How our tips have fared: Tullett Prebon

Phil Oakley tipped Tullett Prebon as a risky buy back in May. Here, he takes another look to see how the brokering stock has got on.

Back in May, I tipped inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon as a gamble of the week, as the company's share price looked very depressed. At that time, markets were relatively calm as the world's central bankers seemed to have tamed them with their money-printing antics. That was bad news for Tullett Prebon (LSE: TLPR), which thrives when the prices of shares and bonds move around a lot (known as volatility) and people trade more. As a result the shares looked very cheap on seven times earnings while offering a chunky dividend yield of 6.4%.

Over the summer, the backdrop has changed somewhat. There has been constant speculation about when the money printing will end some believe the Federal Reserve could start tapering' off the amount of money it's printing as early as this month which has seen markets become more volatile. The company has also released a decent set of interim results and kept a tight grip on costs.

On top of this, regular talk of takeovers in the inter-dealer broker sector have resurfaced. As a result, Tullett Prebon shares are up nearly 50% since I tipped them. That has left them no longer looking as cheap as they did they now trade on ten times forecast earnings, and offer a 4.3% yield. That's not particularly expensive, but a 50% gain in that short period of time is not to be sniffed at, so it's time to take some profits on this trade.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Verdict: take profits

Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.