There’s no escape from shopping today, even if it’s already driven you to screaming point over the weekend.
After Black Friday, we now have Cyber Monday and, for investors, whispers already that markdowns by the retailers have been sufficient for some profits warnings.
Liberum had some reassuring words this morning.
“In consumer electronics we found plenty of noise but discounts lower than last year, up to 25%.
“Unsurprisingly clothing retailers are offering bigger discounts as warm weather has hurt sales of outerwear and knitwear,” it adds there here too it sees lower discounts than last year.
It suggests those at risk are Debenhams (up to 70% off) (LON:DEB) and M&S (up to 50% off) (LON:MKS).
Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) gets a downgrade from US broker Bernstein, which now rates the high street bank as underperform.
TalkTalk (LON:TALK) also gets the red pen, this time from Berenberg, which cuts to sell from hold and slash its price target to 208p from 290p.
Betfair (LON:BET) gets an upgrade to buy from hold from Deutsche Bank, which also raised its price target to 4,200p.
The broker thinks the combined Betfair/Paddy Power can grow revenues/profits materially above the market given its relentless focus on product innovation and brand investment over the past 24 months.
Aligning with Paddy Power offers the ability to leverage even higher returns.
Mortgage lender Paragon's (LON:PAG) share price has been impacted by the current mood-music and stamp duty changes in the buy-to-let market.
Jefferies suggests the re-gear opportunity available to Paragon trumps the current sentiment overhang and sees over 40% upside to the price target of 536p. Buy.
Investec notes that Barclays (LON:BARC) trades near its 12-month low, and CEO-Designate Staley is £0.4mln down on his £6.5mln investment.
“We think this is all slightly curious given modest progress on key metrics and with an absolute cost reduction programme which, in the broker’s view, is not entirely discredited.
The outlook for the final quarter of this year appears characteristically bleak, but from here, on a 12-month view, the broker sees value in the shares.
Cantor Fitzgerald’s oil analyst Sam Wahab is quick off the blocks with his assessment of prospects for the sector in 2016.
More of the same pricewise is his conclusion, so avoid high debt situations such as Tullow (LON:TLW) and companies still seeking a farm-in partner such as Chariot (LON:CHAR) and Xcite (LON:XCL).
Those with cash or a rising production profile are a much better bet and Wahab picks Amerisur (LON:AMER and target of 39p), Green Dragon Gas (LON:GDG and target 806p), Sound Energy (LON:SOU target 57p) and Wentworth Resources LON:WRL target 57p).
Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) has found a 23.16ct pink diamond at the Williamson mine of exceptional colour and clarity.
Good news for Petra, says Numis, and it should give the stock a welcome boost following the battering that price has received over the last few months.
Good quality pink diamonds are rather rare, particularly in this size range. Thus, it’s difficult to put a price on the stone at this stage, especially given the lack of recent rough sales of exceptional pink stones. Buy.
Component distributor Acal (LON:ACAL) reported a strong set of first results with EPS up +18% on last year.
The group's move up the value chain and structural demand from the proliferation of technology supports very attractive growth potential. Buy suggests finncap.