Friday newspaper share tips: Pick up Poundland but tell Thomas Cook to fly away

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - They may cost you a bit more than a pound a piece, but The Times' Tempus is recommending traders should buy Poundland shares long term. Yesterday, the low-cost supermarket issued its plan to raise cash for the acquisition of 99p Stores , while hiding in the same statement news of a lower profit forecast. But Tempus pointed out that while like-for-like sales dropped 2.9%, that was on the back of record 4.9% growth in the previous corresponding period.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) recommends that while shares have come back to the float price, the 99p deal ensures strong future growth and it's worth getting in now for the long haul.

Meanwhile, Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news) reported Thursday that they're flying steady, but Questor at The Telegraph and Tempus had some concerns.

Questor said while the turbulent year for the travel company ended well and the shares look good value, it thinks a 30% recovery in profits over the next 12 months to hit forecast earnings will be hard to achieve in the current environment. That includes competition possibly getting a lot more difficult in the travel sector. It is recommending traders sell up Tempus recommended the shares should be avoided as well. While it's believed that one day Fosun might buy up the rest of the Thomas Cook shares, Tempus said there's no guarantee that a bid is imminent and the Chinese conglomerate has a bit more to focus on instead of the European travel industry.