There remain a lot of risk factors in the market at the moment, not least of which is the ongoing drama of the US presidential election. With increasing uncertainty about the transfer of power in the world’s largest economy, it is easy to understand why some investors remain so edgy.
Having said that, there remain some excellent opportunities for a good stock picking strategy. I was a little bit disappointed to see my short trade on Severn Trent Water LON:SVT giving up some ground. I still think there is a lot of political risk being carried in water companies in the UK at the moment. Much will now depend on what the new UK government’s posture will be to the water sector.
Some of our longer term bets are also doing surprisingly well. Babcock LON:BAB, for example, is up +79% since we bought in, while special mention should also be made to Gaming Realms LON:GMR, which won the Online Money Award for AIM Market Company of the Year. We had a catchup with Gaming Realms CEO Mark Segal in the wake of that award.
abrdn New India Investment Trust [LON:ANII]
I have been hankering after some additional exposure to the red hot Indian equities market for some time now (my position with the Indian Investment Trust [LON:IGC] is up 31% at end of June. I wanted to wait until the India election, to see how that panned out before adding this to the longer term growth portfolio. UK investors are spoiled for choice when it comes to investment trust options for broad Indian market exposure. There are also some excellent specialist strategies in the market too, but be aware that some are less liquid investments. I went with the abrdn New India Investment Trust with its relatively higher level of gearing and a 12 month return of nearly 40%.
Future plc LON:FUTR
Stock picker James Coffey added FTSE 250 component Future LON:FUTR to his list. While it might be known for some of its magazines, it has also owned GoCompare since 2020. It has highly profitable margins and is also highly cash generative. GoCompare provides roughly a quarter of Future’s revenues. The stock has sold off because of changing retail readership habits, which has also hit advertising revenues.
James thinks there are signs now the business is turning a corner, making it a potential value play. A good example of opportunities for the Go Compare business, for example, is the upcoming removal of the fixed price in the UK energy market, which will mean millions of customers will start shopping around for new household energy deals before the winter.
Sold in June: CMC Markets LON:CMCX, Electric Guitar LON:ELEG, Entain LON:ENT, Perimeter Medical Imaging [CVE:PINK]
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So how are our picks getting on?
James Coffey’s FTSE 350 share tips
| Holding | Start price* | Current | Change | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volution Group LON:FAN | 379.80 | 451.00 | +18.7% | Report |
| Rightmove LON:RMV | 512.00 | 537.00 | +4.9% | Report |
| JD Sports LON:JD. | 115.00 | 119.50 | +3.9% | Report |
| ME Group LON:MEGP | 166.00 | 171.20 | +3.1% | Report |
| Chemring LON:CHG | 365.00 | 372.50 | +2.1% | Report |
| Watches of Switzerland LON:WOSG | 396.00 | 414.00 | +4.5% | Report |
| Future PLC LON:FUTR | 1,086.00 | 1,049.00 | -3.4% | Report |
Raine Lahtinen’s US stock tips
| Holding | Start price* | Current | Change | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA | USD 45.57 | 123.54 | +171.1% | Report |
| Skechers NYSE:SKX | USD 48.29 | 69.12 | +43.1% | Report |
| Palantir Technologies NYSE:PLTR | USD 17.79 | 25.33 | +42.4% | Report |
| General Dynamics NYSE:GD | USD 244.83 | 290.14 | +18.5% | Report |
| Palo Alto Networks NASDAQ:PANW | USD 340.00 | 339.01 | -0.3% | Report |
| Live Nation Entertainment NYSE:LYV | USD 88.00 | 93.74 | +6.5% | Report |
| Meta Platforms NASDAQ:META | USD 506.00 | 504.22 | -0.4% | Report |
| RTX Corp NYSE:RTX | USD 100.00 | 100.39 | +0.4% | Report |
Tactical trading portfolio
These are shorter term equity and commodity trades which we can see playing out within one to three months. We will sometimes keep these on longer if the trade is still quite range bound but we are anticipating further upside. These trades have the tightest risk parameters.
