Share of the week: A 21% return

It's been one of the most remarkable weeks in stockmarket history. Tipped to enter the abyss if Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU), the FTSE 100's army of heavyweight overseas earners have instead rallied by 7% to prices not seen last August. That means there are plenty of candidates for Share of the Week this time round.

Predictably, gold miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources are among the top performers, up 26% and 18% respectively since last Friday. But 43 FTSE 350 companies jumped by 10% or more this week, and number two in the pile is Sophos.

Celebrating its one-year anniversary as a listed company, the security software firm is up 21% over the past five days. Like most, it plunged in the aftermath of Thursday's Brexit vote, but all the lost ground had been made up within an hour-and-a-half. The shares are up 43% from Friday's intraday low.

But things really took off on Wednesday when the £980 million business, which develops anti-virus, anti-spyware and client firewalls, held its inaugural capital markets day for analysts and investors and issued a bullish trading update.

Sophos, which floated at 225p, continued to enjoy strong trading during the first quarter, with billings expected to be better than expectations. Like-for-like billings growth is tipped to be in the range of 20-23% year-over-year, aided by a "material" contract with an existing customer. Sophos also reconfirmed its outlook for the current financial year.

"After what feels like high teens growth in first-quarter and easing comps during the year, we think risk is to the upside," said Numis Securities analyst David Toms, who upgraded his rating from 'hold' to 'add'. The price target also goes up to 234p due to the positive impact of US dollar earnings translated at $1.35.

"The tone of management presentations supported this, with one talking about an acceleration in growth in 2017 (albeit immediately reined in by the CFO!)."

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.