Wednesday tips round-up: Imagination, Close Bros., Fresnillo

13th Mar 2013 07:02

Most companies do not get penalised for telling markets that one of their new revenues streams is on track to double, at least in volume terms. Yet that is, to a certain extent, what happened yesterday with Imagination Technologies. Then again, most companies´ shares do not trade at 34 times´ forward earnings, The Times´s Tempus chips in. Critically, the company's product looks be going into the new Samsung S4 smartphone, which will be launched today. That means the firm should continue to ramp up to its target of a billion chips by 2016, roughly twice this year´s expected volume. No profit warning here, even if the company did intimate that its licensing revenues are looking 'lumpy.' Then there is the speculation that it could be a take-over target. Perhaps some day, "but there will be more shocks before that," Tempus says.Fresnillo is still a quality company, gyrations in the prices of precious metals notwithstanding. Even so, the company´s profitability took a hit last year as gold and silver prices came off the boil and costs continued to rise across the industry, such that profits before tax dropped by 24%. Nevertheless, the group´s balance sheet is still debt-free. Indeed, quite the opposite is true, it has $600m of cash on it. As well, the company increased its reserves and announced a higher than expected dividend pay-out, such that its yield is now a prospective 2.7%. The Telegraph´s Questor team sticks with its advice to hold and tells clients to keep an eye out for future buying opportunities thrown up by the next downward lurch in the silver price.Close Brothers is doing quite well. Banking profits rose by 26% over the last year as the company benefited from its specialist know-how in areas such as lending to companies for heavy equipment. Noteworthy, its ratio of bad debts fell to a negligible 1.2%. Yet the company is still not firing on all cylinders. While its fund management arm should return to profitability this year the small cap universe, where the firm makes its money, hast yet to benefit from the general uplift in markets. "The shares have been strong performers on the back of that banking growth, but, on a multiple of almost 13 times' this year's earnings, they look fully valued," Tempus writes. 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.AB