BEST OF THE BROKERS
ANTOFAGASTA
Nomura rates the miner a “buy” with a £16.50 target price as it sees the firm as a high-quality, long-life, low-cost copper pure-play. Its flagship operation, Los Pelambres, has relatively low costs and could double capacity by 2020, while its Esperanza copper-gold project could be expanded by 2016 to nearly triple production. Its Chile-focused assets have a lower risk profile than peers, and it has low capex needs so can pay attractive dividends.
KESA ELECTRICALS
Societe Generale has upgraded Kesa to “hold” from “sell” with an 84p target price, after a 55 per cent share price fall this year. The sale of its UK Comet division will rid it of a heavily loss-making business and large off-balance sheet liabilities. It is now focused on a very profitable core operation Darty in France, but is still weighed down by loss-making businesses in Italy, Spain and Turkey, which have a bleak outlook in the current climate.
IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES
JP Morgan Cazenove rates the technology maker “overweight” with a 500p target price as it expects it had a strong first half. Smartphone and tablet markets continue to be robust and it is likely to have seen higher royalty revenue from Mediatek in the Chinese market. At its last results there were concerns about higher operating expenses but the broker believes these are now reflected in estimates so costs will not cause disappointment.