Newspaper Tips & Round-Up

LONDON (ShareCast) - Go-Ahead is in good shape, boasts a healthy balance sheet and still clearly has resilient features, given the fact that more than 50% of revenues in its bus division are generated by regulated operations.

Thre may be better looking bets in the sector but it would be prudent to be overweight in the transport sector. Buy Go-Ahead says the Independent.

Plant hire specialist Ashtead's chief executive Geoff Drabble says the group is financially strong, while its biggest market, the US, will return to health next year, aided by the huge US stimulus package. But the Independent's advice is to be be cautious about anything that is so closely linked to the still toxic construction sector. Avoid.

At 56½p, up 3¼p, or 15 times broker Numis's forecast earnings, Ashtead shares are a bet that the US will be the first out of recession. On that basis, hold adds the Times (1832.HK - news) .

Plant Impact (LSE: PIM.L - news) , an Aim-listed group that develops technology to assist crop growth, issued a bizarre trading statement yesterday, which took a swipe at "malicious chatter" on the internet. The group said it is on the cusp of "going global" after signing a licensing deal with Arysta LifeScience, a Japanese company that will help to commercialise Plant Impact's pesticide products. Worth a punt. Buy says the Independent.

Booking volumes for the second half of 2009 are now 26% higher than last year, raising hopes that crusie operator Carnival (NYSE: CCL - news) will be able to take advantage of the demand boosted by discounting to start raising prices again. At £15.71, or 12 times current-year earnings, await clearer signals from the bridge before buying back in says the Times.

Trading remains tough for now at GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) . Sales of off-highway equipment — for agriculture, mining and construction — continue to fall. In aerospace, which accounts for half of turnover, trading is resilient but GKN is braced for a downturn in civil markets. Automotive is now breaking even thanks to hefty cost cutting, while GKN's exposure to defence should mitigate any difficulties in commercial aerospace. At 119½p, take up the rights says the Times.

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