Bridgewell says buy after the trading update. Broker adds: ‘The stock is not expensive relative to its peers (on a FY2007E PE of 16.1x) but offers a myriad of growth opportunities despite its defensive revenue model (only 3% of revenues are derived from advertising). We continue to rate management highly and believe that the company’s […]

Evolution takes a closer look at Expro and says add up to 1000p. Broker admits that it is prime takeover candidate and may command 1100p a share if it is acquired. It adds: ‘On 22x P/E year to March 08, Expro is not the most expensive stock in the UK oil service universe, but is […]

Goldman Sachs has gone to neutral from sell and raised its price target 40p to 265p.

Citigroup says sell down to 70p. Adds: ‘XAN is trading at 18.8x our FY08E EPS, which is an amazing 25pc premium to the sector. Given the continued weak execution, we fail to see the justification for this premium.’

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Citigroup is a reluctant seller of the stock after the better-than-expected results. Broker says: ‘The quality of the company is not in doubt but the valuation looks too stretched — ex the discounted cash return the group is trading on a historic PE of c. 11.5x or 13.5x once the 15% management stake is taken […]

Subdued trading update prompts UBS to stay with its reduce recommendation and 575p a share price target.

Bridgewell remains overweight with a price target of 2065p after meeting with finance director Chris Rogers. Broker says: ‘We believe the shares are somewhat over-valued on a fundamental basis, but would be appealing as a takeover candidate, either from an industry or a property investor who could increase gearing more than Whitbread is willing […]

The sales alert has prompted downgrades from Altium and KBC Peel Hunt. Both have gone to hold from buy, with the latter reeling its price target back to 71p from 80p.

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Citigroup repeats its buy and 650p a share price target after the trading update. Broker says: ‘Overall, the trading statement confirms the positive trends mentioned at the AGM and capital markets’ day.’

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Mike Ashley’s foray into the America gets the thumbs down at Panmure Gordon, which rates the shares a sell down to 170p.

Morgan Stanley has upgraded to equalweight from underweight and raised its price target to 310p from 180p to take account of the bulging property portfolio. Broker says: ‘Morrison has outperformed to deliver a swift margin recovery, and management is incentivised to deliver more. We think a Jan-10 EBIT margin of 5% is achievable, benchmarking to […]

UBS has upgraded to neutral from underweight and increased its price target to 220p from 170p. Broker says: ‘GCap’s share price has fallen c30% since their FY results at the end of May. Therefore whilst we remain cautious on the operational performance in the short-term, we believe that the downside risk at these levels has […]

HSBC upgrades to overweight from neutral and says fears about the sector have been overdone.

Citigroup has downgraded to hold from buy and cut its price target to 90p from 115p on yield and margin concerns.

Morgan Stanley is scathing as it restates its underweight recommendation and 100p price target. Broker says: ‘Although HMV results were in line with expectations, these had been managed down aggressively during the last 8 months and were some 50% lower than last year. With no recovery on the horizon, falling forecasts and a worsening UK […]

Land Securities has been upgraded to overweight from neutral though the price target comes back to £20 from £24, while British Land is reiterated overweight, although again the price target comes back, this time to £15.25 from £17.30. Liberty, meanwhile, remains underweight, while the broker goes to underweight from neutral on Segro.
Broker adds: ‘Central London […]

Bridgewell retains its overweight stance after the £18m acquisition of Melbrosin. Broker said: ‘BioProgress started working with this business in February on the Slimthru product and this acquisition is expected to deliver both this product and a whole portfolio of slimming products etc., as well as distribution and sales in the key German and Austrian […]

Evolution says sell down to 150p on the back of the trading statement. The broker says: ‘Rank performed worst in our recent value screening exercise in our universe of stocks and we advise clients not to be suckered back into it on the (fallacious) argument that the worst is now fully discounted.’

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The broker is banging on about the soonm-to-be-finalised regulatory settlement and reckons it will result in a poor outcome for the major firms. Reckons that if its worst case scenario plays out, then dividends will inevitably come under pressure. Rates the sector a sell.

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Evolution has raised its price target to 140p and rates the shares buy - it reckons management is teaching the old dog new tricks.
Broker adds: ‘Following the analysts’ meeting, we are raising our pre-tax profits forecasts from GBP44m to GBP49m, bringing them more into line with consensus, taking EPS up from 7.3p to 8.6p. We […]