Friday tips round-up: Premier Farnell, Redrow, Home Retail...

There is potentially more to go for at Premier Farnell. In the US, web sales are about a third of the total, well behind the 46% seen across the group. There is also more scope for growth in China and in India, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, where it has just set up shop. About 300,000 new customers are signing up each quarter.

The shares, becalmed over the summer, are selling on a multiple of about 15.5 times this year's earnings and yield 4%. Worth buying again, despite the high multiple says the Times.

The long-term trend in housing is favourable but that does not mean investors should buy a pricey share today. There are points to recommend housebuilder Redrow, not least the improvement since Steve Morgan returned to take day-to-day control of the business, as well a successful launch of the Heritage housing range that has so far sold well. But for the time being there is not enough to attract, so avoid says the Independent.

Cape provides services such as insulation, scaffolding and maintenance service to the energy and minerals sector. The shares are trading on a December 2010 earnings multiple of just 6.9 times. The stance on the shares remains buy, although investors should not expect to see a triple-digit advance in the share price over the next 12 months says the Telegraph.

Shock news from Home Retail Group, which owns Argos and Homebase: people are not buying things they do not really need. Oddly, it seems that folk with less money tend to reserve it for essentials rather than computer games and furniture. This trend seems to have shocked the City, which marked Home Retail shares back by 3 %. The shares are supported by a 6.6% dividend yield and trade on a relatively inexpensive ten times this year's earnings. But market sentiment is not going to improve. A long-term hold at best says the Times.

Revenues at Renishaw are running at £20m a month - by contrast, the average annual turnover for the two most recent financial years were about £175m. This follows a similar strong performance in the previous three months. Renishaw shares are now beyond their 2008 peak of 881p, before the recession hit. The shares are volatile and thinly traded and are on more than 15 times' this year's earnings. Buy on weakness says the Times.

Pittards produces leather for everything from gloves to shoes, so its fortunes are linked to fluctuations in consumer demand. Stronger retail sales mean more business for its customers, which include big international brands. The market seems to be pricing in the concerns while overlooking the recovery prospects. Pittards' stock trades on a multiple of less than eight times forecast earnings for 2010, falling to 5.6 times in 2011. A speculative buy says the Independent.

What excites everyone about Falkland island Holdings is its holding in Falkland Oil and Gas, whose shares fell precipitously in the summer when the results from its exploratory drillings in the South Atlantic were anything but good. Relying on the oil is a gamble but the advantage of investing in FIH is that it still has a solid business even if no oil is found. The shares are not cheap at 19 times 2011 forecast earnings and a prospective yield of 2.45%, but hold for now says the Independent.


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