Sunday share tips: Belvoir Group, YouGov

(Sharecast News) - Midas told readers on Sunday to hold onto their shares of property rental outfit Belvoir Group. The tipster highlighted the company's 26-year track record of profits running hundreds of estate and letting agencies.

More recently, Belvoir had moved into sales and mortgage advice, making it more resilient to economic ebbs and flows.

It had also carried out a "judicious" acquisition strategy, Midas added.

And chief executive officer Dorian Goncalves was working on an IT tool to allow estate agents, letting agents and mortgage advisers to work more closely, which should encourage cross sales between divisions.

"Demand for rental properties is at a record high, while sales are holding up better than many expected.

"Gonsalves is a steady hand on the tiller too, having spent his entire career in the market, including a five-year stint as a director of the Property Ombudsman. Hold on to these shares."

The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin tipped shares of pollster YouGov to her readers, pointing to recent strong momentum in the business, recent acquisitions and the drop in its valuation multiples over the last five years as reasons to buy.

YouGov's client roster included the likes of Disney+ and Netflix, which it provided with viewing data.

Tech firms in general generated nearly a fifth of its revenues and the company said in summer that clients were now slower to take decisions and sign orders, a likely reason why hedge funds had been shorting its shares, Tobin said.

But the latest results under new chief executive officer Steve Hatch had beat estimates, with the customised research unit, on which big tech firms spent money for data to boost their own sales, seeing "especially buoyant" demand.

And while talk from one its founders, Stephan Shakespeare, of a possible US listing worried some investors, that had yet to be decided.

In the meantime, there was growth to capitalise on, the tipster said.

Then there was the recent €315m (£274m) acquisition of GfK's consumer panel business in Germany, which would increase its share of the market in the consumer goods category and help revenues rise by over £100m.

And yet the shares' price-to-earnings multiple had fallen from as high as 64 in recent years to approximately 16.

Peel Hunt analyst Jessica Pok was of a similar mind, telling clients there was "good momentum" heading into 2024 and that tech spend had been resurgent of late.

Hence Pok's decision to choose the shares as a 'top pick'.