Best of the Brokers for 13 October 2015
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PETROFAC
Canaccord Genuity reiterated its “hold” recommendation for the oil and gas services firm after the company terminated the construction contract for its new build deepwater construction vessel, the JDS 6000. The broker sees Petrofac as “inexpensive” at its current price, and said: “Further performance is dependent on a slow re-building of its reputation for consistency in delivery.”
ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT
Shore Capital downgraded the investment manager from “hold” to “sell”. The broker said that “at the risk of being caught on the wrong side of an emerging markets rally”, it would recommend using the recent share spike, from under 300p, as an opportunity to switch to other asset managers, highlighting Henderson, Man Group and Polar Capital.
SHIRE
UBS maintained its “buy” rating on the pharmaceuticals company, as the firm moves ahead with applications to have its dry-eye treatment, Lifitegrast, approved. While the broker thinks US approval this month is “logically unlikely”, it believes a crucial study in November is “very likely indeed to hit its primary endpoint of improving symptoms”, and said an upside scenario would result in peak Lifitegrast sales of $2bn (£1.3bn).