Stays underweight on the sector. Rates RBS its top buy and LloydsTSB abd HSBC as its top sell ideas. It says on the latter unholy pairing : ‘(The sell recommendation) is driven by our view of positive capital markets and the tough outlook for retail banking in the UK with rising impairments and revenue headwinds […]

Ever the optimists, Deutsche Bank is upgrading to buy from hold with a price target of 300p from 190p. What could have possessed the broker? Well its says: ‘We believe downside risk to short-term earnings expectations is now factored in, and the market is proving willing to look through to the group’s long-term recovery potential.’
Are […]

We here at the part-time investor are great fans of brokers saying what they mean and meaning what they say. Take on Clipper. In a note entitled Reality Bites, the broker says: ‘As Clipper moves from concept to reality, we believe the stock will increasingly focus on earnings potential.
‘Consensus numbers for 2007 are too high, […]

JP Morgan talks about an inflexion point as it upgrades to overweight from and says the shares are worth 265p on fundamentals, or 282p if it is taken out by a bidder.

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JP Morgan looks at UBM and rates the shares 775p up from 700p on fundamentals with an overweight stamce. Reckons if an LBO comes in the stock is worth 820p and it may fetch 10p more if it is broken up.
Broker says: ‘UBM management has built a strong reputation for value creation, operating returns are […]

JP Morgan has gone to underweight from overweight on valuation grounds but says the stock is worth 780p rather than 700p. Broker says: ‘After strong recent relative share price performance and currency induced downgrades
we are downgrading our recommendation on Pearson.’

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Credit Suisse has cut its price target to £13 from £15, but keeps its outperform rating. Reflects a cut to earnings forecasts prompted by the fall in the price of copper.

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New contract with Virgin Retail should add £200m-£250m in sales, £8.5m in operating profit and £4m in pretax profit, says Seymour Pierce. Broker still rates the shares underperform and calls the company is ‘one of the living dead’ in the retail sector. Sceptical about a bid from Baugur and reckons the shares are ‘firmly stuck […]

Panmure is a buyer of shares in the nano-technology firm up 200p after the trading statement.

Citigroup a buyer ahead of the results. Reckons the medical devices firm may give a further update on its plans to cut costs. Says the shares are worth 600p currently, or 670p if cost cutting is more aggressive.

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Dresdner Kleinwort says the cancellations will cost £50m-£75m, but reckons boss Willy Walsh ran out 3-1 winner against the unions in this latest stand-off. (dunno how they come up with the 3-1). Remains a buyer of the stock up to 630p a share.

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Dresdner Kleinwort raises its price target to 765p from 710p to account for the sale of the motor insurance business. Remains an add.

Morgan Stanley raises its price target to 225p from 190p as it increases its sales forecasts for the fund manager.

UBS cuts the price target to 145p from 155p and has snipped its profit forecast back $5m to £62.5m. More cautious after the recent downbeat trading statement which showed the firm lost out to the internet and supermarkets.

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UBS has raised its price target on the oil services group to 305p from 280p. Retains a buy recommendation and says that it deserves a premium to the sector because it has lower exposure to the slowdown in the sector.

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UBS raises its price target to 1400p from 1250p to reflect the company’s conversion to the new, tax efficient REIT status. Retains its neutral recommendation.

Credit Suisse has added 18p to its valuation of the Pru which rises to 750p. The stock howevere remains neutral. Credit Suisse says the minor upgrade refelcts the better than expected proceeeds from the sale of Egg. The broker valued it at far less.

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Broker says it remains confident of the commodities super-cycle, but tweaks its valuations of individual companies. BHP Billition price target is cut to 1300p from 1350p; Rio Tinto is snipped back to 3700p from 4000p and Antofagasta goes to 500p from 550p. Morgan Stanlye has revised back the commodity price to map the long-term trend. […]

The water group’s Viridor waste management arm leads a consortium that has won a £3bn PFI contract in Manchester. Merrill Lynch, which rates the stock neutral, says the deal is worth 32p a share and has a sum-of-the parts valuation of 391p. HSBC, meanwhile, has raised its price target to 591p from 584p and it […]

Merrill Lynch has raised its price objective to 1550p from 1404p with a buy recommendation. The broker says the shares are inexepensive and the company remains ‘busy’.