BEST OF THE BROKERS
UNILEVER
JP Morgan said that Unilever is on a path to growth and a higher valuation as it upgraded the stock to “overweight”. The broker said that, despite outperforming most peers in the year-to-date, Unilever still trades at discounts of nine per cent and 13 per cent to peers in foods and households and personal care respectively.
VODAFONE
UBS downgraded Vodafone to “neutral” with a reduced target price of 115p from 150p previously. Economic pressures, market share loss and foreign exchange all combined to put pressure on the broker’s earnings estimates and it expects a decline of 11 per cent this year, adding that stemming the share loss could be costly.
SAGE
Panmure Gordon said that there is a “scramble” amongst Sage’s US channel partners following the news of the demise of its largest US partner, MIS. But the broker said that its bottom of the range forecasts have always been based on a poor US market and retains its “hold” recommendation with a 203p target price.