Investment bank Liberum has issued a 'sell' recommendation on Centrica PLC (LSE:CNA), the parent company of British Gas, suggesting that the recent surge in the company's share price has been "overdone".
In the year to date, the stock is up 75%, giving a valuation that reflects an overly optimistic assessment of the company's long-term cash returns and investment plans.
Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.) is reportedly in talks to take over the consumer operations of rival RSA, despite Aviva being a takeover target in its own right.
Rationale for the RSA takeover appears to be to strengthen Aviva’s position in the UK non-life insurance market.
JD Wetherspoon PLC (LSE:JDW), the budget pub company, will need to be reliant on pricing and volume recovery if it wants to return to pre-tax profits of £100 million by 2026, analysts at Liberum believe.
Welcoming the hospitality firm’s full-year results, which saw revenues jump by 10.6% to £1.9 billion and a return to a pre-tax profit, analysts at the investment bank noted that despite guidance being edged higher, there are still several headwinds facing the firm.
Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY)'s consumer business is making good progress, according to analysts at KBW Europe.
The research team was commenting following what it called an "excellent" update from Lloyds’ management.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) has maintained its ‘Buy’ rating from analysts at Bank of America (BofA) Securities but with a higher price target thanks in part to artificial intelligence (AI) tailwinds buffeting its business.
At its Security Analyst Meeting (SAM) in New York City, which featured presentations from CEO Michael Dell and CFO Yvonne McGill, the analysts noted that the company committed to returning more than 80% of annual free cash flow (FCF) to shareholders, higher than their expected 70-80%, while maintaining a target of over 100% net income to FCF conversion.
Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM)’s Nasdaq debut has been widely seen as a success for parent company SoftBank, which floated the British semiconductor giant in mid-September at a $54 billion valuation.
Though shares have dipped around 11%, Wall Street sees upside potential on the way, going by the gamut of broker coverage initiated on Monday.
Fashion boffins at Citi visited Burberry Group PLC (LSE:BRBY)’s refurbished Bond Street store and came away with moderately good things to say about chief creative officer Daniel Lee’s turnaround vision for the iconic British fashion brand.
Lee’s current Winter23 runway collection and the Spring/Summer24 collection dropping in December “conveyed a sense of understated elegance reinforced by use of the brand’s archive references rather than logos”, said Citi.
Ilika PLC (AIM:IKA, OTCQX:ILIKF) has received further validation of its Goliath solid-state battery (SSB) offering following the award of a £400,000 grant from the UK government's Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), according to a research note from investment bank Liberum.
The funding aims to accelerate the development of Ilika's Goliath SSB project, which focuses on automotive applications.
Relief appears to be the market’s immediate ‘emotional response’ to the news that Metro Bank Holdings PLC (LSE:MTRO) has received an equity and debt bail-out that stabilises the business.
After hitting a low of 37.5p on Friday amid fears it may suffer the same fate as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which in March was split up and taken over after hitting the buffers, Metro’s shares leapt 21% to 55.1p on Monday following the rescue.
Next PLC (LSE:NXT) shares fell 3.7% as JPMorgan warned that the warm weather may not be helping clothing retailers as they launch their autumn/winter ranges.
The bank pointed out that the autumn/winter selling period is relatively short and therefore often brings pressure to start discounting early if there is a weak start to the season.