How to Trade Smiths Group shares (SMIN)

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 SMIN

*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 Smiths Group shares (SMIN) 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 Smiths Group shares. This means that at the current price of £1,574.09 per share, to buy 50Smiths Group shares with no leverage, it would cost a total of £78,704.50 £78,705. However, using leverage of 1:20, a trader would only require an account size of £4,372.47 £3,935 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 £5.88 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.

Smiths Group: Key Stats & Background Information

Smiths Groupshares are currently priced at £1,574.09, after opening the day at £1,583.00. As of 18/10/2017, Smiths Group have 396 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 £6,228 million.

This market cap makes Smiths Group the 72nd largest stock on the FTSE 100 index by market capitalisation. In the past 30 days, the Smiths Group share price has decreased by -1.25%, from £1,594.00. In the past 90 days, it has ' ; decreased by -2.11%, from £1,608.00 to the current price of £1,574.09.

In terms of trading activity Smiths Group is the 71st most actively traded stock in the FTSE100, with an average of 1,240,283 shares being traded per day.

Smiths Group had a profitafter tax for the financial year ending 30/01/2016of £261 million, an increase from £248 million for the financial year ending 24/01/2015, an overall 5% change in profit after tax.

Smiths Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange on December 20, 1950, and can be traded on Monday-Friday between 8am and 4.30pm GMT (UK time).

Smiths Group paid a dividend of 41.25p in 2016, an increase from 40.50p in 2015.

Top 10 FTSE 100 Companies by Trading Volume

Company	Trading Volume
Lloyds Banking Group PLC	130,902,000
Vodafone Group plc	39,531,850
Barclays PLC	28,126,561
Glencore PLC	27,759,771
BP plc	23,445,011
Merlin Entertainments PLC	19,446,379
Centrica PLC	18,028,342
Taylor Wimpey plc	17,749,913
International Consolidated Airlns Grp SA	16,241,190
HSBC Holdings plc	15,824,103

Top 10 FTSE 100 Companies by Market Cap

Company	Market Cap
Royal Dutch Shell Plc	£204,563,655,294
HSBC Holdings plc	£150,694,136,584
Unilever plc	£136,933,207,987
British American Tobacco plc	£111,513,353,057
BP plc	£97,659,560,946
BHP Billiton plc	£80,806,259,623
GlaxoSmithKline plc	£74,704,330,179
Rio Tinto plc	£69,035,652,242
AstraZeneca plc	£65,862,246,927
Diageo plc	£64,365,386,100

Technical Analysis

In the past 52 weeks, Smiths Group's shares hit a low of £1,358.00 and a high of £1,685.00. This means that their current share price is 15.91% above the 52-week low and 6.58% below the 52-week high.

Comparison of Smiths Group's EPS & P/E Ratio with other General Industrial companies

Smiths Group has a price/earnings ratio of 14.82. For comparison, SMURFIT KAPPA GROUP's P/E ratio is 0.16 and GlaxoSmithKline's P/E ratio is 18.14. Smiths Group's basic earning per share from continuing operations for the 30/01/2016 financial year was 65.60p, which was an increase from the previous financial year of -8.70p.

Company	Basic - EPS	P/E Ratio	Market Cap (Million)
Smiths Group ( LON:SMIN)	65.60p	14.82	£6,228
SMURFIT KAPPA GROUP ( LON:SKG)	127.39	0.16	£5,157
GlaxoSmithKline ( LON:GSK)	174.30	18.14	£74,704

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