In his column on Tuesday morning the Times´s Tempus sets out his 10 stock picks for the coming year. This time he is concentrating on what he terms, "strong performers with a good dividend yield," which he suspects will play well if interest rates remain low, a couple of corporates he believes the market is undervaluing and a few outliers. More importantly even, he warns readers to, "as ever, don't bet the farm."

Amongst the companies chosen are Thomas Cook, which he terms a "straight punt." For him, after traversing through a 'near-death' experience the company´s shares have only one way to go. Simply put, under the firm´s newish chief executive, Harriet Green, Thomas Cook will survive.

GKN is another of the 'chosen ones' by this veteran columnist. Its purchase of Volvo Aero boosts its exposure to civil aviation, while it should do well from any recovery in the European automotive market, Tempus writes. The shares have recovered from their fall on a weakish outlook statement in October but still sell on less than nine times forward earnings, which looks good value, he adds.

Lastly, and amongst the outliers, is Lamprell. The oil-rig maker issued a handful of profit warnings last year, and the shares have been bumping along the bottom since the spring. Like Thomas Cook, on the assumption there are no more horrors out there, then the shares seem to have only one way to go. Either that or someone will take Lamprell over.

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