ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO BABCOCK’S FIGURES MEAN FOR INVESTORS?
MIKE MURPHY | NUMIS
“Babcock remains ‘confident’ of achieving the VT merger benefits which we believe help underpin short term earnings and they are positive the government’s need for more outputs at lower costs should ensure a steady, if not a rush, of new contracts in the medium term which should underpin earnings momentum.”
CHRIS ALEXANDER | BNP PARIBAS
“The half year update reads well; the shares are almost four per cent up. The company notes that the financial performance is both strong and in line with internal forecasts. We summarise this as a confident comment likely to lead to small earnings per share forecast upgrades.”
MICHAEL PARKINSON | BREWIN DOLPHIN
“We are not expecting consensus earnings per share of around 53p to move materially. The positive news on cash and optimistic outlook statement could help to provide a catalyst for improved share price performance. We retain our ‘buy’ recommendation.”