MoneyWeek’s comprehensive guide to this week’s share tips

Three to buy

Cambridge Cognition

The Sunday Times

We’re living longer, but “our brains can’t always keep up”. Cambridge Cognition makes specialist software for tasks assessing brain health during clinical trials. The company is a “tiddler” with a market cap of just £35m, but revenues rose 50% to £10.1m last year when it signed up more clinical-trial contracts than at any time in its history. It also turned a “very modest” profit and now has a “decent cushion of £3.8m net cash” thanks to an increase in customers pre-paying for its software. Buy. 142.8p

HomeServe

Shares

Household repairs service HomeServe has sold off due to concerns about its growth prospects in the UK, but the “star performer” is its US business. Management says earnings from this are running ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, the UK arm could benefit from the “current squeeze on consumers’ finances”, which is “likely to encourage more people to take out insurance policies in order to avoid large repair bills”. The firm has a proven operating model, a solid balance sheet and a strong acquisition pipeline, all of which should help it grow. 675p

National Express

Investors’ Chronicle

Public transport will play a key part in the government’s goal to reach net-zero emissions. The UK Climate Change Committee expects between 9% and 12% of car journeys to switch to journeys made by bus by 2030. That bodes well for coach firm National Express. The company suffered during the pandemic, but made it through “without crippling the balance sheet”. In the two years to December 2021 net debt fell from £1.22bn to £1.02bn. Buy. 224p