The week ahead: Vodafone, Compass

Monday 30 January

Trading Statements

Filtronic, Cranswick, Porvair

Tuesday 31 January

Trading Statements

Alumasc Group, Oxford Biodynamics, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, Carpetright, Toople, Ocado Group, SSE, Intermediate Capital Group, Britvic, Joules

AGM/EGM

CYBG, Greencore

Wednesday 01 January

Trading Statements

Future, TalkTalk Telecom, Low & Bonar

AGM/EGM

Tharisa

Thursday 02 January

Vodafone shares currently trade near two-year lows, so shareholders will be hoping for better news when the telecoms giant unleashes third-quarter results Thursday.

According to broker UBS, organic service revenue grew by 1.5% in the final three months of 2016, down from 2.4% in the second quarter. Most of Europe is tipped to do well, although anticipated weakness in emerging markets has forced a downgrade – look for growth of 3.3% in Africa, Middle East, Asia, Pacific (AMAP) and growth of 1.5% in the fourth quarter.

"While downgrades in [emerging markets] may be negative for sentiment, we think buy-side expectations for AMAP were low and note the shares hit a recent low of 190p," writes analyst Polo Tang, who trims the UBS price target by 10p to 275p. That still implies 42% potential upside.

"We re-iterate our view that recovery in Europe has been underestimated and that a broader deal with Liberty Global remains an option on the upside. VOD trades on 7% [equity free cash-flow] yield and offers a 6% dividend yield on a calendarised basis for 2017."

Catering colossus Compass Grouphas a great track record of outperformance during the long winter months. It's why the shares are in our seasonal Winter portfolio.

Growth in the year to September 2017 will be weighted to the second half of the year, said chief executive Richard Cousins in November.

"The pipeline of new contracts is good and our focus on organic growth, efficiencies and cash gives us confidence in another year of delivery.

Don't expect knockout first-quarter numbers Thursday, but Panmure Gordon's Anna Barnfather forecasts pre-tax profit of £1.44 billion for the full-year, giving earnings per share (EPS) of 66.5p.

At 1,417p, Compass shares trade on 21 times those estimates, with a prospective dividend yield of just 2.5%. But cost inflation and that premium valuation prevent an upgrade, with Barnfather believing 1,400p is about the right price.

Trading Statements

AstraZeneca, Vedanta Resources, Vodafone, Cranswick, Compass, Aberdeen Asset Management

AGM/EGM

JPMorgan Asian Investment Trust

Friday 03 January

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.