Wednesday newspaper share tips: Wolseley, Circassia, Sage

Growth in the US market will continue to power Wolseley's performance, but with the benefit of the pound's fall on profits now behind it and faced with low demand from its UK and Nordic operations the shares look high enough at 14 times' earnings, The Times's Tempus said.

In the fourth quarter, its US operations grew revenues by 3.1%, even after having slowed, and since July had re-accelerated to a 4.5% pace.

Little surprise then that the plumbers' merchant continues to invest at a quick pace in North America.

Nonetheless, "most of the upside is reflected in the stock already," Tempus said.

Shares in Circassia Pharmaceuticals remain a "huge punt" on the unknown, the success in clinical trials of its treatments for allergies to cats and dust mites, Tempus said.

Those treatments might indeed end up proving worthless, but given the upside potential Tempus says 'buy'.

Following the trail of those managers who invest their own money in the same funds they run, such as Terry Smith of Fundsmith or Sebastian Lyon of Troy Asset Management, The Daily Telegraph's Questor column singled out the shares of software developer Sage.

The firm met two of their investment criteria, with only modest debt and producing good returns on capital.

In particular, the tipster highlighted the "great deal of trust" which the company had built up among the small business community.

Questor said it had been a 'holder' of Sage shares for some time, but the column did highlight one concern, the shares' valuation, which was on the "high side".