Looking for shares which have slipped beneath the radar of investors is a good way of identifying possible re-rating opportunities. A decent measure of a company’s market profile is the number of sell-side analysts which cover the stock.

The table shows companies in the FTSE 250, FTSE Small Cap and FTSE AIM 100 which are covered by the fewest analysts. Very often they are only followed by the house broker which is unlikely to be entirely objective in its assessment of a client’s investment case.

Without a wealth of research to draw in these shares can be difficult to value and can struggle to win attention but there is merit in sifting through the list of names to identify stocks which might be overlooked gems. As their potential becomes apparent there is scope for significant upwards moves in their share prices.

Out of view

Some of these stories may not initially seem exciting. Take REIT (real estate investment trust) Tritax Big Box (BBOX), for example. The company literally operates in the background, providing the warehouse space and logistics support which sits behind retail companies.

Yet this offers the potential for lucrative growth given a structural shift which is seeing an increasing proportion of consumer goods sold online. The firm is focused on large warehouses designed to make distribution fast and effective and provides space to the likes of Next (NXT) and Amazon (AMZN:NDQ).

It is targeting a minimum annual dividend payment of 6p once it is fully invested which, based on the current share price of 107p, implies a prospective yield of 5.7%.

Another low profile firm with potential is Arbuthnot Banking (ARBB:AIM). Earnings per share (EPS) growth of 37% is forecast for 2015 which, feeding in a prospective price-to-earnings ratio of 15.3, drops through to an attractive looking price to earnings to growth (PEG) of 0.4. The group also offers exposure to retail bank Secure Trust (STB:AIM) through its 51.9% stake having floated the subsidiary in November 2011.

Sheffield-headquartered Servelec (SERV) is technology supplier to the NHS and utility space. The company joined the stock market in December 2013 and has enjoyed a good start to its life as a public company, up around 30% at 272.5p. There could be more to come from the company given the increasing influence of private sector IT providers to the NHS. We recently discussed this trend (see Sector Report, Shares, 2 Oct).

Staying in the technology space Fusionex (FXI:AIM) is a Malaysian outfit and widely reckoned to be only ‘profitable’ big data specialist. The company benefits from a slick and easy to use interface, winning new clients ahead of plan. It has regularly beaten forecasts and enjoys 95% renewal rates.

Fuel your portfolio

Quadrise Fuels (QFI:AIM) is an AIM-quoted oil service company with bags of potential - though for now the business remains loss making. Its goal is to replace heavy fuel oil (HFO) - typically used in marine transportation and to power refineries - with its proprietary alternative MSAR (Multiphase Superfine Atomised Residue). Manufactured from waste oil, unlike HFO it does not require the refiner to use valuable distillates to make a product which typically trades at a discount to oil. The enhanced margin per barrel of crude can be shared between the refiner, Quadrise and the end user.

The shares have retreated from 2013 highs above 50p to a little under 30p and could be interesting as a recovery trade heading into 2015. MSAR has been tested on Danish shipping giant AP Moller Maersk’s (MAERSK-A:CO) vessels in 2014 which confirmed the product works.

For the next stage of certification the fuel needs to have completed 4,000 hours of sea trials, a milestone which should be hit in the second or third quarter of 2015. Elsewhere a trial at a thermal power station in Saudi Arabia is aiming to complete by the end of June 2015 and the group has secured (10 Nov) a supply deal for a manufacturing plant with Danish specialist engineer ENH Engineering.