Smiths Group (LSE:SMIN) cheered the City with its full-year results update, with analysts impressed by the "robust" trading outlook.
Stifel said Smiths has continued its recent trend of improved execution and delivered another set of numbers which are ahead of consensus expectations.
“This is another strong and well-balanced performance, and strengthens our view that Smiths has become a much more attractive and dependable investment, thanks to the combination of the Medical exit, and the tighter and more urgent operational management of the current Smiths team."
'Buy' with a target of 1,900p is the Stifel view.
Jefferies, meanwhile, said the reiteration of organic sales growth of 4-6% in the current year was higher than consensus, while cashflow improved in the second half.
John Crane and Detection will see the highest levels of growth, noted the US bank, as weakness in Flex-Tek and Interconnect has been well flagged.
'Buy' with a price target of 2,040 is the investment view.
Earlier, Smiths had reported sales in the year to end July 2023 rose by 11.6% to £3.04 bilion with operating profit 12.7% higher at £501 million.
Paul Keel, chief executive, said: "We had another strong year of progress in fiscal 2023 as we further accelerated our growth, sharpened our execution, and developed our talented people.
"We delivered year-on-year improvement against all five of our medium-term financial commitments, including record organic sales and EPS growth.
"Looking forward to our next fiscal year, we expect to deliver 4-6% organic revenue growth, in line with our medium-term financial commitment."
The dividend for the year rises by 5.1% to 41.6p.
Shares were flat at 1,656p.