Berenberg has upgraded its ratings for both Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) and WM Morrisons Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) in the wake of the latest industry data published this week by Kantar WorldPanel.
Berenberg raised Tesco to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and increased its price target to 255p from 190p due to sector conditions improving, inflation headwinds easing and competitive pressures subsiding.
READ: Tesco and Morrisons outpace the rest of UK’s big four supermarkets, Kantar data reveals
In a note to clients on Tesco, its analysts said: “We would buy ahead of the financial year 2017 results on 11 April, which we see as a positive catalyst”.
Meanwhile, in a separate note, the Berenberg analysts upgraded Morrisons to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’ and increased their price target to 210p from 200p.
They pointed out that while Morrisons remains too expensive for an income stock, the shares have come down by 13% from their peak.
“We believe the key catalyst for underperformance have already materialised so we upgrade to ‘hold,” they said.
In mid-morning trading, Tesco’s shares were 0.6% higher at 204.2p while Morrison's shares slipped 0.1% lower to 224.6p.