3 Shares the FTSE 100 Should Beat Today: Tesco Corporation (USA) (TESO), G4S plc (GFS), 888 Holdings Public Limited Company (888)

LONDON — The FTSE 100 is falling back today, after soaring above 6,500 to set a new five-year intraday high of 6,534 points yesterday. Today the top U.K. index is down 59 points, or 0.9%, as of 10:05 a.m. EDT, but it still appears to be on for a seven-day run of closing above the 6,400 level.

But even when the FTSE is falling, there are companies falling faster. Here are three that are failing to beat the index today.

Tesco Corporation (USA) (LON:TSCO)

Tesco Corporation (USA) (LON:TSCO) shares are neck-and-neck with the FTSE, dropping 1.1% to 376 pence by early afternoon — though they are still up nearly 20% over the past few months. The news behind today’s fall appears to be Tesco’s acquisition of “the award-winning family friendly restaurant group” Giraffe Restaurants.

For a price of 48.6 million pounds, Tesco Corporation (USA) (NASDAQ:TESO has snapped up the 48-restaurant chain, getting itself franchises at a number of airports including Heathrow and helping to further its plans to develop space in some of its larger stores.

G4S plc (LON:GFS)
G4S plc (LON:GFS) shares fell 2.8% to 299 pence after the security firm released 2012 full-year results and lifted its total dividend by 5% to 8.96 pence per share. The firm’s disastrous Olympics contract is foremost in most people’s minds, but excluding that, G4S saw revenue growth of 8.1% to 7.3 billion pounds and EBITA up 6% to 516 million pounds.

And looking forward, analysts are forecasting an 18% rise in earnings per share for 2013, putting the shares on a P/E of 12, falling to 11 on 2014 predictions. Some will see that as cheap — including Neil Woodford, who has been averaging down on the shares for his Invesco Perpetual funds.

888 Holdings Public Limited Company (LON:888)
Final results sent 888 Holdings Public Limited Company (LON:888) shares down 6.4% to 151 pence, taking the total fall over the past week to 14% — but the price has still almost tripled over the past 12 months. Revenue at the online gaming operator rose by 13% to $376 million, with adjusted EBITDA up 20% to $67 million.

There will be a final ordinary dividend of $0.045 per share, plus a one-off special dividend of $0.02 per share “due to strong performance.” That takes the firm’s total dividend payouts for the year to $0.09 per share.

The article 3 Shares the FTSE 100 Should Beat Today originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alan Oscrof

Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares in Tesco.

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