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The Beginners’ Portfolio is a virtual portfolio, with all costs, spreads and dividends accounted for. Transactions are for educational purposes only and do not constitute advice to buy or sell.
What should you do when your portfolio is complete? One possibility is to just do nothing, and it’s a great option. But I like to keep an eye on the news, and think about whether it changes my mind on the buy/sell status of each holding.
So here’s a look at some of our shares that have been in the news recently:
Vodafone
One of the reasons I like Vodafone Group (LSE: VOD), in addition to that juicy dividend yield of 5-6%, is its international status, and that’s helped the company to some very nice new contracts.
After February’s deal to provide German giant ThyssenKrupp with mobile phone services, Vodafone went gone on to land a ten-year contract with the New Zealand police force early this month. And last week, a partnership was agreed with Poland’s Polkomtel to extend international services to the 14 million users of its ‘plus’ brand.
Fresh reports, in The Sunday Times and other papers, have been surfacing over the potential sale of Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon (NYSE: VZ.US). I’m not sure about that, because I like the dividend that Vodafone gets from Verizon — but a sale could net shareholders a bumper special dividend. We’ll see, but at 183p, Vodafone remains a firm ‘Buy’ for me.
Tesco
I’m pretty happy with Tesco (LSE: TSCO) too, as the share price has responded well to the management’s turnaround strategy, reaching 376p today. Earlier this month, the UK’s biggest supermarket announced the purchase of the Giraffe restaurant chain, bagging 49 restaurants for a little under £49 million.
Such diversification might upset some, but Tesco has prospered through innovation and has pretty much driven the evolution of supermarket shopping in the UK. I think this is a good deal, and I reckon opening more of these family-friendly restaurants in its bigger stores will help keep shoppers inside for longer. Tesco is certainly still a ‘Buy’.
BP
In 2003, BP (LSE: BP) invested $8 billion in its 50% share of the newly-formed TNK-BP, and last week announced its attention to sell that stake to the Russian state oil company Rosneft. BP will get $12.5 billion for it, and will return the equivalent of the original $8 billion to shareholders.
BP has disposed of assets in order to raise the cash needed for its Gulf of Mexico disaster costs, and is still in negotiation regarding some claims that are possibly inflated or even faked. So, I think I’d have been happier for BP to hang on to the TNK-BP cash until all compensation claims are settled. But with today’s price of 459p putting the shares on a forward P/E of only 8 and with a 5% dividend yield expected, I’m still happy this is a ‘Buy’.
Rio Tinto
The Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) price fall, to 3,125p, has been a disappointment, after fears for the future of iron ore prices sent mining shares sliding. But commodities prices are cyclical, and what goes down must come up, right? At least, in the long term, demand for metals and minerals just has to be strong.
And in the meantime, we have dividends — Rio Tinto went ex-dividend with respect to its final dividend of 60.34p per share on 6 March. It, too, is still a ‘Buy’ for me at these prices.
