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Bodycote: Investec raises target price from 400p to 410p, buy recommendation remains unchanged.

Atkins: JP Morgan Cazenove reduces target price from 862p to 859p, overweight rating maintained.

Anglo American: Deutsche Bank cuts target price from 2600p to 2520p and reiterates a buy rating.

The B shares are rated at 21 times Citigroup's forecast earnings for 2013. That might look forbidding. However, add in Novo's dominance of the global insulin market, its ability to translate that into rapid earnings growth (analysts project growth of 14 per cent a year from 2013 to 2018) and the drip-feed effect of regular share buybacks and the shares become an acceptable growth stock worth holding for the long term...BUT AS ALWAYS DYOR AND GOOD LUCK......

And a big positive of Novo's shares is that - despite the 'headline' dividend yield of just 2.5 per cent (see table) - they offer a bigger total return than shares in some other pharma majors. That's because Novo is committed to buying back 5 per cent of its shares annually. When added to the dividend, that gives shareholders a potential total return of 7.5 per cent. However, Novo comes with an odd share structure of 'A' and 'B' shares that are denominated in Danish krone. The A shares are held by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, a curious entity that has effective control of Novo. The foundation - quite like the Wellcome Trust - exists to fund medical research and distributed £70m in grants in 2011. Outside investors have to buy the B shares, which get just a tenth of the A shares' voting powers. The good news is that these are listed on the London market, where there is a decent amount of trading. The krone provides a currency play that may or may not work out well.

Aside from the demographic and economic trends, Novo's dominance is bolstered by the fact that insulin analogues are difficult to copy and expensive to make; that is, unless generics manufacturers invest in so-called 'biosimilars', compounds that are similar to, but not exact copies of, original formulations. So far, drugs regulators have been reluctant to approve biosimilars and generics firms have shied away from the capital spending needed to make them. That leaves Novo more or less free from threats to its patented products. Unusually for a major pharmaceuticals group, Novo's development pipeline is in good shape. It has at least four products filed for approval with regulators, plus four more in late-stage trials. The pipeline includes treatments for diabetes, obesity and haemophilia. Its most keenly-anticipated new insulin product is Tresiba (degludec), which received a boost after the US drugs regulator recently recommended the drug be approved, with the proviso that a further large study to assess its cardiovascular safety might be needed. A shot of Tresiba lasts for 24 hours, longer than any other insulin treatment. So it could challenge Lantus, a long-acting insulin made by Sanofi, which generates annual sales of $5bn (£3bn). City analysts estimate annual sales of $1.5bn for Tresiba within a year of launch.

Most UK investors give little thought to Danish companies. For Novo Nordisk they should make an exception. This major pharmaceuticals group - the market value of its equity is 25 per cent more than Astra Zeneca's - offers a dominance of fast-growing markets and a drugs development pipeline that its rivals can only envy. Novo Nordisk specialises in diabetes management and producing human insulin, plus other areas, such as treating haemophilia. Novo continued developing insulin products while other pharmaceuticals companies abandoned the area because they reckoned it was not sufficiently profitable (insulin can be easily replicated). However, the research paid off when Novo developed so-called 'insulin analogues'. These are proteins that mimic the medical effect of insulin, but combine greater efficacy with benefits such as the need for fewer injections. So successful has Novo been that in 2010 it overtook French pharma giant Sanofi (SAN) to become the world's largest diabetes treatment company, and now has a hugely-dominant 80 per cent chunk of the global insulin market. Novo's dominance coincides with the growing incidence of 'rich world' diseases (in particular obesity-related diabetes) in developing countries. The International Diabetes Federation reckons that the number of diabetes sufferers in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia will rise by 87 per cent to 175m by 2030; China already has about 90m diabetes sufferers; currently few receive treatment, although with growing affluence, that will change.

