While US markets shudder in the wake of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) competitor DeepSeek, the ‘s holding up well. The UK’s leading index climbed 70 points as the week began, edging ever closer to a new high above 8572. An unlikely stock leading the charge on Tuesday (18 January) was steam management company ( ).
It’s up 16% year-to-date (YTD), making it one of the top Footsie stocks this month. Formerly Spirax-Sarco Engineering, the British manufacturer designs and builds sustainable industrial solutions used in thermal energy and fluid technology. It’s comprised of three divisions: Steam Thermal Solutions, Electric Thermal Solutions, and Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions.
I don’t know much about steam and fluid energy but Spirax is far from some antiquated boiler maker. In fact, it’s a UK leader in industrial decarbonisation. According to the company, it’s “ But that alone’s surely not the reason for this month’s rapid gains.
So I decided to take a closer look. Why the price surge? Typically when a stock surges I check two things. Did it post a trading update, or has it been tipped by a broker? Spirax’s most recent results were posted in November so that’s not it.
But Jefferies put in a Buy rating on the stock on 20 January. It’s climbed 7% since, but was already up almost 9% year-to-date at the time. So what prompted the positive rating? Discussing the rating, Jefferies felt negative sentiment regarding the stock was overblown.
It sa.
