Author: Buzz Lightyear

Playtech PLC develop software for online gaming. They have 3000 employees in 12 countries. Majority of their business, however, is in Europe with most of the remainder in Asia. They own Bet365 and mobile poker sites. Moved to Isle of Man from British Virgin Islands in 2012. New Chairman appointed in October last year. Casino is half of total sales. They recently sold William Hill online for £424 million, providing over £300 million on original investment. Playtech have signed with Ladbrokes to provide a full product suite and Paddy Power put its live casino with Playtech. Sports betting is Playtech’s key focus for 2014 and beyond.

The share price has been sharply up and down recently. Their recent end of year financial report remains steady with the share price possibly effected by dividend payments, good final report and the sale of William Hill online.

I have a buy signal, albeit early and needs time to move. However, if you’re prepared to risk some down movement then over the next few trading days this could be a good time to buy more Playtech.

Rotork, an actuator manufacturer and flow control company, are in the process of purchasing Young Tech. Co. Limited.

Since our last post this share has performed well, climbing from about £25 to nearly £28. The share with our target value of about £37 is still strong. However, in the near term, from the charts and with the acquisition of Young Tech, I think the share price could drop back to the £25 mark.

You invest for the longer term but consider taking profits on this for the time being.

Okay, not the most stable US share to kick us off, but for the longer term this may be a place to start.

Copa Holdings is a passenger and cargo airline service headquartered in Panama City.

They have 66 destinations in 29 countries  in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean with one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the industry, comprising 90 aircraft: 64 Boeing 737NG and 26 EMBRAER-190s.

Copa also provide services within Colombia, and international flights from various cities in Colombia to Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, México, Cuba, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

Panama’s currency is pegged at par with the US dollar. Therefore, not likely to be affected by currency fluctuations. Also, Panama’s growth, boosted by generous business tax concessions, is projected, by the IMF, to outpace the world until 2017.

Recently, the Venezuelan President announced that his country was severing diplomatic and commercial ties with Panama. Venezuela accounts for 10% of Copa’s 2014 revenue. Copa also has $487 million trapped in Venezuela and is non-transferable under the current political turmoil. This is about 19% of its 2013 operating revenue. However, Copa management has announced that flights to Venezuela are still operational.

Copa’s shares were down about 8% on this news to about $126. As I said in my last article, the concept of buying say 10 shares is hard when you were used to buying a hundred or more UK shares.

This could be a good time to buy if you are a value investor. I’m personally going to wait for the share to turn upwards again. Albeit this could happen quickly. I’ll keep you posted.

You may want to see if your online broker will allow you to invest in US shares. One of our subscribers uses Stocktrade, through a nominee account, to do this. US shares can be more active than UK shares, they tend to have a higher volume and you have more companies to choose from. You will find a greater range of share price too. If you trade in the UK you will normally buy shares from just a few pence up to £20 or so. On that, be careful when buying shares in the pence range due to their volatility. US shares, on the other hand, range from several hundred dollars to cents. Normally we would not consider a share below $10. Remember, the share price does not reflect the value of the company. The Brits seem to prefer a lower share price. But holding 10 shares in a US company and 100 in a similar UK company has no advantage or disadvantage for you other than the feeling of holding fewer shares. If the share price goes up or down it is still going to have the same relative effect on your fund.

Tracsis PLC is a consideration right now to increase, or start, your holding. They have climbed in share price very well since our last post. They will release their mid-year report in a few weeks.

TRCS provide software scheduling solutions for bus and rail transport systems in the UK and Australia. A few weeks ago it was reported in the media that they had acquired a sale in Ireland.

Awarded small cap company of the year. Sales are about the 10 million mark so they are small in public company terms.

Buy.

As you know, IDH have been a past favourite of slowtrader. Nothing exciting to report on the  company or its product: they sell immunoassay kits – many home pregnancy tests are immunoassays.

However, they have shown steady share price growth for the last year with few down turns. A small buy signal is slowly developing, I will buy some more IDH either today or early next week.

End-of-year final results for AMS were good. Share price jumped from about £1.10 to £1.18. This could be the stimulus the share needed as its been quiet this year so far. Personally I’m going to wait for the next buy signal which, I accept, may mean missing on a good up.

As a reminder AMS are a medical technology company that sell advanced wound care products.

The Group operates mainly in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic and Russia, with a sales office located in the USA.

They are debt free and, founded in 1991, they employ 450.

Sales and net profit have increased nicely and profit margin is steady. However, administrative cost is high, slightly, as is inventory. They have a new Chairman and the CEO sold a substantial amount of shares in AMS yesterday. So, I’m waiting and will of course let you know when a strong buy signal happens.

As promised, the next buy signal on Cranware PLC. Consideration about the market as a whole and that Craneware have indicated that their next results will be below market analysts expectations, we should not expect the excellent growth from Cranware that we have seen over the last few months. I will be increasing my position again with CRW. They could drop a little further and usually have been slow to move. However, a buy at about £5.99 or below would be good. We must consider that Cranware is at an all time high, getting above this ceiling is often trying but if it goes above that could be good. Remember also that CRW have, in late 2011 and early 2012, a history of sharp volatility downwards. I would therefore, tempting as it is, still keep your investment light.

I have no buy signals at the moment. Most of my shares are either peeking or are in the process of correcting down slightly. Personally I have taken profits on many of my long term shares. I now have only a small part of my equity invested and that is balanced with shares that I am selling short. I don’t blog about the short sells as that is trading and usually happens too quickly, or not at all, for a blog.

I will post buys as soon as I get any signals. I expect the market to correct downwards by 5 to 10 percent soon.

Aggreko plc provides power and temperature control solutions to customers who need them either very quickly, or for a short or indeterminate length of time.

For a more detailed review see our post of 25th October 2013. Aggreko is rated as a hold by many analysts. Moreover, currency changes have influenced Aggreko’s share price.

At £16 or less AGK are showing a buy signal. The upside could be good, however, we are against the trend so invest lightly at this stage.

Global market for Wound Debridement Products is projected to exceed US$1.0 billion by 2020, driven by growing incidence of chronic wounds and increasing need to reduce patient hospital stays.

A major player in the market includes Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc.

A buy signal is now showing for AMS at £1.14 or less.

This British industrial company has established leading market share in valve actuators – devices fitted to valves to control the flow of fluid and gas. Rotork grew through the 2009 downturn when most industrial companies were seeing significant pressure in their business.

There’s nothing flashy about the valve actuator business, but Rotork has established itself as a force with strong product development based on understanding its customers’ needs.

Rotok are close to value but the recent drop makes them attractive again at about £25 or less.

The opportunity still remains to buy Globo at about 0.55p: a telecom software products company.

Globo said that it achieved a strong financial performance for 2013, ahead of market expectations. And profits will be in line with market expectations.

Looking ahead for 2014, the company said that “current year trading has started very strongly”. Globo says that “as IT budgets from customers build and ‘bring your own device’ and mobile apps needs increase further, Globo will have the opportunity to deliver another year of excellent growth and market penetration”.

This has been a successful share over the last few months. I sold later today. I feel this share could fall with people now taking profits. The share remains a strong favourite and is only a ‘trading’ sell, investors should hold. I will post again when another buy opportunity arises.

Here’s a long term historical chart. I love to look at this stuff. If someone bought at the top of the Great Depression in 1929 it would have taken until my birthday in 1956 to break even!