BEST OF THE BROKERS
BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS
Investec said that Barratt Developments is geared up disastrously to pay peak values for land and Wilson Bowden. The broker said that, at £1.3bn, net debt is still surprisingly high. With the firm reported to be considering a highly dilutive £500m rights issue at the end of the month, the broker rates the stock a “sell” with a price target of 93p.
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING
With no news on additional cost-saving measures from Bloomsbury, KBC Peel Hunt has downgraded its forecasts by ten per cent for the current year. It added that, though physical sales are weak, rights sales have performed very credibly, without which the group would be in loss. It recommends investors “buy” with a target price of 155p, down from 165p.
STANDARD CHARTERED
Evolution Securities reiterated Standard Chartered as one of its “core buy ideas”, expecting the bank to resume a strong growth trend in 2011, with returns continuing to be best-in-class. It set a new target price of 1,699p, up from 1,505p, saying that the stock does not look cheap on 2011 multiples, but that it sees a 19 per cent upside to the target price.