True, today's retailing climate remains tough - the British Retail Consortium says October's like-for-like UK retail sales fell 0.1 per cent on the year. But that backdrop is hardly new and Halfords has still managed to return to decent sales growth while plenty of retailers still see sales slide. Yet Halfords' shares, trading on 13 times forecast earnings for 2012-13 (see table), are rated merely in line with the retail sector, even though their price has jumped over 80 per cent since late July. With more progress looking likely when Halfords announces its first-half figures on 21 November, and with a prospective dividend yield of well over 6 per cent on offer, investors can expect the re-rating to continue........BUT AS ALWAYS DYOR AND GOOD LUCK.

Some of Halfords' operations have needed a makeover less than others - the group's car servicing autocentres operation has flourished since it was bought in 2010. Like-for-like servicing revenues grew 9.2 per cent in the first quarter, followed by 12.4 per cent underlying sales growth in the second. While Halfords turned the first-quarter's 7.5 per cent slide in like-for-like sales at the retail business into second-quarter like-for-like growth of 4.6 per cent, some areas of retail continue to struggle. For example, sales at both travel solutions (camping, caravan equipment and child-safety stuff) and car enhancement (audio, SatNav and car cleaning) are still falling, even though both have improved dramatically since the first-half's dire outcome. The group's new chief executive - Matt Davies took the helm last month - looks well suited to Halfords, too. Mr Davies spend eight years running Pets At Home, where he is credited with having helped build that operation into a market-leading UK retailer. Moreover, there are striking similarities between the two operations. "He [Mr Davies] successfully built a business with many parallels," say analysts at broker Numis Securities. Those parallels, says Numis, include being "a marketing-leading, out-of-town, destination store, selling product that has not been commoditised by online or supermarkets".

But it's not all down to luck. Halfords' bosses acknowledged that they could have done a better job at meeting customers' needs. So along with the full-year results in May came a plan to revitalise growth. That included such measures as redesigning and relaunching many of its cycles as well as greater focus on cycle parts and accessories. In its car parts range, management has worked to bolster awareness of Halfords' fitting capabilities - a quarter of all bulbs, batteries and wiper blades sold in 2011, for example, were also fitted by Halfords. More focus on travel-related accessories - such as car roof-boxes - is also an important part of the plan.

Bikes and car accessories retailer Halfords (HFD) coped well during the tough times that followed the financial crisis - delivering robust growth when other retailers struggled - but it seemed to stumble earlier this year. First-quarter trading was unexpectedly dismal, with group like-for-like sales slumping 5.6 per cent. Since then, however, Halfords has staged a remarkable comeback and its second-quarter performance delivered like-for-like sales growth of 5.6 per cent. That turnaround has prompted a robust rally in the share price, but there should be more to come. To an extent, Halfords' turnaround reflects good fortune. Grim weather helped explain the first-quarter's poor trading. Then the group undoubtedly received a boost from the UK's summer of sport as consumers - inspired when Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins took a gold medal at London's Olympics - rushed to Halfords to snap up bikes. Sales were particularly strong among Halfords' premium range of Boardman and Pendleton cycles.

That said, most of the bad news looks like it's in the share price. The shares, at 8.5 times forecast earnings for 2012-13, are rated well below the support services average of 10 times. There is also the possibility of bid action after UK peers Scott Wilson and WSP were snapped up. And there is always that dividend to look forward to........BUT AS ALWAYS DYOR ....

It isn't all success in the oil-producing regions, though. The Middle East has been hit by extended bidding processes, lower profit margins and lumpy payments. True, the long-term infrastructure story in the region remains encouraging but, as oil-rich states exercise their buying power, margins may get squeezed even more. That's a worry as the Middle East contributes 10 per cent of revenue and 17 per cent of profits. In the US, the presidential election created a hiatus in starting infrastructure projects. That's a concern as the region is responsible for almost a quarter of revenue and a fifth of profits. One issue is legacy contracts in the Peter Brown construction business, which management has been grappling with for a year now. Then there is the bigger problem of US budget wrangling. The region looks set to struggle until matters are resolved.

The UK division is responsible for half of revenues and pre-tax profits and Atkins has slowly been increasing headcount. Meanwhile, exposure to growing overseas markets is useful. Atkins designed a new tram line in Sweden and the third runway in Hong Kong, which helped solid trading in Europe and the Asia Pacific region; these generate 10 per cent of revenue and profits. And as global demand for oil and gas stays firm, demand is buoyant in Atkins' Energy division, which is responsible for around 7 per cent of revenues and 10 per cent of profits.

