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Broker Roundup Part 2 including Fastnet Oil and Gas, ANGLE, Amerisur, Ormonde Mining and ENK

Last updated: 15:17 26 Jul 2012 BST, First published: 19:17 26 Jul 2012 BST

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On a busy day of results, broadcaster ITV (LON:ITV) was buoyed by a strong performance by its production arm ITV Studios.

Adjusted pre-tax profits rose 15 per cent to £235 mln, which gave the company the confidence to double its interim dividend to 0.8 pence per share from 0.4 pence.

Broker Credit Suisse sees this as a positive signal of management’s confidence that the five-year turnaround plan will boost profits and raises its dividend forecast for 2012 to 2.4 pence per share.

The broker maintains an ‘outperform’ rating and 100 pence target price, while the share price is on the charge, climbing almost 8 per cent to 77 pence.

Energy company SSE (LON:SSE) was more coy on its financial status, but insisted it made a “solid start to the year”.

Investec’s 1,479 pence target price is an indication of the broker’s confidence that SSE will now deliver significant value from its capital investment.

“While SSE is by no means risk-free, we believe that, if anything, we may well be underestimating the potential here,” said Investec, which has a ‘buy’ tag on the stock.

Yesterday also saw a number of blue-chip results hit the headlines.

BT (LON:BT.A) suffered at the hands of the economic slowdown as corporate cutbacks hit the telecoms giant.

Although Global Services, which provides IT services for companies, saw a nine per cent drop in first quarter revenues, Morgan Stanley still reckons it’s an attractive stock.

It sees the Premier League rights deal as a significant win, while YouView’s imminent launch should also help drive the share price.

EasyJet (LON:EZJ) shares have taken off since its quarterly results yesterday, rising 30 pence in the last couple of days to 558 pence.

Investors welcomed the budget airline’s upgrade to its full-year profit forecasts, which were bumped up by 10 per cent, pointing to pre-tax profits of between £280 and £300 mln.

However, Liberum Capital believes underlying fares are struggling, while the stock’s valuation is “full”.

The broker downgrades its rating to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ given the share price’s outperformance, with limited upside to its 562 pence target price.

On the small cap side of things, broker Northland Capital views Fastnet Oil and Gas (LON:FAST) as a “speculative” stock pick, but adds that it has “very strong components to the story”.

The broker says that as it stands, the offshore oil and gas explorer company is looking to farm out of the Celtic Sea this year, which Northland says would be a “significant marker”.

Shares closed over 12 per cent higher at 16 pence.

Shares in intellectual property group ANGLE (LON:AGL) went the opposite way, falling more than 8 per cent to 41.3 pence.

Merchant Securities reckons the £700,000 fundraising means the company is undervalued.

“In light of the above [fundraising] and the ongoing adoption of Geomerics’ awardwinning Enlighten technology, this is, in our opinion, a conservative valuation.”

The broker has a ‘buy’ rating and 42.5 pence target price.

In the mining sector, Investec repeated its ‘buy’ recommendation on ENK (LON:ENK, ASX:ENK) and its target price of 29 pence - an upside of more than 100 percent to the current share price.

It came after the company said the bankable feasibility study for its flagship Acoje nickel project in the Philippines has now entered the final stages and is on track to be completed during the current quarter.

“We value ENK by means of peer group comparison, based on value per contained tonne of nickel in the ground, adjusted for ENK’s cash balance. 

The resultant valuation remains at 29 pence and forms the basis of our target price,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ormonde Mining (LON:ORM) could receive a licence for its Barruecopardo tungsten mine in Spain within months following submission of the last bits of paperwork, an analyst said.

House broker Fairfax said it expects the administrative review to result in the issue of a new mining licence over the next few months. 

"This should be good news for the stock."

Sticking to the sector, broker Daniel Stewart rates Amerisur Resources (LON:AMER) a 'buy' and targets a price of 51 pence.

Today, the firm updated on progress at the Platanillo-4 well and announced an agreement for the Fenix contract - both in Colombia.

"We anticipate that the results from Platanillo-4 could be a catalyst for Amerisur share price, should the well prove to be a repeat of the success achieved at Platanillo-3.." analyst Kate Fisher had noted.

In regard to the Fenix contract, the analyst believes the move towards a farm-out is highly beneficial for the firm as it moves it towards exploration, development and commercial exploitation.

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