BEST OF THE BROKERS
KINGFISHER
Bank of America Merrill Lynch rates the retail group “buy” with a target price of 320p. The broker expects to see pre-tax profits of £812m when the firm reports full year results on Thursday, which could feed through to a dividend hike. BAML thinks Kingfisher has the scope to grow its margins further this year, with potential for its UK stores to perform surprisingly well.
M&C SAATCHI
Numis rates the advertiser “buy” and has a target price of 167p. Ahead of the company’s preliminary results tomorrow, the broker has forecast pre-tax profits of £15m on revenues of £141m. Numis expects management to keep their cautious outlook for this year, but expects to see growth and margin momentum, with scope for the introduction of higher-margin mobile products.
GEM DIAMONDS
Northland Capital Partners rates the miner “buy” and has a target price of 351p. The broker is forecasting adjusted pre-tax profits of $124.6m on revenues of $387.8m when the firm reports its 2011 results tomorrow. Northland has high hopes for an “impressive” performance in spite of operational issues at Gem’s Ellendale mine at the start of the year.