Tuesday tips round-up: Alliance Trust, MP Evans, Allergy Therapeutics

22nd Sep 2009 06:47

Alliance Trust's investment stance means that it is always in danger of trailing more heavily geared rivals when the stock market runs sharply ahead. However, on a rolling total return basis it continues to fare well ? ranked first out of its six largest peers over both one and two years. Further, its skew towards less risky cyclical stocks should start to come into its own should stock markets pause for breath. The discount to NAV has widened from 14% to 17% in recent months ? reflecting its underperformance. Even so, hold on says the Times.Alliance's long-term strategy looks sensible enough, the US and the UK are being focused on for income while Asia is there for growth, but it is not currently producing results, and the discount looms large. Great it may be in the future, but for the present, sell says the Independent.MP Evans, the AIM-listed plantation owner, is one of the stock market's longer-term investments ? not least because it takes seven years for its palm oil trees to mature. At 326p, up 71% since the start of the year, it is the longer-term demand outlook for palm oil as food, if not fuel, that gives cause to hold on. Hold says the Times.IT group Morse's woeful performance on the market over the past 18 months is hardly a mystery worthy of the eponymous television detective. The IT company has been battered by the onset of the downturn and falling demand. Whether the server support and maintenance market - its biggest business - will return enough to make it worth a punt is debatable, especially as no dividend is expected until 2012. A hold says the Independent.Yesterday's full-year results from Allergy Therapeutics showed a halving of operating losses, falling R&D spend and European sales of Pollinex, mostly from Germany, up by 41%. But with progress in the United States likely to be slow and Allergy still heavily dependent on one market, this is a "buy" only for the brave says the Times.The stock reflects the flow of good news, adds the Independent, and while it remains bullish, the paper cautions that the gains made over the last 12 months may not be quite as impressive going forward. Still, buy.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.