Electrical goods retailer Dixons Carphone (LON:DC.) is set for a Happy New Year, according to RBC Capital Markets.
The Canadian broker has made Dixons its general retail top pick for 2016, saying it is on track to make more progress in 2016 after its creation from the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse.
RBC sees several drivers next year for Dixons, which it believes did well during last month's Black Friday discounting event.
The broker says Dixons may decide to speed up the number of UK store closures and potentially reduce the target Currys/PC World estate to below 380 stores.
"Whilst this may result in a larger exceptional property loss charge, Dixons Carphone has been achieving good paybacks on closures and there is currently strong demand from the likes of B&M for out-of-town space," RBC associate analyst Claire Huff said.
"We also think a focus on the 3-in-1 store format in the UK could result in the closure of some of the overlapping out-of-town legacy Carphone Warehouse stores. Any property restructuring plan should be taken well by the market." Shares in Dixons gained 2.5p to 479.6p.
But RBC was less keen on Primark owner Associated British Foods (LON:ABF), which it has downgraded to 'underperfom' with a target price of 3000p, compared to 3700p beforehand.
RBC retail analyst Richard Chamberlain said ABF's valuation was relatively full given a lack of earnings per share momentum. "We expect Primark's like-for-like growth to remain moderate," he said. The stock fell 58p to 3269p.
Cruise ship operator Carnival (LON:CCL) floated 63p higher to 3711p after Natixis raised its target to 4200p from 3800p following a 40% rise in annual earnings.
Vehicle monitoring technology group Trakm8 (LON:TRAK) got a boost from Finncap, which increased its target price on the group to 425p from 318p.
Trakm8 on Monday unveiled the £9.1mln acquisition of electric vehicle journey planning technology company Route Monkey.
It follows a deal with the AA and comes six months after it added the DCS road camera operation to its product range.
Finncap said: "Altogether, the series of deals underlines the rapid progress the group is making." But chares in Trakm8 dropped 13.5p to 361.5p.
In mining, SP Angel reiterated its 'buy' and 82p price target on Gemfields (LON:GEM), noting the results of an auction of rubies from its 75% owned Montepuez mine in Mozambique.