Broker tips: Jimmy Choo, Hargreaves Lansdown, PZ Cussons
RBC Capital Markets has initiated coverage of Jimmy Choo at ‘outperform’ with a 200p price target.
Financial Services
14,051.23
16:59 26/04/24
FTSE 100
8,139.83
17:09 26/04/24
FTSE 250
19,824.16
16:59 26/04/24
FTSE 350
4,470.09
16:59 26/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,423.59
17:14 26/04/24
Hargreaves Lansdown
755.00p
16:40 26/04/24
Jimmy Choo
230.00p
16:30 30/10/17
Personal Goods
16,042.55
16:59 26/04/24
PZ Cussons
101.60p
16:35 26/04/24
“Jimmy Choo's footwear-focused model is attractive given the early stage of brand development and the defensiveness of the product category on a long term view,” the Canadian bank said.
It said 10-15 new stores per year, largely in Asia, an expanding menswear business and omni-channel integration position the group to grow revenue and earnings before interest and tax by a 10% compound annual growth rate to full-year 2020.
The bank also highlighted franchise conversions as a potential source of future revenue and margin uplift.
It noted the stock trades at 22x 2016 estimates, which is a 25% premium to sector and in the context of its €300m sales base and under-penetration in China is not excessive.
“The niche brand positioning (predominantly women’s footwear), disciplined capital management and clear medium-term strategy sets Jimmy Choo on a sustainable path to growth, and its current valuation levels are in line with its average since IPO, providing suitable headroom for potential future re-rating.”
Numis upgraded Hargreaves Lansdown to ‘add’ from ‘hold’ and lifted its price target to 1,280p following the company’s results, which it said showed a strong underlying performance.
Numis said the numbers were in line with forecasts in terms of profit, but the 18% growth in client assets was ahead of expectations.
It said Hargreaves continues to increase its market share in a structural growth market with its share of platform assets increasing to 35.0% from 33.6% and its share of ISA flows increasing from 10.9% to 14.1%.
“We continue to believe that HL justifies a significant premium valuation given its dominant market position in a growth segment of a growth market,” Numis said.
Numis said the group’s scale benefits are substantial and unmatched providing it with by far the highest operating margin and the buying power to provide the cheapest fund prices in the market.
“We expect the high marginal margin and industry growth to more than offset the expected ongoing industry price compression.”
As far as the industry in general is concerned, it expects substantial growth due to the increase in self-investment and the shift from defined benefit pensions to defined contribution pensions.
In addition, it said auto-enrolment should significantly increase the proportion of the population with money to manage most of which will have to be done through self-invest platforms like HL due to the scale of these pension assets.
PZ Cussons got a boost after Investec lifted the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’, noting weakness in the shares since July.
“Whilst there remains a risk of further currency headwinds this year, we feel the stock price, at these low levels, is more than discounting a 15-20% devaluation,” said Investec.
It said PZ Cussons’ 2015 results were resilient in the face of a number of challenges ranging from Ebola to slower growth in emerging markets and currency headwinds.
It pointed out that management is well versed in navigating the challenges of emerging markets. Currency weakness has been a growth limiting factor and this could continue to influence the outcome for full-year 2016, said Investec.
However, it argued that PZ Cussons remains committed to the longer-term opportunities , investing in its branded FMCG portfolio, with a growing emphasis on Food.
Investec cut its price target to 350p from 374p.