THE TIPSTER OMAHA’S ORACLE FEASTS AT THE BARGAIN BUFFET
THE shares of Tesco plunged in mid-January after the retail giant announced an unexpected fall in Christmas sales. The sell-off took the price down through support at 350p and also broke the long-term up-trend. News that Warren Buffett increased his holding to 5 per cent from 3.2 per cent helped to lift the shares, but the stock is struggling once again on concerns of increased competition and depressed margins. GFT quotes Tesco at 320.0p-320.1p.
Yet more strong results from tech giant Apple helped ARM recover some of its form last week, and investors will be hoping for similarly sweet figures from the UK company this week. ARM’s technology is at the core of Apple’s latest iPhone 4, and royalty revenue for this new gizmo is expected to be around double the level on the previous model. If ARM can match the breezy outlook for the coming year suggested by its bigger American customer, then the shares could see decent gains, particularly if investors think that a new incarnation of the iPad is on the cards. IG’s price for ARM is 601.9p-603.6p.
The FTSE bout of weakness in the past couple of days could present a buying opportunity, as it retraces a little to give those who’ve missed out on the recent strength a chance to dip their toes in. Although clients have been selling the index recently, a few tentative buyers came in on Monday. Capital Spreads quotes 5690.0-5691.0.
It’s no secret that high street retailers have been struggling lately, so the interim management statement of Carpetright later today will hopefully alleviate investors’ concerns over last year’s results and many profit warnings. The technicals support the bulls – so will the retailer be rolling out the red carpet for the awaited release? Capital Spreads quotes a price of 312.7p-623.8p.
As the smartphone market war continues to boil, Nokia announced it sold more last quarter than analysts expected, giving ot a much needed boost. Nokia’s alliance with Microsoft appears to be showing good prospects, and this will only help its planned offering of the Lumia model to the Indian and Chinese markets. Capital Spreads quotes Nokia at SKr33.4-SKr33.7.