Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL. was under the cosh on Monday after Jefferies downgraded the investment firm, saying the shares look overvalued.
Jefferies cut its rating on the stock to ‘underweight’ from ‘hold’ with a target price of 1,650p as it analysed the company’s latest results and the impact of UK Financial Conduct Authority’s proposed measures for investment platforms.
AuM ahead of market forecast
In May, Hargreaves reported a 3.1% increase in assets under management (AuM) to £88.8bn for the four months to the end of April on the back of £3.3bn in net new business. Net revenue for the period rose 15% to £150.6mln.
READ: Hargreaves Lansdown reports 3.1% increase in assets as it attracts new clients
Jefferies said the AuM was slightly ahead of the consensus forecast with better investment performance and dividend reinvestment than expected.
The broker raised its earnings per share (EPS) estimate for 2018 by 1% to 50.6p, up 1.4% on the previous year, and its EPS forecast for 2019 by 5% to 56.7p.
It expects pre-tax profit for the year to rise 9.5% to £293.2mln on year-end AuM of £92.6bn.
“Even including an estimated 2019 total forecast dividend of 51.1p we have close to 15% downside from the current share price and we move HL to 'underperform' on value grounds.”
FCA review on investment platforms market
On the outcome of the first stage of the FCA’s review of the investment platforms market, Jefferies said it believes it did “little to disrupt the economics” of the industry.
READ: Investment platforms respond to FCA's proposed ban on exit fees
In the review, published last week, the FCA indicated that it is considering banning investment platforms from charging clients exit fees to make it easier for them to switch providers.
"The point about HL is that in fact, very few clients leave and therefore it is safe to assume that a fraction of a percent of revenue is derived from exit fees," Jefferies said.
"On the negative side, we could say that anything that promotes greater switching is negative for HL’s rating."
On the positive side, Jefferies noted that the company has been a beneficiary of switching as seen in its market share gains.
In mid-morning trading, shares fell 1.2% to 2,098p.