Engineering consultancy WS Atkins (ATK) is adapting to lower business volumes, trading in its core UK markets is stable, its balance sheet is strong and its dividend looks secure. So, despite tough trading in the US and Middle East and a profit warning in August, we think patient income-orientated investors should take a closer look at Atkins. The main attraction is clearly that dividend, which has grown at 11 per cent a year over the past 10 years. That pace of growth won't be maintained. Even so, on the current year's likely payout, the yield is almost 5 per cent. The payout currently looks secure and, if it tracks future earnings, it may grow - with some variation - at approaching 5 per cent. The next question concerns the quality of those earnings after profit warnings from construction companies saw Atkins' share price fall 10 per cent last week. Certainly times are tough, but Atkins is well-placed to receive a steady, albeit rather slow, stream of infrastructure work from the UK government. Although Atkins could get dragged into the furore surrounding the West Coast train line franchise, noises about other infrastructure work are encouraging. Atkins says it had a "good start" to the year and confirmed in the August warning that rail and highways contracts are still coming through, with regulatory work in the water sector also helping.

SABMiller's (SAB LN) Thursday interims are expected to continue the good news after a statement in October reported good growth in lager volumes shipped across most of regions served by the brewing giant. Overall, financial performance for the half year is expected to be in line with management's expectations, a fact noted by Galvan Research at the end of October when we reiterated our buy call for the shares. Shares have consolidated since then, so if the results bear out expectations it would not be unreasonable to expect a leg higher for the shares.

Catering giant Compass (CPG) reports finals on Wednesday, and after a year of solid performance and growth the big question is whether this can be maintained. Broker Oriel Securities expects that the results will show the good progress that has driven the share price continuing, with outperformance from North America and Emerging markets contrasting with difficult trading in Europe. The broker also says the shares offer solid attractions and should continue to perform well, so while Compass will almost certainly get the benefit of any doubt regarding the European underperformance, it will need to show that the consequential restructuring in the region is yielding or will yield an improvement.

"To date our prime market strength in many of the world's key cities has not only sheltered the Group from the reduction in activity in mainstream markets but has led to further business growth. We have seen a reduction in volumes in some transaction markets, but this is currently tempered by improvements elsewhere and continued growth in our strong non-transactional Consultancy and Property Management businesses."

"In the Asia Pacific region, cumulative control measures, culminating in the recent imposition of substantial stamp duty charges on overseas citizens buying Hong Kong residential property, have had a significant effect on residential sales volumes. However, many investors have turned to commercial assets instead. Our Prime Residential Agency business has slowed significantly in Hong Kong and Vietnam but we have seen recent signs of improvement in the key cities of mainland China." The Property Management business and Consultancy services have delivered good growth over the same period last year. UK Property Management has continued to benefit from contract wins and the growth seen in Asia Pacific has continued. In Continental Europe, it has grown revenues and stabilised much of the business. The company continued: "As we enter the final weeks of the year, when a significant part of the Group's annual profit is typically earned, it is clear that there are still significant economic issues facing individual countries, regions and the global economy. Despite the prevailing lack of credit, the World's Prime Residential and Commercial property markets continue to benefit from investors' global search for secure yield.

FTSE 250 property consultancy Savills got off to a positive start on Thursday after announcing that its overall underlying result for the full year will be slightly ahead of its original expectations. In the UK, investment activity has continued to be strong in the Central London market, but for the most part has remained subdued elsewhere. The Cordea Savills business is performing in line with its expectations, the group said, adding that it has made good headway during the period, having undergone the transition of some key management roles to new recruits. The UK Residential Agency business has continued to perform well since June, with a "resilient performance" from the prime London market. In a statmement the group said: "Overall, the effect of slightly lower volumes in London has been substantially offset by volume improvement in a number of the commutable areas outside the capital. Furthermore, London has continued to experience strong international demand for development stock in key locations.