Shares in Experian (LON:EXPN) shot up yesterday on the back of strong results but have further to go, according to Citigroup.
The US bank has lifted its price target by 9% to 1,340p – the shares currently trade at 1,223p – and kept the stock in its Focus List, claiming the credit checking firm's second quarter results reinforced Citi's views on four key investment debates:
Citi is convinced the group's North America Consumer Services operations can live in the so-called “freemium” - try before you upgrade – world, and that it can still grow solidly in Brazil, despite contracting consumer and business credit issuance.
The bank was heartened by Experian management's continued commitment to returning money to shareholders and the indication that the Decision Analytics business has bottomed out after eight years of decline.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank has a target price of 1,250p and says the stock remains one of its top picks.
“Experian still trades at relative lows seen during the financial crisis and we believe its portfolio of businesses will continue to outperform the market,” the German bank said.
Mobile phone network operator Vodafone's (LON:VOD) underlying earnings (EBITDA) have moved into growth and margins have risen for the first time in three years, noted UBS, as it reported on the investor call following the release of yesterday's results.
“Going forward, EBITDA should benefit from operational gearing, but also new incremental cost savings from the 'Fit for Growth' programme that we believe are not fully factored into consensus,” UBS said, as it reiterated its 'buy' rating and 280p price target.
Elsewhere in UBS, some poor souls who probably have not seen sunlight for weeks have trawled the web harvesting around 240,000 customer reviews of Merlin Entertainments' (LON:MERL) attractions to get a handle on the company's prospects.
The analysis helped the UBS team to answer two key questions: to what extent trading will recover at Alton Towers, and how will the weaker euro affect Merlin's London attractions.
The Swiss bank has upped its price target from 440p to 480p so UBS must have liked what it saw in the customer reviews.
Barclays Capital reckons Prudential (LON:PRU) is the “one true large-cap growth stock in the European insurance sector” but it is not firing on all cylinders, judging by the third quarter (Q3) results.
Still, there were enough pockets of growth to drive overall sales up 14% year-on-year, which was enough to persuade Barclays to hike its price target to 1,726p, versus a current share price of around £15.
The rating remains 'overweight'.
Lastly, Jefferies has cooled on Costa Coffee and Premier Inn outfit Whitbread (LON:WTB), as it is worried about the threat of the burgeoning room-sharing phenomenon, as evidenced by the success of AirBnB.
It reckons the phenomenon to take hold strongest of all in greater London, which is the area in which Whitbread is looking to expand its Premier Inn hotel chain.
The US broker moved the rating to 'under-perform' and cut the price target to 4,100p from 4,300p.
As anticipated, the coloured diamond and gemstone auctions being held in Geneva this week are setting new records, according to RF Ambrian.
“I find it interesting that while we have seen a weakening in white diamond prices, coloured stones are going from strength to strength,” writes the broker's man in Geneva, Jonathan Williams.
“The clamp-down on corruption in China has been having a dramatic effect on conspicuous consumption on the mainland. I’m not saying that sales of luxury goods in China are purely driven by illicit funding, perish the thought, but it’s just not a good time to be flaunting your wealth right now,” Williams continues
“It’s good to see that Hong Kong buyers are still active; this shows that the demand for investment in gemstones in China is still strong,” he adds.
All of which supports the message being put out for some time by Ian Harebottle, the chief executive at coloured gems specialist Gemfields (LON:GEMF).
The rise of coloured stones is a reflection of cultural tastes in Asia and the Middle East and a wider general market that is not constrained by a bland East Coast US definition of how white a stone should be to sell well in New York, Williams asserts.
Stratex International (LON:STI) reported that its former joint-venture partner, Centerra Gold, has received the final approvals for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Oksut gold project in Turkey.
That's good news, SP Angel notes, as Stratex holds a 1% net smelter return at Oksut.