% in the financial year to 31...
B&M shares hit new record high as analysts upgrade forecasts
Thursday 16 Jul 2020Shares in B&M European Value Retail ( BME ) have just hit a new record high of 439.9p following a materially better than expected first quarter that included a welcome uptick in June trading. The update led analysts to upgrade their earnings forecasts for the year, acting as a share price...
Cycling boom isn't enough to drive up Halfords’ shares
Thursday 09 Jul 2020SHARES IN Car parts-to-bicycles retailer Halfords ( HFD ) failed to pedal higher as we’d hoped despite the delivery of full year profit (7 Jul) at the upper end of previous guidance and the news recent trading is materially better than that anticipated at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. Bike...
Housebuilders’ shares in demand thanks to stamp duty boost
Thursday 09 Jul 2020There was welcome news for housebuilders in chancellor Rishi Sunak’s mini-Budget (8 Jul) as he raised the stamp duty threshold on properties from £125,000 to £500,000 until 31 March 2021. This move should boost the property market and benefit housebuilders, estate agents, DIY retailers and building...
Dividend opportunities continue to shrink for investors
Thursday 09 Jul 2020The number of FTSE 100 companies which have raised their dividends in each of the last 10 years fell from 25 at the start of the year to just 14 at the end of June, according to analysis by AJ Bell. Such has been the damage to company balance sheets during the pandemic that dividend payments by...