Richard is a highly-respected investment writer well-known for his Share Sleuth portfolio, a model portfolio he runs for the investment platform Interactive investor. Richard eats his own cooking – buying good businesses at reasonable prices and holding them for the long-term in his Self Invested Personal Pension.
I’m a long-time ShareScope and SharePad fan and my aim is to help you find better companies faster using the fantastic tools at your disposal. My focus is on finding businesses we can reasonably expect to prosper for many years. As well as analysing data, I work out the strategies companies are following and try to verify that they are working in the real world by quizzing executives, visiting companies, trying their products and observing how they operate.
Richard Beddard revisits his 5 Strikes quality screen, assessing a fresh batch of companies that have recently passed the initial filter and identifying those worthy of closer attention. He also explores whether AI-driven demand is creating an opportunity or a future challenge for leading IT resellers Computacenter and Softcat. Computacenter and Softcat are the UKs
Richard says there is more to evaluating directors’ shareholdings than considering the percentage of the company’s shares they own. In lieu of a 5 Strikes update this week, he lists all the shares that have passed the filter in 2026. I am away, so I haven’t appraised the companies that have published annual reports and
Richard considers modest executive pay at Alfa Financial Software and Quartix, and recent share purchases by FDM directors. 5 Strikes Eighteen companies have published annual reports and passed my minimum quality filter since my last update. Name TIDM Prev AR Strikes # Strikes EKF EKF Diagnostics 27/4/26 ? CROCI – Growth ? ROCE 2 BILN
Loads more companies pass 5 Strikes this week as the flood of annual reports continues. Richard looks at what software companies are saying about the AI threat, and reconsiders ConvaTec (CTEC) as its strategy evolves. 5 Strikes 21 companies published annual reports in the last two weeks or so and passed my minimum quality filter:
38 shares have published annual reports and passed Richard’s minimum quality filter. 19 of them score less than three strikes. As he wades through these promising shares, Alfa Financial Software catches his eye. 5 Strikes Of the 38 shares to have passed my minimum quality filter, 19 score less than three strikes. The flood of
Since his last update, nine companies have passed Richard’s minimum quality filter. Most are very large businesses. He takes a peek at GlobalData, the smallest of four investment candidates to score less than two strikes. 5 Strikes Annual reports for companies with year-ends that coincided with the financial year end have swelled from a trickle
Seven companies pass Richard’s minimum quality filter, but only two of them impress. He takes a closer look at RELX, a company that has earned an impeccable reputation selling information, data, and tools to insurers, scientists and lawyers. 5 Strikes Since my last update, at least seven companies have published annual reports and passed my
With no new companies making it past his 5 Strikes filter, Richard examines transport software house and consultancy Tracsis’ rise and fall. To rise again, he thinks it must navigate a strategic minefield. 5 Strikes Since my last update, three big and ugly looking companies have published annual reports and passed my minimum quality filter.
Richard’s filter strikes out, so he takes a closer look at Cerillion, the software company that achieved no strikes at all last time. The company has a perfect track record, but how much does that tell us about the future? 5 Strikes Over the last few weeks, very few companies have published annual reports, only
It is four out of four this time, as Cerillion, Hollywood Bowl, Ramsdens and RWS all pass the 5 Strikes test. Richard Beddard explains why Cerillion is the pick of the bunch, with a rare perfect score and a financial track record that merits closer scrutiny. 5 Strikes I’ve got good news and bad news.
Richard puts the last 10 shares to pass his minimum quality filter through 5 Strikes and finds two exotic companies. One is making less money in a roaring market. The other is making big profits in a declining one. Today, I am collecting up stragglers, the last companies to publish annual reports in 2025 that
Richard reveals the names of all 211 shares that pass his minimum quality screen, and the Strikes he gave them in 2025. Despite striking out, AstraZeneca features. Following my 5 Strikes explainer, I thought I would share the whole list of shares that passed my minimum quality filter in 2025. Shares that do not pass