Investment platforms Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.), AJ Bell PLC (LON:AJB), Integrafin Holdings PLC (LON:IHP) and Quilter PLC (LON:QLT) will see differing levels of “dislocation” between growth in their assets under management and earnings, analysts at Barclays reckon.
Since their debuts in 2018, the UK investment platforms have traded at high valuation multiples that reflect the industry’s attractive structural AUM growth, the bank’s analysts said in a note to clients on Friday as they started coverage of AJ Bell, Quilter and Integrafin.
READ: IntegraFin says environment is tough but sees inflows
“While we expect this AUM growth to continue,” they said, “we see a divergent picture for profitability with stock-specific headwinds causing an under-appreciated dislocation between AUM and earnings growth.”
IntegraFin, which owns the IFA-focused Transact platform, is forecast to enjoy 13% annual growth, was added to Barclays’ favoured names in the sector with an ‘overweight’ rating, a status already bestowed on Hargreaves. A share price target of 600p offers compares to a previous close price of 490p.
READ: AJ Bell grows platform assets 11% thanks to acceleration in direct customers
But AJ Bell was given an ‘underweight’ rating, with a price target of 320p, implying fairly substantial downside from its previous closing price of 449.5p.
Quilter was initiated at ‘equal-weight’ Quilter, with a share price target of 140p versus a previous close of 139.35p.