BEST of the BROKERS
BELLWAY
Deutsche Bank has maintained its “hold” rating on the new homes builder, and increased its target price by 2.5 per cent to 936p after a reassuring update from management. However, the broker says it remains cautious that longer term upgrades could be limited, as its forecasts are only 10 per cent down on the company’s own target of doubling net profit over four years. Though Bellway seems inexpensive, Deutsche sees better momentum elsewhere.
INDITEX
Liberum Capital has upgraded its recommendation on the Spanish retailer and owner of Zara to “buy” with a €74 target price, saying “things can only get better” in a very tough environment for European retailers – identifying some key areas where Inditex may be ahead. The broker says increased e-commerce presence should offset weak retail markets, and that in the event of a euro break up the long-term benefits to buying terms would offset lost sales and disruption.
THALES
UBS has upgraded its rating on the French defence group to “neutral” from “sell” with an unchanged target price of €25, but warns that the outlook for its defence and security (D&S) business is worse than previously expected. The broker is now expecting that revenues from D&S – which it had forecast to be flat – will fall two to three per cent on an organic basis between now and 2016. It sees a particularly poor outlook in France, which accounts for 26 per cent of group revenues.