Game, set and match for investors with our Wimbledon share tips

With Wimbledon, one of tennis’ greatest events, just days away Graham Spooner, investment adviser at The Share Centre, serves his tennis share tips.

Andy Murray

Returning Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray reached the height of his career in July last year, and at the same time Scottish electricity giant SSE saw its share price hit a five year high. In recent results SSE reported pre-tax profits up 9.6%, in a challenging period for utilities, as its electricity transmission operations performed well. Investors will be pleased to hear the full year dividend continues to keep pace with inflation.

Murray returned to the court after a back operation at the beginning of the year and like SSE, has been gradually improving. SSE remains a defensive British stock and an attractive and inflation proof dividend yield provides a good level of income for investors.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal’s powerful and explosive traits can be seen in the sporting retail giant Sports Direct, as a solid increase in sales could follow a tournament of this size and importance in the tennis calendar. The group’s Q4 results saw a 10% rise in group sales and alongside this, the share price has raced ahead over the past two years on the back of impressive sales and profit growth.

Nadal is known to play to the present conditions of the game, which is also true of Sports Direct as online retail expansion looks set to outpace the rate of growth in store sales. The player’s number one world ranking is a quality that the company aspires to have, particularly in regards to their position in Europe. The expansion of its premium and life style operations, together with lack of competition makes the group a market leader. Investors should note that the economic outlook in the UK and Europe is improving, aiding Sports Direct’s strategy to expand.

Novak Djokovic

Corporate hospitality giant Compass can be likened to the respected and consistent player Djokovic, as it remains the official caterer to The Championships at Wimbledon. The company strives to simply be the best and a resilient and balanced performer.

Compass continued to express positivity over its expectations for this fiscal year in its trading statement. It highlighted an encouraging pipeline of new contracts and its focus on driving efficiencies in its business through its Management and Performance programme. Competition remains tough to win contracts such as these, as it does for the world number one tennis ranking.

Serena Williams

As one of the most recognisable names in British fashion, Burberry can be compared to tennis superstar Serena Williams. Famous for producing luxury and innovative designs, the company is now a dominant force in the luxury goods market focusing on a trait shared closely with the athlete – power.

Burberry has recently changed its strategy, becoming less reliant on discounts at department stores in favour of fully priced merchandise; the idea being to improve the exclusivity of the Burberry brand. Alongside this, the group’s online offering and social media presence is improving brand awareness amongst younger tech savvy consumers. Like Serena, the brand has a Global reputation for functionality and is a respected name in a competitive industry.

Maria Sharapova

Food and drug retailer Sainsbury can be related to Maria Sharapova’s powerful and confident stance in their respective industries. After a slow start to the year after returning from injury, Sharapova is back to winning ways, recently winning the French open. This sense of recovery can be seen in Sainsbury’s. The group continues to avoid being dragged into aggressive price cutting to compete with the likes of Aldi and Lidl and investors will be pleased that the group delivered a good set of results for the start of the year.

Whilst the food and drug sector is under pressure, Sainsbury’s have long-term plans that have been put in place to manage the stepping down of Justin King, as CEO. The group has a strong management track record which can be likened to Sharapova who has been with manager Max Eisenbud since she was 12. The world’s highest-paid female athlete has capitalized on her on-court success by becoming one of tennis’ most successful brands and shares this attribute with one of Britain’s best loved supermarkets, Sainsbury.