Broker tips: HSBC, Morrisons, Capita, G4S
Recent strength in US interest rates, together with opportunities to streamline some of its less profitable operations, should act as catalysts for shares in the world’s local bank, HSBC.
Banks
3,895.51
17:09 19/04/24
Capita
13.16p
16:45 19/04/24
Food & Drug Retailers
3,705.02
17:10 19/04/24
FTSE 100
7,895.85
16:59 19/04/24
FTSE 350
4,341.08
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,296.41
17:08 19/04/24
G4S
244.80p
16:40 04/05/21
HSBC Holdings
646.20p
16:44 19/04/24
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets
286.40p
16:55 26/10/21
Support Services
10,465.25
17:10 19/04/24
That was the opinion of analysts at Goldman Sachs who upgraded their view on shares of HSBC to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.
Analysts at JPMorgan have removed their 'underweight' recommendation on Morrisons' stock, saying that bad news is already baked into the price of the supermarket.
"We upgrade Morrison to 'neutral' from 'underweight' as we believe the combination of new management, improved trading and greater cost cutting opportunities, stronger balance sheet and less demanding valuation vs the other UK grocers may limit share price downside in the coming months," the US bank said.
Shares in British outsourcing group Capita were hit on Tuesday by a downgrade at Credit Suisse, as the Swiss bank raised concerns about "uncomfortable political uncertainty".
Credit Suisse has lowered its rating from 'neutral' to 'underperform' and cut its target price from 1,200p to 1,080p, saying that political risks are rising before the general election in May. At the same time, it highlighted that Capita's valuation is currently at a 13% premium to its 12-year historical average.
G4S is "back on firmer ground", according to Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, which struck a note of cautious optimism about the security services company on Tuesday.
While a full recovery is not yet in sight, analyst Keith Bowman said: "The new management team is making its mark, with analyst consensus opinion now positive ('buy') in tone."