BEST OF THE BROKERS
COOKSON
Deutsche Bank has upgraded the materials specialist to “buy” from “hold” and upped its target price from £6 to £8, citing low consensus forecasts and a very inexpensive current price as a catalyst. The broker sees the first half of this year as the low point in the industrial and steel cycles, and expects reasonable growth next year, so raises its 2012/13 forecasts by 13-16 per cent.
GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES
JP Morgan Cazenove says the West End-focused developer is its preferred play in the sector, and upgrades it to “overweight” with a 21 per cent upside to its new target price of 430p. The broker says Great Portland’s recent share weakness is unjustified, having underperformed the sector by five per cent since July, despite a strong underlying performance and significant pre-lets, including UBM and Savills.
AMEC
UBS maintains its “buy” rating on the oil and gas services firm, but raises its target price from 1,225p to 1,325p following good second-half results earlier in the week. The broker says Amec’s growth outlook for 2012 is strong, and welcome news of the company’s £400m buyback over the next 12 months. UBS increase revenue estimates by an average of five per cent from 2012-14, but reduces operating income for this year by two percent.