3 Shares the FTSE Should Beat Today
LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) is perking back up a bit today, gaining 15 points to 5,819 after it was revealed that the U.K. economy is officially out of recession. Apparently, we enjoyed 1% growth in the three months to September, buoyed by the Olympics.
But it's not all roses for some constituents of the FTSE indexes. We take a quick look at three shares that are falling today.
WPP (ISE: WPP.L)
Footsie advertising giant WPP Group fell 3.8% to 785 pence after cutting this year's revenue growth outlook. The lowering of expectations from 3% growth to 2.5% growth follows a previous reduction from 3.5% in August.
Since then, the shares, which had peaked at 884 pence, have slipped back. Forecasts prior to today put them on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 11 with a 3.3% dividend expected, so they don't look obviously overvalued.
ASOS (ISE: ASC.L)
Online fashion-retailer ASOS fell 7.3% today after releasing results for the five months to Aug. 31, reversing a pre-announcement mini-surge. Although group revenue is up 32% to 238 million pounds and international sales rose by 46%, the City was clearly disappointed by the news that buying director Caren Downie is to leave the company.
Forecasts for next year suggest a tripling of earnings per share but put those shares on a P/E of 48. Is there enough future growth through international expansion to justify such a high rating?
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Victoria (ISE: VOG.L)
AIM-listed Victoria Oil & Gas fell on full-year results, dropping 2.8% to 2.4 pence. Although estimates of reserves at Victoria's Logbaba operation in Cameroon were upped by 50% and production there commenced in July, the firm's losses for the year widened from $4.7 million to $7.7 million.
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The article 3 Shares the FTSE Should Beat Today originally appeared on Fool.com.
Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors.
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