LONDON -- The FTSE 100
But who really cares, eh? What matters to Fools is how things are likely to be two, three, five, 10 years down the line, and what the fundamental performances of individual companies are like. Here we take a quick look at some FTSE shares making moves this week.
Computacenter
IT services firm Computacenter gained a nice 30 pence for an 8% rise to 390 pence, ahead of the company's interim results due next Friday. The price hit a low of 285 pence in June, before July's pre-close update, but since then has soared by 37%. So what should we expect next week?
Well, the pre-close statement told us that revenues are up 4%, with 96.6 million pounds net cash on the books, confirming the firm's existing guidance for the full year. Current forecasts suggest a forward P/E of under 10 and a dividend yield of 4.5%, improving to 8.5 and 5%, respectively, for next year.
Heritage Oil
Heritage Oil leapt up 20% to 205 pence on Tuesday, when the oil explorer announced the sale of a 26% interest in its Miran block in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to Genel Energy for $156 million, with a $294 million exchangeable loan also provided by Genel. The block will be operated jointly, with Heritage owning a total stake of 49% and Genel holding 51%.
The price held its rise to end the week at 200 pence, up 72% from its end-of-June low point of 116 pence.
Petropavlovsk
While FTSE miners in general have been in a down spell, gold miner Petropavlovsk crashed dramatically on Thursday, falling 18% by the end of Friday, to finish at 384 pence. The reason? A 90% fall in profits from $108 million to just $11 million for the first six months of 2012. The blame was laid on depreciation charges, currency exchange, and interest, with depreciation in the second half expected to be similar and interest costs higher because of a rise in net debt.
But forecasts for full-year production of 700,000 ounces of the shiny stuff are still on, so does the 50% price fall over the past 12 months leave us with a buying opportunity? You decide.
CPP Group
CPP Group was one of the week's big fallers, with a slump of 11.5 pence (23%) to 38.25 pence on Tuesday, when the "life assistance" company released half-year results showing a 72% fall in reported pre-tax profit of just 2.65 million pounds (though that did represent a more modest underlying fall of 21% to 7.86 million pounds, we were told.) There will be no interim dividend.
CPP has the dubious distinction of being one of the year's biggest fallers, with the price down 78% from its 52-week high.
What now?
As usual, this week's FTSE trading provided some large share-price movements -- and perhaps some buying opportunities. Indeed, legendary investor Warren Buffett has spent more than $1 billion buying the shares of one of the U.K.'s most successful FTSE large caps.
Clearly, he thinks there are bargains to be had within Britain's stock market, and you can discover the details of his investment -- including the price he paid -- by reading this special report. The report -- The One U.K. Share Warren Buffett Loves -- is free and can be accessed immediately.
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