Gilts Sell-off

Headlines say sterling suffers biggest fall in two years as bond sell-off continues and all stock picks are 82% BUY, 6% HOLD and 12% SELL.

1. SELL WPP

Top performing stock pick this week is SELL WPP by UBS with a tip performance of 7%.

WPP is a British communications, advertising and public relations company. It is the world's largest advertising company, as of 2023. It is listed in London under the ticker WPP and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

WPP share price launched at 88p in 1993, rose to an all-time high of 1,872p in 2017 and is today at 737p.

UBS doubled down on its SELL rating and reduced its target price from 740p to 720p on Monday 6th and by Wednesday 8th the stock had reduced by 7%. Despite some recent account wins by WPP such as Amazon and Unilever, UBS stated difficult market conditions, loss of the Volvo account and several other key accounts coming up for review. JP Morgan also reduced the target price from 1,040p to 960p.

In Stockomendation four analysts with four different ratings – UBS with SELL, Deutsche Bank with BUY, JP Morgan is NEUTRAL and HSBC says HOLD. There are two open UK Fund Manager Short Positions, view those here.

2. SELL Pennon Group

Second top performing stock pick this week is SELL Pennon Group by Deutsche Bank with a tip performance of 5%.

Pennon provides water and wastewater services in 9 counties in the South West of England. Founded in 1989, Pennon is a FTSE 250 listed company.

Pennon share price launched at 20p in 1989, rose to an all-time high of 1,760p in 2020 and is today at 540p.

On Tuesday 7th Deutsche Bank downgraded its target price from HOLD to SELL and cut the price target from 600p to 530p.

Pennon is still not making a profit and yet plans to pay a dividend worth 7.8% of the stock price. The new rating could change that.

In Stockomendation four analysts with four different ratings: UBS with BUY, Deutsche Bank says SELL, Barclays has OVERWEIGHT and Goldman Sachs is NEUTRAL. Nine open UK Fund Manager Short Positions totalling 7.48%, view those here.

3. SPECULATIVE BUY Aurrigo International

Third top performing stock pick this week is SPECULATIVE BUY Aurrigo International (AURR) by Canaccord Genuity with a tip performance of 4%.

Aurrigo International plc is a British designer and developer of airside ground support vehicles and solutions including automated vehicles, systems and software.

Aviation products include baggage handling systems, autonomous cargo cehicles and digital twin technologies.

Aurrigo share price launched at 60p in 2022, reached an all-time high of 165p in 2023 and is today at 47p.

On 6th January Aurrigo published the results of its General Meeting in this RNS stating £5.25 million investment that will allow it to scale up production and put 22 baggage handling vehicles into action, as well as accellerate its autonomous cargo vehicle development in collaboation with UPS.

Canaccord Genuity reiterated its SPECULATIVE BUY rating and reduced the target price from 165p to 135p.

Two analysts in Stockomendation – Canaccord Genuity with SPECULATIVE BUY and AVOID by Steve Moore. There are no active short positions open.

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Disclaimer: The contents of this article should not be considered financial advice. Pricing data correct as at 9th January 2025.