Thursday tips round-up: BP, Standard Life, Lamprell

Twelves months ago there was widespread concern that BP would have to slash its dividend. In the end, the oil major has not had to do so and this is a mark of how far the group has come over the last 12 months. The oil-price recovery from catastrophic levels has eased the bears' fears.

The shares are yielding 6.2pc in 2010, rising to 6.5pc in 2011. Investors should use Tuesday's fall in the share price as a buying opportunity. The yield is too impressive to ignore. Trading on a December 2011 earnings multiple of 7.6 times, the stance remains buy, says the Telegraph.

Standard Life shares, trading at 70 per cent of the group's in-force book of business, are inexpensive and the forecast 2009 full-year yield is an exceptional 6.1 per cent. That is attractive, although the growth prospects might not be as exciting as those, say, offered by a Prudential. The Independent says it wouldn't yet be willing to go overboard on these figures - you could easily get several institutional mandates in a day followed by nothing for months. Still, the paper would make Standard Life a core hold and wouldn't put anyone off from buying more.

With the global economy picking up pace, albeit slowly, the Independent thinks Lamprell's share price will continue to tick upwards, which is just as well since the dividend yield of just over 1 per cent is not terribly exciting. If you reckon that oil is going up, buy Lamprell. If you think it is heading down, sell. The Independent says it sits in the former camp and would therefore back the group, but don't expect to see gains like the 140 per cent that's been added to the stock in the last 12 months. Buy.

Shops in London have shown those in the regions a clean pair of heels during much of the recession, and some of this magic seems to have rubbed off on the city's pubs. The imaginatively named Capital Pub Company has done its best over the last year to bolster this theory and yesterday raised its glass to another positive trading update. While the pub sector is unlikely to set the stock market alight, Capital Pub is in a good niche and looks likely to be one of the industry's safer long-term bets. Buy, says the Independent.

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