Friday tips round-up: Unilever, Vedanta, Millennium & Copthorne

After years of being the black sheep of the consumer products family, Unilever is starting to deliver on its strategy.

The group's third-quarter numbers beat expectations, with growth in all of its regions and all of its categories. The shares are trading on a December 2009 earnings multiple of 15.5 times, although consensus expectations could move higher after this announcement, so the multiple may move lower. It falls to 13.8 next year, based on current forecasts. Buy says the Telegraph.

The price-to-earnings ratio estimate of 14.8 times for 2010 is not the cheapest but, the prospective yield of 5.9% is excellent. Unilever is worth buying says the Independent.

Indian-focused miner Vedanta managed to escape the debt problems which are plaguing other players in the sector. This means it has continued to invest throughout the downturn. This should, in turn, have a positive effect on its future growth profile. The shares are trading on a December 2009 earnings multiple of 19.4, but this falls to 9.9 next year. Hold says the Telegraph.

Invensys sits on net cash, now pays a dividend and, valued at £2.4bn, is a small - and therefore eminently digestible - constituent in a sector dominated by US and European giants. At 290p, or 14 times next year's earnings, the shares are a buy says the Times.

Trading is likely to remain tough for property investor Segro and will provide a stern test of Segro's skills as an asset manager. But at 338Ÿp, or a 3% discount to Cazenove's 348p estimate of net asset value, and providing a dividend yield of 4.1 per cent, the shares are not stretched. Hold says the Times.

The stock market is concerned that, even flush with the $289 million proceeds of March's rights issue, underwriter Catlin is undercapitalised relative to its peers, which leaves it vulnerable to a dilutive share issue if a sizeable catastrophe loss ensues. The corollary is that, should premiums hold firm and losses remain light, Catlin should provide the best returns of any of its peers. On five times 2010 earnings, this is a buy for the brave suggests the Times.

BTG is one of the strongest performers in the biotechnology sector, and with a number of potential treatments in the pipeline there is enough to keep investors interested. But while the shares are not cheap (they trade on 88 times next year's earnings), BTG is profitable, and analysts say it trades at a premium on virtually every metric. Even so, buy says the Independent.

An unusual note was sounded by Millennium & Copthorne's chairman, Kwek Leng Beng: it was one of optimism. While all the numbers showed falls (third-quarter revenue down to £160.4m from £173.9m, pre-tax profits down to £22m from £30m) the rate of decline is slowing, and this continued through October. After a strong rise since May, take profits says the Independent.



















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