Plant hire giant Ashtead Group PLC (LSE:AHT) has copped a downgrade from analysts at Deutsche Bank the day before its latest quarterly update.
Hold from buy is the new recommendation though Deutsche Bank says that Ashtead is the second-largest US equipment rental operator in the US and longer-term prospects are fine.
Specifically, there is a structural shift from buy to rental, which will benefit the larger sector operators from scale and high service levels to customers.
Ashtead could also benefit from an acceleration in re-shoring activity as a result of the Trump presidency.
But, trading on a calendar 2025 PE ratio of 18 times and EV/EBITDA of 8.1 times, Deutsche Bank believes that following the recent rise, the shares are trading close to its target price of 6,500p hence the lowered rating.
Shares today were down 1% at 6,342p on Monday.