A stellar performance from satellite communications group Avanti helped add sparkle to another solid performance from the majority of our share tips last week.
The group, which has helped to bring broadband to remoter areas of Scotland, saw its shares take off with a 16% leap when directors revealed they are on course to see positive cash flow later this year after a surge in orders from Africa and the Middle East.
Some brokers believe the fun is only just beginning and the team at Daniel Stewart say the shares could reach £20 over the longer term. Jefferies International has a more modest target of £6, but that is still more than double the present 290p share price.
The upsurge helped our latest 2013 portfolio to record double-digit total growth for the first time at our weekly review on Wednesday morning, with its valuation up another 2.8% to show an 11.1% gain since the start of the year.
Housebuilder Galliford Try also played its part in the increase with another good rise ahead of its own trading update later this week, although transport giant Stagecoach continued to disappoint after its shares traded without the benefit of its latest dividend.
The other portfolios turned in a more pedestrian performance, with the 2010 and 2011 selections both showing only fractional gains and the 2012 picks recording a small fall.
A number of shares in major companies were marked down over the week as investors adopted a more adventurous stance. Energy providers SSE and Centrica, plus Diageo, Stagecoach, Compass and Standard Life were among those to slip back.
But others continued to hit new peaks and we raised the stop/loss levels at which we will sell our notional shareholdings in Galliford Try, Avanti, Carr's Milling, Tesco, British Polythene Industries and Devro to ensure we can lock in the bulk of recent profits on any major stock market reversal.
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