Good morning! A positive open is indicated by the futures this morning, with the FTSE 100 set to open up about 32 points at 6,426. Interestingly, the small caps index has barely had any correction recently, as you can see from clicking on this link to the FTSE Small Cap Index XIT (FTSE:SMXX).
I note that the forward (i.e. based on current year broker consensus forecasts) PER of the Small Cap Index is 12.5, and forward dividend yield is 3.6%. That looks reasonably priced still, in my opinion, especially when you factor in an economic recovery which now appears to be underway, but may not yet be factored into broker forecasts - i.e. earnings could exceed forecasts as recovery gains traction.
Note that you can click on the headers for the SMXX page, to view the constituent companies in various ways, I like the "value" tab, where you can click on "yield % rolling" or "P/E rolling 1 yr" to sort the index constituent companies according to those criteria. Aside from finding bargains, it's a good way of getting an overview of how the market is priced, and seeing how your portfolio shares compare.
If you put "FTSE" into the search box on Stockopedia, a list of Indices will pop up, here are a few of the codes:
UKX - FTSE 100 Index
MCIX - FTSE 250 ex-investment trusts
AIM1 - FTSE AIM 100
AXX - FTSE AIM all share
NSIX - FTSE Fledgling ex-investment trusts
It's worth having a rummage through those pages here when you're at a loose end.
Corac (LON:CRA) issue a positive-sounding announcement about a contract win with BP Trinidad & Tobago. It's a five-year agreement to "facilitate BP's procurement" of compact gas compression systems. Strange wording - why didn't they just say supply? "Facilitate procurement" sounds as if Corac are acting as an intermediary, rather than a supplier. Also no financial terms are given, or hinted at, so I'm therefore treating this announcement with scepticism.
Ah, I should have read the announcement more carefully - they do actually say that the systems will use Corac's core technology, with some subsystems provided by other companies. Fair enough.
One often finds that a series of contract win announcements tends to get…
