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Articles by Robert Stephens
African rhythms, ideas of sin and the Hammond organ: A brief history of gospel music’s evolution Original
A choir sings traditional gospel music. Staff Sgt. Bernardo Fuller The enslaved Africans who first arrived in the British colony of Virginia in 1619 after being forcefully removed from their natural environments left much behind, but their rhythms associated with music-making journeyed with them across the Atlantic. Many of those Africans came from cultures where the mother tongue was a tonal language. That is, ideas were conveyed as much by the inflection of a word as by the word itself.
The market has soured on this dirt-cheap stock. It’s wrong
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We’ve doubled our money on this hotel group – it’s still worth buying today
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We’ve doubled our money on this hotel group - it’s still worth buying today
History suggests it is illogical to be bearish about the stock market’s long-term prospects. After all, it has a lengthy track record of consistently posting new all-time highs. Investors who have persistently bet against it are therefore likely to have missed out on stunning returns. For example, the FTSE 100 has risen from 1,000 points at its inception in 1984 to in excess of 9,000 points today. When dividends are included, this equates to a high single-digit annualised total return.
The market is wrong about this pharmaceutical company’s prospects
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The market is wrong about this pharmaceutical company’s prospects
GSK has proved to be a thoroughly disappointing addition to our income portfolio. Its share price has fallen by 9pc since our notional purchase in June last year, with the biopharmaceutical firm underperforming the FTSE 100 by 20 percentage points. Of course, the company has delivered a worthwhile income over the past 14 months. It has paid dividends amounting to 4.1pc of our notional purchase price. This is ahead of the FTSE 100’s yield of around 3.4pc.
We recommended this stock in 1964 and we’re buying it again today
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We recommended this stock in 1964 and we’re buying it again today
Investors are finally beginning to realise that the FTSE 100 is unjustifiably cheap. Its international focus amid a period of monetary policy easing across developed economies, plus several years of underperformance versus other major indexes, mean many of its members offer excellent value for money. In Questor’s view, it is now only a matter of time before investors similarly realise that the FTSE 250 offers significant long-term growth potential.
We’ve already doubled our money on this defence company, but it’s more attractive than ever
QinetiQ’s share price has risen by 121pc since Questor tipped it as a ‘buy’ during September 2017. In doing so, the defence contractor’s shares have outperformed the FTSE 250 index, of which it is a member, by 110 percentage points. Given that the stock currently trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 19.1, versus 12.5 at the time of our ‘buy’ recommendation, many investors may naturally assume that it is now a far less appealing purchase than it was nearly eight years ago.
This engineer’s share price has soared 33pc despite tariff troubles
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We’re in the red with this firm but we’ll keep the faith
Since reaching an all-time high in December 2021, Diageo’s share price has plummeted by 51pc. Indeed, shares in the alcoholic beverages company have been on a seemingly constant decline and have shown little sign of mounting a sustained recovery. The root cause of their demise is a weaker financial performance. Earnings per share, for example, declined by 9pc in the 2024 financial year as operational challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean weighed on sales volumes.
This stock is primed to benefit from Britain’s chronic housing crisis
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This is one of our most volatile stock tips, and it’s still worth buying
Questor is The Telegraph’s stock-picking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. Life for FTSE 100 retailer Next and its investors has not been plain sailing in recent years. While its share price has risen by 120pc since we tipped it as a ‘buy’ during November 2020 – outperforming the FTSE 100 index by 84 percentage points – the company’s stock has come under severe pressure at times.
This airline’s turbulent share price offers an expensive lesson in panic selling
Jet2’s recent share price performance highlights why investors in high-quality companies should never engage in panic selling. In February, the airline and package holiday company released a trading update that stated its concerns regarding profit margins amid rising costs and an uncertain consumer environment. The firm forecast a pre-tax profit of £560m-£570m for the 2025 financial year, which was in line with previous guidance to beat market expectations of £541m.
AstraZeneca’s growth prospects are as attractive as ever. Keep buying
A silhouette of hands in medical gloves hold a medical syringe and a vial in front of AstraZeneca logo Questor is The Telegraph’s stock-picking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. AstraZeneca’s share price has risen by 39pc since our ‘buy’ recommendation in August 2019. In doing so, the FTSE 100’s largest company has beaten the wider index by 23 percentage points.
Ignore the naysayers, here’s proof of growth in the UK
Unlock stock picks and a broker-level newsfeed that powers Wall Street. Robert Stephens Thu, May 1, 2025, 9:00 PM 4 min read In This Article: Commuters walk through the City of London financial district in London Questor is The Telegraph’s stock-picking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. Intertek’s latest annual results prove that the FTSE 100 is not entirely devoid of high-quality, well-performing companies.
