BEST of the BROKERS
IG GROUP
James Hamilton at Numis has changed his IG Group recommendation from “Add” to “Buy” after the firm reported better-than-expected revenues. The betting group benefits from volatile trading conditions and Hamilton says the market struggles to “appreciate that low volatility for IG is like a negative market movement for an asset manager”. Predicting volatility will increase, he ups IG’s target price to 542p.
MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM
Numis’ David McCann has reiterated his “Sell” rating on price comparison website moneysupermarket.com after internet giant Google launched a competing service. McCann says the company “unjustifiably trades on a premium rating given the threat to earnings from Google taking some of its share of the value chain”. The target price is 109p, 22p below yesterday’s closing price.
HILTON FOOD GROUP
Shore Capital’s Darren Shirley has downgraded meat packing firm Hilton Food Group from “Hold” to “Sell” after the company announced results below expectations. Shirley says that in established markets Hilton is “under pressure from the tough economic conditions, the relatively high price of red meat (most notably beef) and trading down by under-pressure consumers”. As a result he has cut the target price to 285p.