BEST OF THE BROKERS
PRUDENTIAL
Goldman Sachs rates the insurer “sustain” and has raised its target price from 760p to 795p following positive results on Wednesday. The broker sees the Pru’s Indonesian business as a stand-out performer, with the whole of Asia on track to hit £1.4bn of new business by 2013. Goldman is impressed by the firm growing in regions where it has scale, a good relationship with regulators and a relatively low degree of leverage.
TULLETT PREBON
UBS rates the inter-dealer broker “neutral” with a 12-month target price of 380p. The broker has raised its earnings forecasts for 2011 by 4.4 per cent thanks to a better outlook on US profitability, despite limited margin growth chances in Europe. UBS believes that rivals BGC and ICAP’s electronic businesses are taking some market share from the firm, resulting in slower revenue growth for Tullet in its results earlier this week.
AMLIN
Morgan Stanley rates the Lloyd’s insurer “overweight” but has dropped its target price to 467p after recent underperformance since the New Zealand earthquakes. The broker believes that Amlin still has the best track record among its peers, and the recent share weakness could be a buying opportunity as it nears historic troughs. Morgan Stanley expects the firm to take a $240m hit because of its New Zealand exposure.