Per the Next PLC (LSE:NXT) playbook, the retailer Thursday over-delivered - having in 2022 under-promised after trimming back sales and earnings guidance.
So, there was some post-Christmas cheer for investors with the share price up 7.3% in early deals.
Analysts at Shore Capital pointed out that Next’s guidance for 2023 sales was £18mln ahead of consensus, though this and the outperformance in ’22 was not enough to tempt the broker to upgrade its current ‘hold’ recommendation on the stock.
Peel Hunt, a ‘buyer’ of the stock up to £65 a share, provided this analysis: “The rhetoric is generally more positive than September’s results meeting, with inflation pressures expected to peak in spring/summer 2023 and Next looking to hold margins for autumn/winter 2023, rather than simply covering costs, which was the fear previously.”
Broker Liberum repeated its ‘buy’ recommendation and £75 price target on Next.
The stock was up 449p at £65.74 in the first hour of trade.