How to Trade Imperial Brands shares (IMB)

To trade shares you can either use a traditional stock brokerage firm (such as IG) or you can use a CFD service, such as LCG We'll explore the pros and cons of both approaches in a moment.

Currently, IG charge a minimum of £5* per trade for buying and selling shares online, while LCG charge 0.08% above the spreadThe spread is the difference (in pips) between the buy price and the sell price.

Example: If the current buy price of EURUSD is 1.0004 and the sell price is 1.0003, there is a 1 pip spread. for stocks such as IMB

*For frequent traders or clients who place at least one CFD trade or Spread bet per month. Applies to UK shares only.

Pros & Cons of Trading Imperial Brands shares (IMB) as a CFD

A CFD (or 'contract for difference') is a way of trading instruments like shares without having to own the shares. Here are some of the pros and cons of CFD trading compared to using a traditional stock brokerage.

Advantages:

• The main advantage of a CFD broker is the leverage they offer their clients. This means that a trader would require a much smaller account sizes relative to the size of a trade in comparison to a traditional share dealing broker.
  
  For example, offer leverage of 1:33 on Imperial Brands shares. This means that at the current price of £3,146.88 per share, to buy 50Imperial Brands shares with no leverage, it would cost a total of £157,344.00 £157,344. However, using leverage of 1:33, a trader would only require an account size of £10,161.80 £4,768 to place the trade with a CFD broker like LCG
  
  
• CFD brokers allow traders to go long or short, which means a trader could benefit from rising and falling markets.
• CFD brokers usually do not charge a commission and instead have their fees included in the spread.
• CFD brokers like AvaTrade that offer the MT4 platform, allow clients to use expert advisors to automate their trading strategies.
• UK shares that are purchased as a CFD are not liable for the usual 0.5% stamp duty payable with a traditional share purchase (please note that tax laws can change and are subject to individual circumstances).
• Unlike traditional brokerages that only offer stock trading, CFD brokers like LCG give access to a wide variety of instruments like stocks, commodities and currencies.

Cons:

• As mentioned, leverage is a double-edged sword that can magnify both gains and losses. And as with all trading, traders are at the risk of the markets moving against them.
• CFD brokers typically charge an overnight fee for holding a long position overnight. This is essentially the cost of borrowing the money from the broker to purchase the shares on margin. There would be no overnight fee if you closed the position on the same trading day. Therefore, this would only be a disadvantage if you are not a day trader or intraday trader.
  
  For example, LCG currently charge an overnight financing fee of 2.73% for individual equities. This means that for the example trade above, it would cost a trader £11.75 every day the position was open.

For further information on trading stocks as a CFD, visit out "trading stocks as a CFD page". It is important to remember leverage can work both ways and magnify gains and losses.

*All information collected from https://www.lcg.com/uk/, see website for full terms and conditions. Your capital is at risk. Last updated on 20th March, 2017.

Imperial Brands: Key Stats & Background Information

Imperial Brandsshares are currently priced at £3,146.88, after opening the day at #N/A. As of 18/10/2017, Imperial Brands have 955 million shares available, bringing their market capMarketing capitalisation is the value of a publicly traded company, calculated by multiplying the current share price by the total number of shares available. to £30,054 million.

This market cap makes Imperial Brands the 22nd largest stock on the FTSE 100 index by market capitalisation. In the past 30 days, the Imperial Brands share price has decreased by -3.65%, from £3,266.00. In the past 90 days, it has ' ; #N/A by -10.38%, from £3,511.50 to the current price of £3,146.88.

In terms of trading activity Imperial Brands is the 27th most actively traded stock in the FTSE100, with an average of 0 shares being traded per day.

Imperial Brands had a profitafter tax for the financial year ending 30/11/2016of £669 million, a decerease from £1,723 million for the financial year ending 30/11/2015, an overall -61% change in profit after tax.

Imperial Brands was listed on the London Stock Exchange on October 1, 1996, and can be traded on Monday-Friday between 8am and 4.30pm GMT (UK time).

Imperial Brands paid a dividend of 145.20p in 2016, an increase from 132.10p in 2015.

Top 10 FTSE 100 Companies by Trading Volume

Company	Trading Volume
Vodafone Group plc	271,300
HSBC Holdings plc	66,182
Shire PLC	22,326
Aviva plc	17,697
Royal Mail PLC	6,079
St. James's Place plc	2,505
Ashtead Group plc	1,984
Severn Trent Plc	1,862
Carnival plc	1,674
London Stock Exchange Group Plc	1,624

Top 10 FTSE 100 Companies by Market Cap

Company	Market Cap
Royal Dutch Shell Plc	£203,021,438,858
HSBC Holdings plc	£149,706,099,999
Unilever plc	£136,097,050,901
British American Tobacco plc	£111,784,623,613
BP plc	£97,742,445,635
BHP Billiton plc	£82,684,504,495
GlaxoSmithKline plc	£74,559,563,188
Rio Tinto plc	£69,080,046,452
AstraZeneca plc	£65,684,101,204
Diageo plc	£63,974,999,136

Technical Analysis

In the past 52 weeks, Imperial Brands's shares hit a low of £3,112.50 and a high of £4,007.00. This means that their current share price is 1.10% above the 52-week low and 21.47% below the 52-week high.

Comparison of Imperial Brands's EPS & P/E Ratio with other Tobacco companies

Imperial Brands has a price/earnings ratio of 15.92. For comparison, British American Tobacco's P/E ratio is 18.05 and Imperial Brands's P/E ratio is 15.92. Imperial Brands's basic earning per share from continuing operations for the 30/11/2016 financial year was 66.10p, which was an increase from the previous financial year of 47.80p.

Company	Basic - EPS	P/E Ratio	Market Cap (Million)
Imperial Brands ( LON:IMB)	66.10p	15.92	£30,054
British American Tobacco ( LON:BATS)	230.90	18.05	£111,785
Imperial Brands ( LON:IMB)	66.10	15.92	£30,054

*Information is provided "as is" and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and may be delayed.