Shares portfolio: Entertainment One a buy as Peppa Pig takes on US

The Standard's City team rates which stocks to buy and sell, with analysis on the top traders' deals and what to expect from the markets.

BUY: ENTERTAINMENT ONE
Production company and film distributor Entertainment One announced last week that Peppa Pig, their cartoon character who loves to jump up and down in muddy puddles, is to hit US television screens in what some called a "transformational" deal. Analysts at Edison say it's made "excellent progress" and rate it a buy.

SELL: AUTONOMY
Get shot of shares in software group Autonomy, says Evolution Securities. "After last week's profit warning we reiterate sell," say analysts. "Lack of a major acquisition, slowdown in net working capital growth, and cleaner like-for-like comparisons have coincided with disappointing organic growth," they add. The price target is 1175p.

HOLD: MARKS & SPENCER
Hang on to shares in high street giant Marks & Spencer, says Panmure Gordon, which has raised its full-year 2011 pre-tax profit estimate by 2% to just over £701 million after last week's second-quarter trading statement. Analysts give it a 423p target price & say they prefer Next.

MONDAY'S AGENDA

The state of the property market will be laid bare when Rightmove publishes its house price index. For September it showed that property asking prices fell for the third month in a row, with the average cost of a home put up for sale in England and Wales during the five weeks to September 11 falling 1.1% to £229,767. After the shock figures from Halifax's survey this month, which showed the sharpest drop in house prices on record in September, analysts will be closely watching the latest numbers, which come ahead of this week's highly anticipated Comprehensive Spending Review.

US bank reporting season will continue when Citigroup reports, after its rival JPMorgan this week posted a 23% leap in third-quarter profits and a sharp fall in bad debts. Away from the investment case details, the wider world will be on bonus watch, after JPMorgan put aside another $6.7 billion (£4.2 billion) in pay and bonuses for its staff.

TRADER TALK

Ed Beal, manager of Dunedin Smaller Companies investment trust, has sold down his stake in plumbing and heating company BSS Group shifting 353,000 shares leaving him with a 1.48% stake worth about £8.2 million.

His decision to take profits follows a good run in the wake of the successful £557.6 million bid builders' merchant Travis Perkins' made for BSS in July. Beal said: "BSS shares have done well after the bid. We've decided to take some profit and initiate a position in Halfords, a good-quality smaller company with an attractive valuation and a dividend yield of over 5%."

Halfords issued an upbeat trading statement early this month in which it stated that group revenues for the half year had increased by 7.6% year-on-year, after the firm's acquisition of Nationwide Autocentres back in February.

Danielle Levy, Citywire.co.uk