One to Watch

DESPITE all the worries of austerity being forced on European economies, the US continues to recover. This recovery is in turn assisting corporate IT spend as firms raise their investment plans to meet rising demand.

Cisco is a beneficiary of this. It produces routers and switches for use in data centres and telecom networks that enable the transfer of voice, data and video.

Demand is being driven by the increasing use of technology and internet applications. In order to allow these multiple products and applications to work, you need bandwidth. This means the telephone wires need to get "fatter" so all this data can be delivered in a timely manner. Cisco's products help create this.

Management appears optimistic about the current environment and Cisco is clearly well placed to benefit from any recovery in economic activity. If austerity becomes more of the norm, even in the US, then a strong market position will defend it to some extent from another slowdown.

Investment markets and conditions can change rapidly and as such the views expressed should not be taken as statements of fact nor should reliance be placed on these views when making investment decisions. Past performance is not a guide to the future.

Robert Wiseman

479.1p -5.1p

Broker says HOLD

RBS Equities has upgraded its target price for Robert Wiseman Dairies from 514p to 519p, but has maintained its "hold" recommendation following this week's full-year results. The broker said: "While the group has a strong track record of exceeding expectations, we see the company as fairly valued at these levels given the rising input-cost environment."

TalkTalk Telecom

111.6p -7.4p

Broker says HOLD

TALKTALK'S "resilient growth and merger and acquisition potential" are already priced in to its share price according to Citi, which maintains its "hold" rating. Analyst Andrew Lee added: "We prefer BT, the Cable & Wireless assets and VMED in the UK fixed-line space."