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Investors need to beware, it was said, not just of growth stocks that are not really genuine growth stocks at all (usually because their reported earnings are suspect), but also of cheap-looking value stocks that are not as cheap as they look (Cable & Wireless being cited more than once as an example of such a “value trap”). In addition, many of the big industrial companies now trooping to the market to demand more cash from shareholders through rights issues may well end up using most of the money not to fund renewed growth but merely to plug the pension fund shortfall and other holes in their balance sheet.Despite these warnings, it would be wrong to say that any of the fund managers at this event were downbeat or downcast. Mark Pignatelli, head of European equities at Schroders, exuded huge confidence about the outlook for the European mobile phone market and some specific European stocks. Messrs Bolton, Tyndall and McLean all waxed lyrical about a number of individual shares that they now like. Behind the overall caution, I sensed, was the strong feeling that for the genuinely talented stockpicker – those rare few who can analyse individual stocks better than the field – the next few years could still be pretty good fun. Even if the stock market does end up trading sideways overall – and we all may be wrong about that – there will still be scope for the skilful or lucky minority to make money bytrading the market’s volatility and spotting the long term winners and losers It just won’t be quite so easy as it has been. has more details on the roundtable eventdavisbiz aol .

House of Fraser

Moneynet House of Fraser
House of Fraser, the department store chain, has been a perennial under-performer, held back by as many as 15 poor stores out of a portfolio of 51. It has adopted a Selfridges-style strategy where it concentrates on top brands in addition to its own Linea label. This ought to give grounds for optimism, but much might already be in the price and a tougher economic environment might mean it loses out to Debenhams and Selfridges. With no dividend growth planned, the shares don’t look attractive. Sell.Barratt DevelopmentsBarratt has little to fear from a modest slowdown in the property hotspots of the south-east. Its developments are spread across the UK and range from £3m mansions to high-rise blocks.

Its expertise at playing the local planning system, particularly when it comes to the use of “brownfield” land such as derelict factory sites, is acclaimed throughout the building industry. It has been able to increase completions by 10 per cent while the overall industry number has been flat. Hold.BTGBTG, which searches for inventions and commercialises them, needs a big deal or two to kickstart its share price. There should be such deals later in the year, including licensing of new technologies to improve memory or battery efficiency in mobile devices. There should also be the delayed start to US trials of its Varisolve foam, injected into varicose veins as an alternative to surgery. Even on the most conservative analysis of potential sales, Varisolve alone is worth the BTG share price. The group also has revenues from other drug products and a share of sales at the biotech firm Acambis, so the downside must be limited.

Buy.Ottakar’sThe Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter merchandise – toys and games and the like – helped to increase margins at Ottakar’s, the booksellers. The chain has 78 shops across the UK and plans 15 more this year, starting with the eight acquired this week from the administrators to James Thin. It is well placed to tap into people’s growing thirst for reading in a UK market that is expanding by 5 per cent per year. Buy.Goshawk InsuranceGoshawk is one of the best growth stories in the quoted insurance sector. It has set up a reinsurance business in Bermuda with the £100m raised in a rights issue last year. Doing business there is cheaper than at Lloyd’s of London and Goshawk is likely to use debt to increase capacity in Bermuda still further. With insurance premiums soaring, Goshawk shares should trade above its net tangible asset value of 87p.