LONDON -- Things are still quiet in the post-Easter lull, and we don't have a lot of news due to come our way. But we are expecting a few snippets from some of our major FTSE 100 companies. Here's a trio scheduled to spread illumination next week.
Polymetal (POLY)
We have full-year results from Polymetal International coming our way on Monday, and for the year to December 2012 the City is expecting to see a rise in earnings per share of more than 50%. That would put the shares on a price-to-earnings ratio of a bit more than 10 based on today's price of 838 pence.
Polymetal mines precious metals in Russia and is one of the world's largest silver-producers. Rising earnings forecasts over the next two years will take the P/E down to less than seven by 2014 if they come off, and the dividend yield is predicted to rise from 2% to more than 5% over the same period. This could be a good time to buy -- but be sure to do your own research.
Marks & Spencer (MKS -1.94%)
Marks & Spencer Group is due to bring us a fourth-quarter trading update on Thursday, and at the time of the firm's Q3 update in January, things seemed to be going reasonably well: Total sales were up a modest 0.6%, but multichannel sales had risen 10.8%, with international sales up 4.1%.
Forecasts for the full year suggest a 7% fall in EPS, with today's price of 378 pence suggesting a P/E of 12. But there's a dividend of more than 4% expected, and if 2012 is a bottoming-out year as expected, M&S could be attractive to recovery investors now.
Aggreko (AGK)
On Friday we should have an interim management statement from Aggreko. Full-year results from the power and temperature-control equipment supplier early last month were strong, showing a 14% rise in underlying revenue and an 11% rise in pre-tax profit after the firm claimed "flawless execution of London Olympics."
But the shares have been struggling, falling about 20% over the past 12 months to 1,729 pence today, and there's a 6% fall in EPS forecast for the year to December 2013. With a dividend yield of just 1.4% expected and the shares on a forward P/E of nearly 19, I'm not seeing any great bargain here right now -- but we'll see what Friday has to offer.
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