Inflation made this success story go flat – but the future looks promising
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Inflation made this success story go flat – but the future looks promising
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Britain’s soaring population needs houses. Buy this company yielding 8pc
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Britain’s soaring population needs to live somewhere. Buy this housebuilder yielding 8pc
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Britain’s soaring population needs houses. Buy this company yielding 8pc
Robert Stephens Tue, 1 April 2025 at 9:00 pm GMT-7 4 min read In this article: Taylor Wimpey house front face Questor is The Telegraph’s stockpicking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. Although it is extremely difficult for any investor to look beyond the present economic difficulties – anaemic GDP growth, sticky inflation and elevated interest rates – history suggests that today’s woes will almost certainly prove to be temporary.
Sometimes it’s worth trying to catch a falling knife – this one offers growth and income
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Tariffs and inflation will soon be replaced by fresh risks. Here’s what you should do
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Rising inflation will hurt this firm’s bottom line but long-term growth will follow
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Rising inflation will hurt this firm’s bottom line but long-term growth will follow
The near-term outlook for technology company Sage is highly uncertain. The FTSE 100-listed firm, which provides accounting and payroll solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, could be negatively impacted by sticky and rising inflation across the developed world. Indeed, while the company has a diverse geographic footprint, inflation across key markets – including the US, Europe and the UK – has remained persistently above central bank targets.
An uncertain economic outlook has upended these firms’ share prices
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Enormous share price gains have trimmed this firm’s dividend, but that’s about to change
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Your portfolio is full of losers – here’s how to fix that
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Income investors should consider this new trick – a low-yielding stock
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Markets are still ignoring dividends – buy this company to get ahead
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Markets are still ignoring dividends – buy this company to get ahead
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Investors are ignoring this stock – take advantage of their short-term thinking
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Investors are ignoring this stock – take advantage of their short-term thinking
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Questor has survived for 60 years – the same cannot be said for these companies
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Questor has survived for 60 years – the same cannot be said for these companies
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Questor has survived for 60 years - the same cannot be said for these companies
Cathie Wood, chief executive of Ark Investment Management, typically focuses on technology stocks that she believes to have a disruptive impact. Sometimes, she’ll buy even if a stock has shown little growth for a while — and that’s what she did last week. Investors and analysts have mixed opinions about Wood. Supporters see her as a visionary in tech investing, while critics say she’s a mediocre fund manager.
The Budget may have cut Aim tax reliefs but the index holds beneficiaries too
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The Budget may have cut Aim tax reliefs but the index holds beneficiaries too
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The Budget may have cut Aim tax reliefs but the index holds beneficiaries too
phone cables in a network box Questor is The Telegraph’s stockpicking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. The stock market can be brutal at times. The FTSE Aim All-Share Index, for example, has slumped by 38pc in the past three years as a combination of high interest rates, spluttering economic growth and elevated geopolitical uncertainty have weighed on investor sentiment. It is extremely difficult to generate a positive return in such an environment.
This defence stock is still cheap even after its 88pc rise
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
This defence stock is still cheap even after its 88pc rise
With elevated geopolitical risks likely to remain present, investor sentiment towards defence companies could continue to be upbeat - Stefan Rousseau/PA Questor is The Telegraph’s stockpicking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest The UK economy’s paltry growth rate will cause difficulty for all companies – but for defence company QinetiQ the problem is even more serious. The firm relies on the UK for around two-thirds of its revenue.
This defence stock is still cheap even after its 88pc rise
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IAG shares have soared above the FTSE 100 and still have the runway to rise
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
IAG shares have soared above the FTSE 100 and still have the runway to rise
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Don’t buy the market, buy the stock exchange
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Don’t buy the market, buy the stock exchange
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Don’t buy the market, buy the stock exchange
LSEG signage is seen on screens in the lobby of the London Stock Exchange in London While the S&P 500 continues to post record highs, the FTSE 350’s performance can be at best described as underwhelming. It has risen by just 5pc this year, compared with a 26pc surge for its US peer, as UK shares continue to deliver a frustrating experience for their holders. Alongside their lacklustre past performance, the recent ‘tax and spend’ Budget could further dissuade investors from buying UK shares.
The Budget was bad news for Aim stocks – but the long term looks good
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The Budget was bad news for Aim stocks – but the long term looks good
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Budget was bad news for Aim stocks – but there are opportunities for long-term growth
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
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