Broker Recommendations
Broker tips: Sumo Group, Electrocomponents
Analysts at Shore Capital upgraded their stance on video games developer Sumo Group from 'hold' to 'buy' on Friday following a near 6% drop in the outfit's shares since they initiating coverage on the group on 20 May, noting that it had created 17% upside potential to its fair value assessment of 159p per share.
Broker tips: Electrocomponents, Hurricane Energy
Jefferies raised its target price for Electrocomponents, telling clients it was buying into its chief executive officer's plans to exploit the opportunity for growth, instead of 'sweating' the assets and returning the surplus capital to shareholders as a European CEO might do.
Broker tips: First Derivatives, Serco, Diploma, Electrocomponents
Analysts at Berenberg raised their target price on consulting services firm First Derivatives from 2,100p to 2,750p on Wednesday, highlighting the group's "strong growth" despite having little cash to show for it.
Broker tips: Thomas Cook, Kainos, Burford Capital
Analysts at Berenberg upgraded cruise and travel operator Thomas Cook from 'sell' to 'hold' on Tuesday, saying it was "time to watch from the side".
Broker tips: Royal Mail, Mitchells & Butlers
Goldman Sachs upgraded Royal Mail to 'buy' on Friday but cut its target price on the group from 360p to 320p due to higher near-term costs.
Broker tips: M&S, BT, Pets At Home
Analysts at JP Morgan labelled Marks & Spencer's from the day before "relatively uninspiring", criticising the group's choice of strategy in a challenging market for retailers and reiterating their recommendation to 'underweight' the company's stock.
Broker tips: Moneysupermarket, IQE, Lloyds
UBS has upgraded its rating on Moneysupermarket Group and boosted earnings forecasts, arguing that the price comparison site is gearing up to enter a “virtuous circle”.
Broker tips: Burberry, Coca-Cola HBC
Bernstein upped its stance on shares of luxury brand Burberry to 'market perform' from 'underperform' on Tuesday, saying it sees a more balanced risk/reward following the drop in the share price last week after its full-year results.
Broker tips: Greggs, Hays, Merlin Entertainment, Boohoo
Analysts at Berenberg upped their target price on bakery chain Greggs from 1,600p to 1,780p, on Monday, praising the group for its "excellent start" to the year.
Broker tips: Thomas Cook, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, BHP
Thomas Cook was under the cosh again on Friday a day after its shares tumbled on the back of a profit warning, as Citi downgraded it to 'sell' from 'neutral', arguing that the stock is basically worthless.
Broker tips: Spirax-Sarco, Ten Lifestyle, Hurricane Energy
Berenberg started coverage of "outstanding" Spirax-Sarco Engineering at 'buy' on Thursday as it took a look at the capital goods and industrial engineering sector.
Broker tips: Vodafone, Metro Bank
The outlook for revenue growth is the main question hanging over Vodafone after the company cut its dividend, Credit Suisse analysts said as they lowered their price target.
Broker tips: HSBC, Meggitt, FirstGroup
JP Morgan analyst Raul Sinha reiterated his 'underweight' stance on shares of HSBC, telling clients that the lender's valuation had yet to reflect the risk to revenues from trade concerns.
Broker tips: Marks & Spencer, Man Group, Intu Properties, Royal Dutch Shell
Citi upgraded its recommendation on Marks & Spencer shares to buy' from 'neutral' on Monday, as it argued that the investment case is "evolving".
Broker tips: Auto Trader, British Land and Landsec
Citi downgraded its stance on shares of Auto Trader to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ on Friday as it said the risk/reward is now more balanced.
Broker tips: Travis Perkins, Imperial Brands
Analysts at Canaccord Genuity upped their target price on builders' merchant Travis Perkins on Thursday, stating the firm's good start to the year justified its recent re-rating.
Broker tips: Sirius Minerals, The Restaurant Group, Ocado, IQE, Sainsbury's
Berenberg lowered its target for Sirius Minerals' share price from 40p to 35p after incorporating the structure of the potash miner's long-awaited stage two financing for its Woodsmith polyhalite mine into its valuation model.
Broker tips: NMC Health, Vodafone, 4imprint
Berenberg slashed its target price for shares of NMC Health after rebasing its model and transferring coverage to analyst Michael Ruzic-Gaithier, but continued to see significant upside.
Broker tips: Royal Dutch Shell, Lloyds
ShoreCap stuck to its previous 'buy' recommendation for Lloyds' shares, despite the lender having fallen short of the broker's estimates for its first-quarter net interest income.
Broker tips: BT, Burford Capital, BP, Ferrexpo, Just Eat
Morgan Stanley has highlighted a range of strategies BT’s newly installed chief executive could unveil next week, including spinning out Openreach, but has warned there is a real chance that there will be no significant changes to the strategy announced at the full-year results.