- Credit Suisse starts coverage of Intertek with ‘Outperform’ rating
- Jefferies raises South32, Anglo American and Rio Tinto to ‘Buy’
- Barclays raises Wood Group to ‘Overweight’
- Bank of America raises Petra Diamonds to ‘Buy’
Credit Suisse starts coverage of Intertek with ‘Outperform’ rating
Credit Suisse has initiated coverage of Intertek (LON: ITRK), giving it an ‘outperform’ rating and a price target of 5,250p. Intertek, the London-based quality assurance solutions provider, has seen its business disrupted by pandemic lockdowns in China, the source of some 20% of its revenues. However, these restrictions are now being lifted, and Intertek is expecting business as usual by July. Broker consensus is neutral, with Deutsche and Berenberg having the stock on ‘hold’ and RBC Capital on ‘underperform’. The stock price at close of trade yesterday was 4,561p, a return of -18.99% YTD and -13.85% over 12 months.
Jefferies raises South32, Anglo American and Rio Tinto to ‘Buy’
Jefferies upgraded a number of mining stocks this week to reflect the strengthening outlook for the sector, now that sustained global demand for metals has caused a surge in revenues for mining companies. For the small cap interest, Jefferies raised South32 (LON: S32) to ‘buy’ (hold), with a price target of 325p (290p). South32 is a mining and metals company based in Perth, Western Australia, that was spun out of BHP Billiton in 2015. Deutsche rates the stock as ‘hold’, while Barclays last month reiterated the stock as ‘underweight’ with a target price of 250p. The stock price at close of trade yesterday was 295p, a return of 35.94% YTD and 79.84% over 12 months.
Among the large cap miners, Jefferies raised Anglo American (LON: AAL) to ‘buy’ (hold), with a price target of 4,500p (3,800p). Last month, Berenberg reiterated its ‘buy’ recommendation (4,000p), as did Deutsche, which dropped its price target to 3,900p (4,300p), while Barclays and Morgan Stanley have an ‘equal weight’ rating. However, the stock price at close of trade yesterday was 4,017.5p, a return of 33.21% YTD and 27.42% over 12 months.
Jefferies also raised Rio Tinto (LON: RIO) to ‘buy’ (hold), with a price target 6,800p (6,700p). Berenberg (6,500p) and Deutsche (6,000p) last month rated the stock as ‘hold’. The stock price at close of trade yesterday was 6,091p, a return of 24.51% YTD and -0.81% over 12 months.
Barclays raises Wood Group to ‘Overweight’
Barclays has raised Wood Group (LON: WG), the Aberdeen-based engineering and consulting business, to ‘overweight’ (equal weight), nudging up the price target to 340p (330p). The company has announced the sale of its Built Environment Consulting business for $1.9bn, saying it will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt, strengthen its balance sheet and capture growth opportunities in both energy security and sustainability. The sale is expected to complete in the second half of 2022. Canaccord Genuity, Berenberg and Citigroup rate the stock as ‘buy’, while JP Morgan Cazenove rates the stock ‘overweight’. The stock price at close of trade yesterday was 238.6p, a return of 24.86% YTD and -7.20% over 12 months.
Bank of America raises Petra Diamonds to ‘Buy’
Bank of America raised Petra Diamonds (LON: PDL) to ‘buy’ (neutral), with a target price of 170p (110p), after a strong Q1 performance from the company. Petra, a diamond mining group with three mines in South Africa and one open pit mine in Tanzania, reported a 43% increase in the YTD revenue in its end of March trading update, driven in part by a spike of 30% from 2021 in the price of diamonds. The stock price at close of trade yesterday was 112p, a return of 51.35% YTD and 57.75% over 12 months.
