Best of the Brokers for 11 November 2015

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RBC Capital Markets has reiterated its “outperform” rating and €90 target price despite the broker reducing its 2016-17 earnings per share forecasts by around five per cent, reflecting a more difficult outlook in the second half of the year for high-end watches. The bank describes shares as a rare bright spot in the luxury space, with strong management and a solid balance sheet and an attractive valuation.

 

Investec has upgraded the construction services firm to “add” from “hold”, praising its ambitious growth strategy of the last two years while at the same time warning that the investment case for Kier does not come without risk given it is a relatively low margin business. The broker said that following its acquisition of Mouchel, the group now looks well positioned in the context of a more stable UK macro outlook.

 

Deutsche Bank has lowered its rating on Tesco from “buy” to “hold”  and cut its target price from 240p to 210p after lower-than-expected proceeds from the sale of its Korea assets. The broker has also cut its UK forecasts, which accounted for about 10p of the price target downgrade. The bank warned that Asda is likely to become more price aggressive, making it more difficult for Tesco, and the other big UK supermarkets, to improve their sales performance without investing further in price.