Why Babcock International, Interserve, and Blinkx Should Lag the FTSE 100 Today

LONDON -- A fall in the Vodafone share price helped pressure the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE  ) today, taking it down 0.42% to 6,463 points by 9:30 a.m. EDT after rumors were denied that a takeover bid for the telecom giant by Verizon Communications and AT&T was afoot. Weakness in the mining sector also helped depress the index of top U.K. shares.

Here are three other constituents of the various FTSE indexes that are also on the way down today:

Babcock International
Babcock International Group shares have dropped 1.5% to 1,087 pence despite a pre-close trading update telling us that results for the year ended March 31 will be in line with previous expectations. The engineering-support firm told us that business had gone well during the year and that its contract pipeline was looking strong with a stable order book of about 12 billion pounds.

Babcock shares have had a great year, putting on about 30% over the past 12 months. But their P/E ratio has risen to 16, with a dividend yield of only a modest 2.3% expected.

Interserve (LSE: IRV  )
In another case of positive news presaging a share price fall, Interserve lost 3% to 495 pence after announcing a new contract win. Through a joint venture, the construction services firm will help develop Edinburgh's Haymarket area in a project that will see the construction of commercial accommodation, retail units, leisure and hotel facilities, and underground parking.

Interserve will invest 10.5 million pounds and expects to take on construction work worth 150 million pounds as part of the overall 200 million pound development.

Blinkx (LSE: BLNX  )
Shares in Blinkx, a constituent of the Fool's Beginners' Portfolio, have dropped 3.3% to 81 pence, though again the only news of the day looks good. The Internet video technologist revealed a new deal with XOS Digital, which will "give Blinkx users access to a wide array of original and high-quality sports content."

Although the share price responded disappointingly to the news, it is still up nearly 60% since October 2012.

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