Best of the Brokers for 17 November 2015
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WOLSELEY
The analysts at Deutsche Bank have changed their recommendation for Wolseley, downgrading the building materials supplier from a “buy” to a “hold” rating. Deutsche Bank said Wolesely is a “good company”, but macroeconomic factors could negatively impact the firm’s performance. The analysts are especially worried about an industrially led slowdown in US gross domestic product (GDP).
SPIRE HEALTHCARE
Jefferies analysts have downgraded Spire Healthcare Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating, saying that the healthcare company’s second profit warning in the space of three months “highlights the increasing uncertainty Spire faces as the NHS adjusts to the current funding squeeze”. Spire, which went public last year and is listed on the FTSE 250, is the second-largest private healthcare provider in the UK.
DX
Cantor Fitzgerald’s transport analyst has downgraded DX Group to a “hold” rating from a “buy”, saying that the independent mail, parcels and freight distribution firm has fallen on “hard times” in a challenging trading environment. Saying that pricing pressure in UK parcels is “significant as more capacity has been brought on-stream by rival carriers”, Cantor Fitzgerald said it had no choice but to make “deep cuts” to its profit forecasts for the next three years.