MoneyWeek's comprehensive guide to this week's share tips
Three to buy
Berkeley Energia
The Mail on Sunday
Berkeley Energia is developing Europe's biggest uranium mine near the Spanish town of Salamanca. Sentiment turned against nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster but with India and China still constructing new nuclear plants, demand for uranium is on the up. The firm will remain unprofitable while production ramps up, but expect the shares to rise soon. 47p
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John Laing
Investors Chronicle
The infrastructure giant has investments in transport, social and renewable energy projects in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. New work is still coming in, with a project pipeline up by a fifth during the first half of the year. The prospective dividend yield is "not awe-inspiring", but the possibility of renewed government infrastructure spending makes this a long-term buy. 271.5p
Sage
The Daily Telegraph
Funds have been buying into the software company because of its high cash conversion and low debt. Sage's dividend has grown strongly over the last five years, helped by a good track record of bolt-on acquisitions to enhance growth. The firm is well known in its sector and more than 50% of sales come from word of mouth. The one caveat is that the current valuation is high. 738p
Three to sell
DFS
The Sunday Times
The shares have recovered from a 40% plunge in the wake of the EU referendum result, but investors should "hold off piling in to this one until the Brexit smoke truly clears". If the economy falters, consumers will not be buying new sofas. DFS has also just been "rapped over the knuckles" by the Advertising Standards Authority for running misleading advertisements. 253p
Royal Bank of Scotland
Shares
After demanding billions from Deutsche Bank, the US now has RBS in its sights. The bank had already put aside £7.5bn to cover claims in the PPI and interest-rate swap mis-selling scandals, but further fines could now be coming and the bank put in a disappointing performance in the European stress tests in August. RBS is not out of the woods yet. 177.75p
Smiths
The Times
The engineering group has five divisions that cover everything from providing services to the oil and gas industry to selling security systems for detecting explosives and narcotics. About 60% of revenues are in dollars, so the weak pound helped the shares bounce this summer. But there now seems limited scope for any further upside, so it could be time to take profits. 1,443p
And the rest
| Buys | Row 0 - Cell 1 |
| Assura | The healthcare property firm is a secure source of income (Investors Chronicle) 57p |
| Character | The toy firm has a set of solid licensed brands (Investors Chronicle) 455p |
| Circassia Pharma | The firm's allergy medication trials make it a gamble with huge potential (Times) 94.5p |
| Gemfields | The miner is now close to acquiring a major Colombian emerald mine (Shares) 49p |
| Greggs | The baker should benefit from store refits and healthier ranges (Shares) 991.5p |
| KCOM | The telecoms firm may go fibre-only, cutting costs (Shares) 115.5p |
| Petrofac | Now is the time to buy into this lowly rated, high-yielding oil services firm (IC) 835p |
| Petropavlovsk | Shares in the gold miner are so cheap that there is little downside (Times) 6.75p |
| Phoenix | The insurer's 6.5% dividend yield is attractive and likely to improve (Times) 867.5p |
| RPC | Growth at the plastic-packaging maker shows no signs of slowing (Times) 958.5p |
| Tharisa | The little-known mining stock could be a high-yield income play (Shares) 77.5p |
| Velocys | The fuel technology business is on the verge of a breakthrough (Shares) 30p |
| Vodafone | The telecoms giant's shares still offer long-term value (Shares) 220.75p |
Directors' dealings
An American view
Dixon's sale is equal to around 4% of the outstanding shares. He "has a track record of selling sizeable equity stakes", but retains a 28% stake in the firm, says Investors Chronicle.
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