Best of the Brokers for 21 August 2014
To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com
DEBENHAMS
Cantor Fitzgerald has raised its rating to “hold” from “sell”, but cut the target price to 65p from 70p. The broker still has concerns on the balance sheet and need to invest in the store portfolio, but thinks it will benefit from better trading conditions, and more robust gross margin outlook.
CRH
Numis has increased its rating to “hold” from “reduce”, keeping the target price at 1,550p. The broker has had an uneven recovery with stabilisation in Europe but performance impacted by weather in America, and expects growth to continue across CRH’s markets as a whole.
BHP BILLITON
Investec has maintained its “hold” rating, but increased the target price to 2,205p from 2,175p. The broker believes that BHP Billiton delivered a good set of full-year results and has a good outlook and a good spinout plan for its non-core assets, and delivered on net debt targets.