Friday newspaper share tips: Sell as Amec Foster Wheeler faces more pain

Traders should sell shares in Amec Foster Wheeler as the company prepares for the long haul, according to The Telegraph’s Questor.

The oil and gas engineering services company announced on Thursday it was cutting its dividend by half and lifting its cost-savings target from £120m to $180m by 2017 amid tough market conditions.

Questor, which downgraded the stock to sell in March, noted that with oil prices over half the value of what they were last year and with future profits and revenues uncertain, oil services companies can’t afford to pay out high dividends as they used to.

“With prices lower for longer and spending by oil majors having been slashed, Amec is preparing for a prolonged slump,” it said.

While the shares don’t look too expensive trading on 10 times forecast earnings, falling revenue and rising debts mean it could be a trap. But the key problem Questor says Amec Foster Wheeler has, among other players in the industry, is the lower spending from major players.

“With no clear sign of a recovery in the oil price and the possibility of more pain to come, that [sell] recommendation remains.”

In the pharmaceuticals sector, The Times’ Tempus is keeping a close eye on AstraZeneca.

The FTSE 100 pharmaceutical company’s third quarter revenues were hit by foreign exchange woes, but the company upgraded its revenue outlook for the year and beat expectations for earnings per share.

Tempus said the company still faces a “patent cliff” over the next couple of years as new drugs start to lose exclusivity, however the latest financial figures give reason to be optimistic.

It said the company should be able to weather the storm and provide a good income to investors until its new drugs reach the market. For that reason, Tempus recommended it as a good long term buy.