Ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and calls from incoming US president Donald Trump for NATO members to increase defence spending as a percentage of national income will continue to provide a tailwind for the defence sector.AIM-quoted Cohort (CHRT:AIM) is well positioned to benefit from an increase in defence spending and at the first-half results on 11 December, the group disclosed

UK takeovers moved up a gear in 2024 as predators targeted bigger companies. The average value of deals was £1.07 billion, nearly three times higher than the £390 million average in 2023. In total, there were £49 billion worth of recommended bids versus £17.2 billion last year.A bounty of unloved or underappreciated companies were swept off their feet, signalling the UK market as being 'on sal

In the first part of a three-part series featuring opinions and ideas from some of the UK's leading fund managers, we asked which stocks have surprised them the most over the course of the 2024 and why.While it was hard to avoid the influence of AI (artificial intelligence) on portfolios, the breadth of responses was surprising and goes to show how skilled stock-pickers can turn up gems in parts o

Few doubt that 2025 will be another huge year for AI, but when looking for interesting investment opportunities, investors can sometimes allow details to obscure the bigger picture. In our view, Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) remains an outstanding growth business with strong AI levers to pull, currently trading a large discount to other 'Magnificent Seven' stocks.This valuation gap will, we believe, narr

Identifying genuine growth stories is not easy but can be extremely rewarding. Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) may be the ultimate growth stock example now but who was flagging its potential 10 years ago when revenue and profit was just a fraction of what it is today and when the widespread application of AI was still restricted to think pieces in periodicals. Some did catch on early and would have enjoyed e

Cerillion (CER:AIM) £18.90Gain to date: 19.8%Genuine growth stocks may be hard to come by on the UK market but Cerillion (CER:AIM) is a rare gem which qualifies. Forecast-beating full year results had analysts gushing, with Canaccord Genuity talking up the stock's chances of more than doubling. The broker observing 'more market share gains likely; we see a path to £38 on four to five-year view'.

Funds inevitably have their up and downs in performance. When a fund has gone through a particularly poor spell, does this represent a buying opportunity for investors in the expectation it will bounce back to form?Likewise for existing investors, should they stick or twist? Fortunately, there are lots of studies from the institutional fund management world which provide answers to that question a

Kainos (KNOS) £10.16Market cap: £1.28 billionWe believe that market sentiment towards Kainos (KNOS) is on the cusp of a reversal, and that creates a buying opportunity for investors. Shares in the Belfast-based digital services expert are now trading at a 30% discount to 12-month highs and are barely half all-time peaks of more than £20.This is largely because of what analysts have called a cyc

Caledonia Investments (CLDN)Price: £35.18Market cap: £1.92 billionAmid all the talk of the UK market being full of 'hidden gems', we think Caledonia Investments (CLDN) could be one of the best examples of 'hidden value' in the mid-cap FTSE 250 index.The global multi-asset investment company tends not to get much air-time, but Shares caught up with chief executive Mat Masters and finance director

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Stephen AnnessHead of Global Equities, Invesco The Magnificent Seven ? the group of supercharged stocks named after the classic Western movie ? that delivered such outstanding returns in 2023 generated so much attention you would think it impossible to have beaten the index without owning them all. The fact that some of us did should be hugely reassuring to investor

Stocks in London made muted progress on Monday, despite further tech gains in New York, in a lull ahead of a storm of central bank announcements this week.The FTSE 100 index closed down 4.87 points, 0.1%, at 7,722.55. The FTSE 250 ended down 26.38 points, 0.2%, at 19,486.53, and the AIM All-Share closed down 1.68 points, 0.2%, at 736.63.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.1% at 773.55, the Cboe UK 250 cl

Even today?s market giants started out small. Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) may now be the world?s largest company with a $3 trillion valuation which rivals the GDP of some major global economies but it began life as a start-up founded by Harvard College drop-out Bill Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen. Few then would have predicted its global domination today.While we are not expecting the names

Google-owner Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) hasn't been shooting any AI (artificial intelligence) lights out lately, but the launch of its Gemini AI model could mark a significant leap in the tech giant's quest to regain dominance in the sectorThat's clearly the thinking among Wall Street analysts, who dished out a swathe of positive updates on Alphabet helping blow the cobwebs off a stock which hadn't ma

Investors in London showed some confidence at the open on Friday, looking ahead to US jobs data later in the day.The FTSE 100 index opened up 18.77 points, 0.3%, at 7,532.49. The FTSE 250 was up 57.82 points, 0.3%, at 18,676.56, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.82 points, 0.3%, at 722.68.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 752.22, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 16,205.44, and the Cboe Small Companies was

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATUREAfter almost 40 years with Aberdeen Asset Management (now abrdn) ? including 28 years founding and running abrdn Asia Focus investment trust (AAS) ? venerable Asia hand Hugh Young is finally to hang up his managerial boots, or at least leave them on the step for his teammate and successor Gabriel Sacks to step into.They?re undoubtedly big boots to fill. Morningstar da

Everyone hates small and mid-cap stocks right now. Their performance has badly lagged those of their larger counterparts in recent months.Seen as more vulnerable to the vagaries of the economy and without the scale and financial strength to withstand higher borrowing costs, investors have been abandoning them in their droves. The chart shows how the MSCI World Small Cap index has been lagging the

Alongside the rally in mega cap tech names since January, one of 2023's big themes is the popularity of global luxury goods stocks, with LVMH (MC:EPA), Richemont (CFR:SWX) and Hermès (RMS:EPA) hitting new share price highs amid an extraordinary boom in sales, supported by a demand rebound from China. LVMH even became the first European company to surpass $500 billion in market value.But som

I'm now in my mid-40s and have moved around jobs fairly regularly, staying in each one for just a few years or sometimes even less. This now means I have eight different pension pots, some with as little as £1,000 in. Will this pose an administrative nightmare when I retire? And should I be looking to combine them into one?'John, DerbyshireTom Selby, AJ Bell Head of Retirement Policy, says:Don't

Direct LineCan the insurer win back the market's support after dividend fiasco?Having paid out over £1.5 billion to shareholders in the last decade, including during the pandemic, Direct Line (DLG) was a well-liked and widely-owned stock.However, after dropping a bombshell in January with the news it was pulling its dividend in order to rebuild its balance sheet, Direct Line has a mountain to cli

Investors looking to build a diversified portfolio with an emphasis on income ought to look at Henderson Far East Income (HFEL), an investment trust which is currently yielding more than 8% and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 years.While Asia may not occur straight away as a predictable source of cash flows and income, profits and dividends have been growing strongly and the regio