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 ITRK
30-Day Change-1.28%
90-Day Change 11.09%
52-Week Low
£3,037.39
52-Week High
£5,160.00
Pros & Cons of Trading Intertek Group shares (ITRK) 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 1:20 on Intertek Group shares. This means that at the current price of £4,883.70 per share, to buy 50Intertek Group shares with no leverage, it would cost a total of £244,185.00 £244,185. However, using leverage of 1:20, a trader would only require an account size of £13,565.83 £12,209 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 £18.23 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.
Intertek Group: Key Stats & Background Information
Intertek Groupshares are currently priced at
£4,883.70, after opening the day at
£4,847.00. As of
23/09/2017,
Intertek Group have
161 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
£7,882 million.
This market cap makes
Intertek Group the
52nd largest stock on the FTSE 100 index by market capitalisation. In the past 30 days, the
Intertek Group share price has
decreased by
-1.28%, from
£4,947.00. In the past 90 days, it has ' ;
increased by
11.09%, from
£4,396.00 to the current price of
£4,883.70.
In terms of trading activity Intertek Group is the 95th most actively traded stock in the FTSE100, with an average of 255,060 shares being traded per day.
Intertek Group had a lossafter tax for the financial year ending 31/07/2016of -£347 million, a decerease from £190 million for the financial year ending 31/07/2015, an overall -282% change in profit after tax.
Intertek Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange on
May 29, 2002, and can be traded on Monday-Friday between 8am and 4.30pm GMT (UK time).
Intertek Group paid a dividend of
50.10p in 2016,
an increase from
47.00p in 2015.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Companies by Trading Volume
| Company | Trading Volume |
|---|---|
| Lloyds Banking Group PLC | 89,933,363 |
| Vodafone Group plc | 49,390,055 |
| Glencore PLC | 24,948,937 |
| Barclays PLC | 24,047,006 |
| BP plc | 20,545,932 |
| ITV plc | 20,204,397 |
| HSBC Holdings plc | 17,399,701 |
| Centrica PLC | 10,881,727 |
| BT Group plc | 10,695,101 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc | 9,284,973 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Companies by Market Cap
| Company | Market Cap |
|---|---|
| Royal Dutch Shell Plc | £201,035,438,629 |
| HSBC Holdings plc | £144,334,400,647 |
| Unilever plc | £127,787,113,577 |
| British American Tobacco plc | £105,687,350,512 |
| BP plc | £91,690,188,781 |
| BHP Billiton plc | £77,613,136,889 |
| GlaxoSmithKline plc | £72,119,174,767 |
| Rio Tinto plc | £64,294,646,858 |
| AstraZeneca plc | £61,457,632,172 |
| Diageo plc | £60,783,987,367 |
Technical Analysis
In the past 52 weeks, Intertek Group's shares hit a low of £3,037.39 and a high of £5,160.00. This means that their current share price is 60.79% above the 52-week low and 5.35% below the 52-week high.
Comparison of Intertek Group's EPS & P/E Ratio with other Support Service companies
Intertek Group has a price/earnings ratio of 19.57. For comparison, Wolseley's P/E ratio is 16.99 and Ashtead Group's P/E ratio is 10.66. Intertek Group's basic earning per share from continuing operations for the 31/07/2016 financial year was -224.20p, which was a decrease from the previous financial year of -12.90p.
| Company | Basic - EPS | P/E Ratio | Market Cap (Million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intertek Group ( LON:ITRK) | -224.20p | 19.57 | £7,882 |
| Wolseley ( LON:WOS) | 199.20 | 16.99 | #N/A |
| Ashtead Group ( LON:AHT) | 81.30 | 10.66 | £8,887 |
*Information is provided "as is" and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and may be delayed.
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CFDs are leveraged products and can result in the loss of your capital. All information collected on 1/11/2017.