Charles Stanley analyst Douglas McNeill pondered British Airway’s (LON:BAY) future in a note entitled “As good as it gets?”.
The analyst initiated coverage of the international airline with a ‘reduce’ rating.
According to McNeill the airline’s financial performance has to be evaluated over the cycle, although the analyst admits that this is easier said than done.
“Identifying a cycle is a subjective business ... But we regard the past half-decade as a satisfactory proxy, encompassing as it does two good years, two bad ones, and one veritable cracker”, McNeill commented.
“So the time is ripe to ask whether this is as good as it gets for BAY holders ... We think that it is.”
After JD Sports (LON:JD) reported a 64.3% percent increase in first-half pre-tax profits this morning, Prime Markets analyst Richard Curr believes its time to take profits.
“Sports fashion group JD Sports have delivered a mightily impressive recovery in both sales and shareholder value throughout 2010”, Curr said.
“As JD says, it faces tough comparatives going forward ... while positive over the longer term prospects for the group ... the time has come to take some profits.”
Curr recommends selling the shares down to 765p. According to Curr, the ‘technical picture’ supports the fundamentals.
“JD Sports shares have recently broken through the upper end of a price trading range at 817p.”
“The price has fallen back below this level in early trading, and while below 817p is expected to return to the current level of the 10 and 20 day moving averages at 765p in the next few sessions”.
In Panmure Gordon’s Morning Note, analyst Jean Roche examined internet retailer ASOS (LON:ASOS).
“We continue to see ASOS as a world class online fashion retailer in one of the few forecast double digit growth areas of the UK economy,” Roche commented.
“UK growth underpins the story, but we think that most potential upside surprise exists in tapping into similar or more marked trends, particularly in the US, Germany and France.”
The analyst retained his ‘buy’ recommendation, and raised the price target to £12.16.
Another specialist retailer, Stanley Gibbons (LON:SGI) was in the news today with the collectables specialist acquiring the Benham first day cover and collectibles business from Flying Brands.
According to Freddie George, Research Analyst at Seymour Pierce, Benham is a low-risk earning’s enhancing acquisition and with Stanley Gibbon’s branded website progressing on-track, the stock “should see further upward momentum”.