Sunday tips round-up: Serco, Balfour Beatty, N Brown

Serco is becoming a classic falling knife share, Questor said in The Sunday Telegraph. Its loss of the contract to run London's Docklands Light Railway caps a grim 12 months for the outsourcing group. The problem for Rupert Soames, the new Chief Executive, is that Serco is in danger of being locked into loss-making contracts for years as costs increase. The closer management looks into the company, the more problems it finds. Yet the shares are still not cheap despite downgrades. Steer well clear. If you like a risk and think Balfour Beatty shares have hit bottom, now is the time to buy, Danny Fortson wrote in The Sunday Times. Shares in the construction company have fallen by a third since March as it has published two public warnings since its annual results. The latest came on July 3rd when Balfour revealed problems at its engineering services arm. Most of its troublesome over-budget contracts run out soon and it is a big, diversified company. Things could get worse but the company is also vulnerable to a takeover with rumours of private equity interest. If investors are feeling lucky they may want to have a go, Fortson said. Shares of N Brown have fallen almost 30% this year and now offer good value, Midas said in The Mail on Sunday. Chief Executive Angela Spindler has been in post for a year and has cut the outsize clothing retailer's number of brands to three. She is also opening more stores because even if shoppers like to buy online they often want to try them in a shop first. Within a few years almost all her target customers will be within a 45-minute drive. She has accelerated N Brown's move into the US as part of a general injection of life. The Sunday Times's Danny Fortson thinks a rise in Hays' dividend is in the offing. The recruiter's annual profit is expected to be about £141m, around the level when it said it would increase the dividend. It would probably be a small rise and not all that soon but it's better than nothing, Fortson said in his Inside the City column. Quadrise Fuels' shares have jumped from 10p in October 2012 when Midas tipped them to 35.25p but The Mail on Sunday tipster thinks there is more to come. Its low-cost, greener fuel for the shipping and power industries could be revolutionary. Last week it revealed that tests with the world's biggest shipping firm, Maersk, had gone well. Those who bought the shares should sell a quarter of them to bank some profits and adventurous newcomers should take a punt.Please note: Digital Look provides a round-up of news, tips and information that is impacting share prices and the market. Digital Look cannot take any responsibility for information provided by third parties. This is for your general information only as not intended to be relied upon by users in making an investment decision or any other decision. Please obtain a copy of the relevant publication and carry out your own research before considering acting on any of this information.SF