BEST of the BROKERS
CARILLION
Seymour Pierce rates the construction to services company as a “buy” with a target price of 440p after a sales presentation from the company’s executive where they remained upbeat about prospects for 2012 and beyond. The broker says the pipeline of opportunity remains strong and revenue visibility for this year is high at around 77 per cent. It views the shares as far too cheap, and says Carillion has been one of the worst performing stocks under its coverage over the past 12 months.
MONEYSUPERMARKET
Investec rates the price comparison website as “hold” with a target price of 124p after this week’s management statement confirmed good momentum in its travel and home services businesses as expected. The broker remains on the fence after a recent share price re-rating, and says another special dividend would be nice.
APR ENERGY
UBS has downgraded the temporary power solutions group from “neutral” to “sell” and lowered its target price from 1110p to 860p, saying that the company does not have the necessary global infrastucture to win the steady stream of small contracts that currently dominates its order intake. The broker says utilisation is expected to be significantly lower in 2012 than previously, with mobilisation and demobilisation costs significantly higher in 2011 than expected, and says it’s difficult to verify capitalised costs.