LONDON (ShareCast) - UBS has raised its rating on Daily Mail and General Trust to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’, noting that more than half of the Daily Mail publisher’s revenues come from specialised publications without advertising issues.

The broker noted that UK newspapers are still suffering from a weakening UK advertising market.

DMGT’s non-newspaper assets include the financial magazine Euromoney Institutional Investor.

Elsewhere in the media sector, UBS retains its ‘sell’ stance on Daily Mirror and local newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror and cuts its target price on the stock to 135p from 200p.

However it stays ‘neutral’ on Scotsman publisher Johnston Press, citing the potential that Usaha Tegas the Malaysian investment company may raise its stake, but cuts its target price by 10p to 75p.

Gloomy broker comment hit Liberty International for the second day in row Tuesday as Citigroup lowered its recommendation on the real estate giant to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ and cut its target price to 800p from 1,100p.

The downgrade comes the day after HSBC lowered its target price on the Covent Garden shopping centre owner to 565p from 680p.

Citi said property stocks are too expensive given that initial yields range from only 3.6% to 5.7%, when they should be around 1.7% to 2% higher on the basis of current share prices.

The broker recommended investors in real estate avoid exposure to UK retail.

It also cut its price target on British Land to 800p from 900p on Hammerson to 1,000p from 1,300p and on Land Securities to 1,450p from 1,600p, keeping its ‘neutral’ ratings on the stocks.

However, Citi raised its rating on the Europe-wide real estate group Segro to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.

Citi keeps its ‘buy’ recommendations on Brixton, Derwent and Great Portland Estates and cuts its target prices on the respective stocks to 310p from 430p, to 1,600p from 1,300p and to 420p from 450p.

JP Morgan has reiterated its ‘overweight’ rating on BAE Systems after the defence giant’s share price fell heavily amid concerns about an investigation by the US Department of Justice.

The DoJ is investigating an arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia. Shares in the company have come off highs of above 500p earlier this year, with some investors concerned that the probe will hit BAE’s performance.

“We are reiterating our overweight rating on BAE Systems following what we view as their recent indiscriminate sell-off,” JPM said.

JPM also noted that concerns have arisen over the possibility of UK defence cuts.

Speaking about BAE shares’ poor year to date it said: “This follows negative newsflow (but not new risk) on UK defence cuts (which we believe reflect posturing by parties involved, and not new news for BAE) and the DoJ investigation.”

The broker trims its price target on BAE to 520p from 550p.

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