BEST OF THE BROKERS
CENTAMIN EGYPT
Canaccord rates the Egypt-focused mineral explorer as a “buy” and lowers its target price to 150p. The broker has updated its estimates for Centamin following second quarter results, reducing production estimates by 22, 19 and seven per cent in 2011, 2012 and 2013, but still expects around 39 per cent average annual production growth to 2014. Forecasts for earnings per share at the company are reduced by 21 per cent to 18 cents for 2011.
CLOSE BROTHERS
Peel Hunt initiates coverage of the banking group with a “buy” rating and a target price of 961p, deeming the stock attractive despite Eurozone debt and bank solvency concerns. The broker says the bank is performing strongly versus muted competition, and says action has been taken internally to improve asset management performance. The target price represents a 45 per cent potential upside, and a yield of around 5.9 per cent adds to the attraction.
SPECTRIS
JP Morgan rates the electrical engineering firm as “overweight” with a 1,280p target, and sees its pace of growth as moderate for the rest of the year. The broker says recent first half results were ahead of expectations, leading it to raise its 2011 earnings-per-share estimate by two per cent. JP Morgan says its growth forecast for 2012 – which predicts revenue growth of 3.9 per cent – is well below the firm’s likely organic growth of six per cent.