Stocko News

Another week of U.K. political turmoil as the government loses control of events and UK inflation hits double digits driven by the more general geopolitical environment.

This has meant that stock pickers are looking for a direction with this week’s stock picking being more of a mix of BUY, SELL and HOLD recommendations with no clear sense of confidence. Some investors are looking for value stocks in the Bull market, others positioning for future and others simple wealth preservation in this high inflation economy.

1. SELL Essensys

Top interesting tip this week was SELL Essensys by Steve Moore in ShareProphets with a tip performance of 13%.

2022 has not been the bearer of great news for the flexible workspace software provider with pre-tax losses widening to £11m from £3m the year before and a profit increase of only barely £1m. Well hey, at least it’s an increase.

Steve Moore placed the tip on 18 October when full year results presentation was given. The income statement shows major increase in overheads. Steve Moore is sceptical about the veracity of the statement “Good strategic progress. Improving quality of earnings” and you might justify his scepticism but for the fact Steve Moore has never rated Essensys as a buy and opened it with an AVOID rating back in 2021. Does Steve know something we don’t? Either way the smart money seems to be moving further and further away from this beleaguered tech company.

2. BUY easyJet

Second interesting tip this week was a BUY easyJet by Jon Smith in The Motley Fool with a tip performance of 8%. Everyone’s favourite budget airline is back in the wake of the reinstatement of personal freedoms and our love of travel revisited after years of house arrest.

Jon sees it as an opportunity to grab a bargain with shares down 51% in the past year due post COVID woes – cancellations and lost baggage, anyone?

As travel recovers Smith thinks easyJet is along for the ride: taking into consideration improving operations, a strong balance sheet and profitability increasing, investors might be coming too!

3. AVOID Lloyds

Third interesting top tip this week is a AVOID Lloyds Banking Group by Royston Wild in The Motley Fool with a tip performance of 6%.

Westminster has banks & investors scrambling to keep up. No one knows what’s next – with the major announcement of a drive for growth when the BofE was trying to stem it, anyone’s guess is on the cards about what will happen next!

Lloyds and Barclays shares were being sold on Wednesday after rumour mills about a windfall tax by only the second Chancellor to take the post in 90 days so what’s driving share prices as the new U.K. Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has given some indication that he may put windfall taxes back on the table for banks and oil companies given the extra profits yielded by these challenging times of high inflation, rising interest rates & very high energy prices - share pickers are voting with their stock picks! The Stockomendation CEO dumped bank stocks in the U.K. Share Picking Game on hearing mutterings of windfall taxes…

Such ‘interesting’ times are making for a mixed bag of investment data because let’s face it most people don’t really know what is going on right now so we recommend following the top stock pickers with the best track record who tend to stay calmer and more pragmatic in these types of markets.

Follow the top rated professional Share pickers, analysts and brokers on Stockomendation and also see what the UK best amateur stock pickers are picking in the UK Share Picking Game

Join Now

CASH PRIZES ARE BACK!
Think you can pick stocks? Play the October league UK Share Picking game FREE for your chance to win cash prices : uksharepickinggame.co.uk

Disclaimer: The contents of this article should not be considered financial advice. Pricing data correct as at 20th October 2022..