Broker tips: Tullow Oil, Standard Life, Wolseley, Rexam

Westhouse Securities has lifted its stance on oil explorer Tullow Oil from 'add' to 'buy', hailing the potential of the company's portfolio of assets.

The broker said it now sees "substantial upside" to the stock, with shares now worth just over half of what they were six months ago. However, it has slashed its target price from 930p to 770p on the back of a more modest exploration and macro outlook.

Credit Suisse has lifted its target price for Standard Life but downgraded the insurer from 'outperform' to 'neutral'.

The target price for the stock has been lifted from 410p to 425p to reflect the strong price achieved on the sale of Standard Life's Canadian business - the £2.2bn disposal was £650m above the value Credit Suisse had ascribed to the operations. However, this target only implies 4.7% upside to current prices.

Berenberg has called an end to the earnings downgrade cycle at plumbing- and heating-products group Wolseley as it upgraded its rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'buy' on the back of the firm's US growth potential.

"Complemented by underlying market recovery in US residential and non-residential construction, Wolseley is an attractive proposition with 15% upside to our new price target of 3,900p," Berenberg said. The previous target was 3,500p.

Beverage can maker Rexam said it traded in line with expectations in the third quarter, but a gloomy outlook for 2015 has prompted broker Charles Stanley to cut forecasts and repeat its 'hold' recommendation.

Analyst Tony Shepard from Charles Stanley said: "For 2015, low single digit beverage can volume growth is expected. However, Rexam has highlighted a number of headwinds which are largely outside its control but we would expect it to respond positively to mitigate some of these pressures."