Behavioural biases affecting the way analysts change their earnings forecasts and stock recommendations can be exploited to unearth potential investment opportunities. The key idea is to find discrepancies between what analysts are doing to their earnings forecasts and what they are saying through their recommendations. We start by identifying the least loved UK stocks as seen through the lens...

Market cheers news of acquisition Deal to boost earnings straight away Backdrop seems to be improving Former fallen star Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) delivered investors positive news with the acquisition of specialist asset manager CCLA in a deal which it expects to be 'materially accretive from day one'. Jupiter shares, which just three months ago were languishing at multi-year lows of 70p,...

Popular investment vehicle Alliance Trust (ATST) has announced a modest but meaningful shake-up of its portfolio.The FTSE 250 constituent invests in global equities across a range of industries and sectors through a ?manager of managers? approach. Following an overhaul in 2017, the trust gives investors relatively low-cost exposure (with an ongoing charge of 0.62%) to 10 leading fund managers...

Shares in hundreds of UK and US-listed companies have not fully recovered since the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a global stock market crash in February 2020, even though most major market indices are now trading above that level.According to SharePad data, 196 stocks in the FTSE 350 and 149 stocks in the S&P 500 are still trading below the day before markets crashed four years ago (21 February...

Stock prices in London were in the red on Tuesday morning as weak UK retail data and company updates overshadowed optimism after a tech rally on Wall Street.The FTSE 100 index had opened higher before returning early gains, and edging into the red by 0.29 of a point at 7,693.90. The FTSE 250 was down 85.57 points, 0.4%, at 19,308.23, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.56 of a point, 0.1%, at...

When a stock price makes a new 52-week high or low it is usually a sign of a strong trend. Going against the flow at these times is fraught with danger for investors betting for a sudden change in direction.That is because share prices tend to overshoot. Behavioural scientists have shown that investors overreact to bad news and underreact to good news.When bad news comes investors often sell...

Another week, another takeover - this time it is alternative asset manager Gresham House (GHE:AIM), which is being bought by private equity firm Searchlight for £470 million.At £11.05 per share, 63% above the previous closing price and 10% above the all-time high a year ago, the purchase price represents an enterprise value of almost 16 times last year's earnings before interest, tax,...

Deal sees veteran Pease bow outConsolidation gathering paceListed UK firms could be vulnerable to takeoversCompetition for customers and the need for economies of scale are driving another round of consolidation in the UK wealth management industry with the announcement this week of yet another deal.Yesterday it emerged that hedge fund Lansdowne Partners had agreed to acquire equities...

This article attempts to uncover the least favoured stocks in the UK market. The idea is to identify contrarian investment ideas which have the potential for a strong rebound when sentiment improves.Betting against the crowd when they are wrong is a sure-fire way to make money in the stock market, but it's much easier said than done.Picking individual stocks is hard to get right. Even the...

With consumer prices hitting a 40-year high, more investors are searching for high-income instruments to try to offset the impact of inflation on their cash. The danger with picking individual stocks just for their income is high yields are usually indicative of some underlying problem with the business and are not sustainable.The iShares UK Dividend ETF (IUKD) takes much of the legwork out of...

Shares in private equity investment trust Chrysalis Investments (CHRY) continued to fall following reports in the Wall Street Journal that investee company Klarna is attempting to raise approximately $650 million from existing investors at a significant discount to previous funding rounds.Buy now, pay later provider Klarna is the second largest position in Chrysalis' portfolio and accounts for...

With a boost from mining and energy stocks, London's FTSE 100 finished Friday's trading session 0.37% to the good at 7,234.03 points, pulling back from an intra-day pandemic-era peak despite a strong open on Wall Street.In the face of a barrage of media coverage surrounding price hikes and supply logjams, the more domestically focused FTSE 250 index still managed to end the week on a high,...

London's FTSE 100 index hit a new high for the year of 7,242 points in early trading on Friday, leaving the UK market at a higher level than at any of its closing prices year to date.Just before noon, those gains had eased back a bit, but the blue chip benchmark still traded 0.3% ahead at 7,228.84.The strong finish to the week followed a positive overnight performance in the US, and in Asia...

UK stocks started Friday's session on a positive note with the FTSE 100 index trading up as much as 35 points or 0.5% to a new high for the year of 7,242 points.'Anyone with an interest in charts should note the FTSE 100 has seen a breakout and is now trading at a higher level than at any of its closing prices year to date', observed AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.The strong finish to...

How does a 5% return on your money sound right now? With UK interest rates showing little sign of increasing from rock bottom levels despite mounting inflation, a 5% rate is certainly appealing.If you are using your investments to pay the bills or to fund your living expenses in retirement the income you receive is vital. The great news is that the dividends from stocks and shares can offer...

UK stocks continued to slide on Tuesday following some mixed company updates and modest profit-taking after the big gains of last week, with weakness also reflecting the pound's continued rise on UK recovery hopes and share price declines for London's two tobacco firms.By midday, the FTSE 100 was down 1.1% at 6,923.5 points while the FTSE 250 was off 0.7% at 22,339.TOBACCO STOCKS TUMBLEShares...

The FTSE 100 dipped back below 7,000 in early trading on Tuesday following some mixed company updates and modest profit taking after the big gains of last week.The UK's benchmark index fell 0.2% to 6,986.18, taking its cue from Wall Street where stocks also fell overnight, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropping 1% and even the Dow Jones falling 0.3% as banks, energy firms and consumer-facing...

UK stocks dropped sharply on Friday as the sell-off in bonds continued to rattle investors, not only wiping out the previous week's gains but wiping out the entire month's gains.Overnight the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices fell by 2.5% and 3.5% respectively, triggering the sharpest sell-off in Asian markets for nine months with Japan's Nikkei 225 dropping 4% and China's SE Composite falling 2%.The...

UK stocks dropped sharply on Friday as the sell-off in bonds continued to rattle global equity markets.Overnight the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices fell by 2.5% and 3.5% respectively. That triggered the sharpest sell-off in Asian markets for nine months with Japan's Nikkei 225 dropping 4% and China's SE Composite falling 2%.The sell-off spilled-over into commodities with Brent Crude down 1% to $65...

UK stocks dropped on Friday as the sell-off in bonds continued to rattle global equity markets.Asian markets fell by the most in nine months with Japan's Nikkei 225 dropping 4% and China's SE Composite falling 2%. The sell-off spilled-over into commodities with Brent Crude down 1% to $65 a barrel. Gold fell 0.2% to $1,766 an ounce.At 9am the FTSE 100 of leading shares was down 0.4% at 6,626...