How my tips have fared

The last four weeks have been good for my long tips, as five of six appreciated. Media group ITV rose from 108p to 109p, homebuilder DR Horton went up from $99 to

$108 and construction firm Morgan Sindall increased from 2,370p to 2,410p.

Mobile-phone company Airtel Africa climbed from 122p to 126p, while wealth manager Rathbone Brothers advanced from 1,860p to 1,892p.

The only disappointment was supermarket J Sainsbury, which dropped from 280p to 271p. My long tips are now making an overall net profit of £4,959.

Interestingly, both my short tips moved in my favour. Cinema chain AMC declined from $36.84 to $23.24, while remote-medicine company Teladoc dropped from $105 to $93 as several analysts cut their share-price targets; what’s more, the firm continues to make a loss.

Overall my two short tips are now making a profit of £1,702. None of the three pending long tips (Royal Mail, Ensign Group and JD Wetherspoon) have hit a level where you should start to go long.

I now have seven active long tips (J Sainsbury, ITV, DR Horton, Airtel Africa, Morgan Sindall, Rathbone Brothers and National Express), three pending tips (Royal Mail, Ensign Group and JD Wetherspoon), but only two shorts. Given that this makes the trading portfolio extremely unbalanced, I intend to cancel my pending long position in Royal Mail.

I am also going to hike the stop-losses on some of my longs. Airtel Africa’s stop-loss rises to $85 from $80; ITV’s goes up to 105p from 100p; and DR Horton’s jumps to $85 from $76. Finally, the stop-loss on Morgan Sindall increases to 1,850p from 1,800p.