BEST OF THE BROKERS
CARPHONE WAREHOUSE
Morgan Stanley has raised its Carphone Warehouse target from 220p to 275p and issues an “overweight” rating for the retailer. The broker believes consensus forecasts for Carphone Warehouse do not factor in the impact that high-selling-price smartphones will have on like-for-like sales over the next 12 months.
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND
JP Morgan assumes RBS will exit from the asset protection scheme at the end of 2012. The broker therefore expects to see an impact on the back in 2012, but says free cash flow generation will be substantial in 2013/14 providing non-core run-off is successful. The broker retains an “underweight” rating for the bank.
CREDIT AGRICOLE
Credit Agricole has outperformed the European banks index by six per cent since its second quarter results. This comes after the announcement that Basel III will be delayed until 2018, which Credit Suisse says removes the risk of a rights issue at the bank for the medium to longer-term. It upgrades its rating to “outperform”.