| Holding | Start price* | Current | Change | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raytheon Technologies NYSE:RTX | USD 73.32 | 100.39 | +36.9% | Report |
| SPDR Gold Shares ETF [NYSEARCA:GLD] | USD 173.00 | 215.01 | +24.3% | Report |
| Arbuthnot Banking LON:ARBB | 947.00 | 985.00 | +4.0% | Report |
| CDW NASDAQ:CDW | USD 174.00 | 223.84 | +28.6% | Report |
| Severn Trent (Short Trade) LON:SVT | 2,574.00 | 2,380.00 | -7.5% | Report |
| iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF [NYSEARCA:SGOV] | USD 100.38 | 100.71 | +0.3% | Report |
Longer term buy and hold portfolio
These are positions where we see a longer term growth scenario, usually in the small to mid cap space, but sometimes larger companies. We will typically be keeping these stocks on the list for at least six months and often longer. Consequently our risk tolerance is higher for these positions than for the trading list.
| Holding | Start price* | Current | Change | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow Cake LON:YCA | 211.50 | 582.00 | +175.2% | Report |
| Nordnet [STO:SAVE] | SEK 152.20 | 221.40 | +45.5% | Report |
| First Rand [JSE:FSR] | ZAC 5,229.00 | 7,690.00 | +47.1% | Report |
| Turkish Airlines [IST:THYAO] | TRY 13.86 | 308.75 | +2127.6% | Report |
| Airtel Africa LON:AAF | 109.60 | 120.10 | +9.6% | Report |
| Riverstone Energy [LON:RSE] | 566.00 | 804.00 | +42.0% | Report |
| Implenia [SWX:IMPN] | CHF 26.95 | 32.15 | +19.3% | Report |
| Babcock LON:BAB | 291.00 | 522.00 | +79.4% | Report |
| Gaming Realms LON:GMR | 25.00 | 36.30 | +45.2% | Report |
| Michelmersh Brick Holdings LON:MBH | 97.14 | 95.00 | -2.2% | Report |
| Tsukada Group [TYO:2418] | JPY 417.00 | 486.00 | +16.5% | Report |
| Indian Investment Trust [LON:IGC] | 137.50 | 180.50 | +31.3% | Report |
| Literacy Capital LON:BOOK | 505.00 | 527.50 | +4.5% | Report |
| Attendo [STO:ATT] | SEK 37.20 | 43.80 | +17.7% | Report |
| Ichigo [TYO:2337] | JPY 367.00 | 401.00 | +9.3% | Report |
| Fabasoft Group [FRA:FAA] | EUR 22.50 | 18.45 | -18.0% | Report |
| Darktrace LON:DARK | 461.60 | 576.60 | +24.9% | Report |
| abrdn New India investment trust [LON:ANII] | 768.00 | 824.00 | +7.3% | Report |
Venture portfolio
These are companies which we see as having long term and considerable growth prospects. Due to their size and the nature of the business they are in, we feel that our normal risk management constraints should not be applied to these stocks.
| Holding | Start price* | Current | Change | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nano One [TSE:NANO] | CAD 1.13 | 1.40 | +23.9% | Report |
| Kodiak Copper [CVE:KDK] | CAD 0.24 | 0.46 | +91.7% | Report |
| Thunderbird Entertainment [CVE:TBRD] | CAD 1.05 | 1.81 | +72.4% | Report |
| Pineapple Power LON:PNPL | 5.64 | 2.74 | -51.4% | Report |
| Atlas Salt [CVE:SALT] | CAD 0.82 | 0.60 | -26.8% | Report |
| Net Zero Infrastructure LON:NZI | 4.50 | 1.35 | -70.0% | Report |
| Fortitude Gold [OTCMKTS:FTCO] | USD 6.70 | 4.34 | -35.2% | Report |
| FPX Nickel Corp [CVE:FPX] | CAD 0.50 | 0.31 | -38.0% | Report |
| Medigene AG [ETR:MDG1] | EUR 2.40 | 1.14 | -52.5% | Report |
| Sogeclair [EPA:ALSOG] | EUR 22.90 | 19.30 | -15.7% | Report |
| Warpaint London LON:W7L | 168.50 | 618.00 | +266.8% | Report |
| Synectics LON:SNX | 119.00 | 182.50 | +53.4% | Report |
| Shin Maint Holdings [TSE:6086] | JPY 1,686.00 | 1,325.00 | -21.4% | Report |
| Smith-Midland NASDAQ:SMID | USD 41.00 | 27.69 | -32.5% | Report |
*Prices as of close of play on 28 June 2024, all prices in GBX (Pence Sterling) unless indicated
