Next Share News (NXT)

Standard Life has a lot on its plate, but it also has attractive prospects. To start off with, Standard Life now manages £290bn on behalf of savers and investors which it then directs into equities and bonds. Hence, the bigger the company gets the more it is being seen as a proxy for equity and debt markets in general, as the recent gyrations in its share price show. However, its recent purchase of asset management firm Ignis, from Phoenix Holdings, boosted cash-flows and strengthened its ability to win business. Nonetheless, it is true that the acquisition has yet to be fully digested.Also in favour of the company, an already strong business running corporate pensions was further boosted by the government's compulsory workplace schemes. Its Standard Life Investments unit, and its high-quality brand, is also a good asset. All in all Standard Life remains an attractive company, with plenty of room for growth and a dividend yield that beats the likes of Aviva and Prudential, not to mention the special pay-out of 73p a share which investors can look forward to, so 'buy', writes The Times's Tempus. Although the market was already widely expecting a profit warning from retailer Next, after the fashion firm said that its sales had been hit by warm weather last month, the company's shares moved lower on Wednesday. Even so, the moment to move in and buy has not yet arrived. Put simply, the shares are still looking overvalued. In particular, sales slowed at both its High Street unit, Next Retail, and its Internet arm, Next Directory. On top of that, the company reduced its guidance for sales growth.Then there is the possibility that unsold stock from the third quarter might lead to increased discounting ahead of the Christmas period. The availability of credit for the unsecured lending it provides for its clients is another potential source of weakness. Following the staggering rise witnessed over the last five years the stock price now appears to be highly exposed to a slowdown in growth. Hence, its premium to the wider retail sector is not justified. The company's shares trade on about 16 times earnings, versus 13.5 times for the average of its peers and even its own long-run average valuation on this metric. The rating on the stock could come back down to about 12 times earnings, so "sell", days The Daily Telegraph's Questor column.