Sunday share tips: TalkTalk, Fyffes, Halfords

10th Nov 2013 16:28

TalkTalk's focus on the cheap end of the pay-TV market is a winning formula, the Sunday Times's Danny Fortson wrote in his Inside the City column. When it reports half-year results on November 12th analysts will be looking out for how its new ultra-budget Essentials package has performed. Barclays expect Essentials to fire up boss Dido Harding's plan to replace dwindling revenues from voice calls and broadband. Its analysts forecast 1.7m more accounts by the end of 2015. Some of the TalkTalk's prospects are already in the share price but Barclays expects them to rise to 320p from 248½p. There is plenty more for Harding to aim for.Fyffes' share price does not reflect its status as Europe's biggest banana supplier and its strong position in the US, the Mail on Sunday's Midas column said. The group has been weighed down by the strong dollar and rising fruit and transportation costs but those pressures are easing. Producing more bananas itself will give Fyffes greater control of its business and further efficiencies are in the pipeline. With the dividend set to provide solid returns, the shares are a bargain at 69p, Midas said.Buy Halfords, the Sunday Telegraph's Questor column advised. The shares jumped almost 15% when the car maintenance and bikes group beat profit forecasts but there could be further to go in its retail revival. The post-Olympic cycling boom and warm summer prompted more cycle sales than expected and Halfords is overhauling its stores and marketing to tap into cities' push to improve infrastructure for those on two wheels. Questor said buy at 303.5p in October 2012 and, with the group's revival taking hold, it repeated the advice with the shares currently trading at 476.5p.The best is yet to come for Hays, the recruitment company, Midas said in the Mail on Sunday. It business has held up well in the economic gloom and its focused boss Alistair Cox aims to double profits in five years and boost the dividend. Current shareholders should keep the faith and new investors could do well if they buy now.Hold but don't buy new shares in JD Wetherspoon after their recent strong performance, the Sunday Telegraph's Questor said. The pub group's recent trading update showed like-for-like sales up at the expense of margins as Wetherspoons keeps prices flat to attract customers squeezed by the economic gloom. Margins are something to keep an eye on though the company says it is investing for the long run. After the shares' rise outstripped that of the FTSE 350 this year, their rating is not excessive but the forecast dividend yield is just 1.7% there is no compelling case to buy now. BTG could be worth a punt as it awaits the US regulator's verdict on its varicose vein treatment, Danny Fortson wrote in his Inside the City column. The Sunday Times share tipper predicted boss Louise Makin would unveil further progress on revenues with interim results on November 12th. The big news should come a few weeks later when the US government announces whether the pharmaceutical group's Varisolve treatment has been approved for sale in the US. The potential market is big and, though the regulator turns down most applications, Makin is hopeful and is preparing to sell Varisolve in 2014. SF