This article is the latest in a series that aims to help novice investors with the stock market. To enjoy past articles in the series, please visit our full archive.
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.
Since our last portfolio update, a few more of our holdings have been making the news — and its always good to keep an eye on what’s happening.
Vodafone
One of the main reasons I like Vodafone Group (LSE: VOD)(NASDAQ: VOD.US) is its international nature. And it looks like that market reach is paying off again, with Vodafone entering into a consortium with China Mobile to bid for a mobile telecommunications licence in Myanmar (Burma). It’s a great opportunity — a country of 60 million people finally entering the world’s open markets, and where mobile phone usage is still very low and horribly expensive.
Although it has been a bit erratic over the past year, the Vodafone share price is up 13% since we bought it, to 191p today — and we’re getting a dividend yield of 5-6% too, which is terrific. With a P/E of 12.5, I reckon Vodafone is still a strong ‘Buy’.
Aviva
Last week, Aviva (LSE: AV) announced the completion of the sale of its 49% stake in CIMB in Malaysia, for £152 million. It’s not massive news, but it does represent a step in the strategy of focusing on markets where Aviva enjoys competitive advantages and divesting itself of non-core businesses.
Aviva shares are down since we bought them, from our purchases price of 321.4p to today’s 297.5p. But we’ve only had them a month and the fallout from the firm’s slashed final dividend is barely subsiding.
With the rebased dividend looking likely to be close to 5% for the coming year, and the shares on forward P/E of only 7, Aviva still screams ‘Buy’ to me.
Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) suffered a setback at its Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, after a slide of more than 150 million tonnes of material halted production and will adversely affect copper production for the year. But in positive news, we also heard of record first-quarter iron ore production.
The share price? Well, mining shares have all been in a slide of late due to fears of falling commodities prices. Rio Tinto is down just 1% since we bought, to 3,015p. But short-term prices in this sector don’t matter much. This still looks like a long-term bargain to me.
Blinkx
And finally on to our biggest success story so far, video technology expert Blinkx (LSE: BLNX). The firm struck a new deal earlier this month with XOS Digital, which will “give Blinkx users access to a wide array of original and high-quality sports content”.
The share price has fallen back a little since its recent peak, but at 80.25p we’re still nearly 120% up on the deal! And I think Blinkx has plenty more growth potential.
Nearly a year
How time flies! It’s nearly a year since the Beginners’ Portfolio chose its first share — Vodafone on 18 May 2012. Next month I’ll be bringing you a first anniversary update — when we’ll be able to look back on Tesco’s results, due tomorrow.
