Decent year but an even better outlook. That's the verdict from American investment bank Citi on full-year results from WPP PLC (LSE:WPP).
The bank said WPP's results and outlook were encouraging, with both organic revenue and margin guidance ahead.
Even factoring in inorganic headwinds and a fairly major change of treatment for the Kantar, the company’s data analytics business, Citi believes consensus forecasts will move up.
Adjusting properly for the value of Kantar, the bank believes WPP trades at barely 9 times earnings. With a possible rerating expected to come, Citi recommends investors ‘buy’ WPP.
The stock was trading sideways at 1,046.5p early in Friday’s session.
Of the 19 banks and brokerages following WPP, 13 are positive on the stock. The consensus price target is 1,106p.
Earlier, the world’s largest advertising and marketing group posted net revenues of £11.8bn, up a better-than-expected 13.5%, while operating profit was £1.36bn, ahead year over year by 10.5%.