Thursday tips round-up: Ferrexpo, Carnival, Petropavlovsk

24th Mar 2011 06:34

If you think we've got problems, try living in Ukraine. Inflation was running at 21 per cent there last year, a headache for companies such as Ferrexpo, which mines iron ore and ships it by rail and barge to its customers, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe. The shares are on about seven times this year's earnings. Attractive but, given the history, high risk, thinks the Times.Shares in Carnival were pressured after the cruise ship operator issued its first-quarter figures on Tuesday. The news on trading was good but the stock lost ground as investors focused on uncertainty about fuel prices and the impact of growing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Carnival should recover in due course - but we would not place any bets on when that might happen. Given this uncertainty, we would advice caution for now, says the Independent.There's been some positive news from Russian-focused gold miner Petropavlovsk, formerly Peter Hambro Mining. The group unveiled an unscheduled update of its gold resources which led to a material uplift. Petropavlovsk said that its proven and probable ore reserves had increased by 36pc to 9.1m ounces at a grade of 1.17 grams per tonne of gold. The shares look undervalued compared with peers and are a buy, believes the Telegraph. There are two reasons to hold Soco International. One is the balance between producing assets, proven assets not yet on stream and exploration assets that could be worth a bundle one day. Soco has three wells in Vietnam. One disappointed the market severely last autumn, triggering a 40 per cent fall in the share price, but there may still be oil there. Soco now trades pretty close to the sort of asset values being put on the company by the City, suggesting the premium is down to bid hopes. A speculative punt for those who care for such, says the Times. Finding new drugs is an expensive, hit-or-miss affair. How much easier to pick up existing ones once in development, which is what a lot of big pharmaceutical firms do. Easier still is to buy drugs that are out of patent and so relatively cheap but still with a useful shelf life, which is what Alliance Pharma does. This year's performance will be more subdued, partly because of the arrival of additional competition for a steroid it owns, but this has been well signalled to the market. The shares, on about ten times' earnings, look good value if you can pick them up, reckons the Times. Huntsworth is a global public relations business but a gentle sprinkling of PR fairy dust on its full-year results was not enough to keep the share price on firm footing last night. We think that concerns about top-line growth are liable to dampen the market's enthusiasm for the shares. Hold is the Independent's recommendation.Please note: Digital Look provides a round-up of news, tips and information that is impacting share prices and the market. Digital Look cannot take any responsibility for information provided by third parties. This is for your general information only as not intended to be relied upon by users in making an investment decision or any other decision. Please obtain a copy of the relevant publication and carry out your own research before considering acting on any of this information.