Broker tips: Barclays, Cineworld, BT Group

Analysts at Goldman Sachs lowered their target price for shares of Barclays after the group guided to above consensus on costs, but gave short shrift to concerns about the now lower target from the lender for return-on -equity.

The banking group lowered its target for return-on-equity to 11% from over 12%, but mostly due to factors other than the bank´s underlying earnings trends, the broker explained.

As well, new guidance on the run-rate for non-core costs after 2016 was raised to £100m above company-compiled consensus, analyst Martin Leitgeb said.

For the first time ever, when the group published its third-quarter results it said it expected to incur approximately £1bn in costs over the 2015-18 period linked to structural reforms (US IHC, CCAR, UK ring-fenced bank).

Goldman Sachs trimmed its earnings per share estimates for 2015-2018 by between 0-4% as a result of the higher costs now expected.

Leitgeb kept his recommendation on the stock at 'conviction buy' while at the same cutting its target price, calculated on the basis of the bank's 12-month return on tangible equity, to 335p from 345p.

Shares in Cineworld rose by a staggering 75% over the last twelve months, driven by a fantastic slate of films during that period, but the time had come to take some money 'off the table' a leading broker said on Friday.

That will reach its climax in the present quarter, with three 'blockbusters': Bond Spectre, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Star Wars: the Force Awakens, but so too might the gains in the stock, analysts at Canaccord Genuity said on Friday.

"It’s time to take profits," the broker said in a research report sent to clients.

Analyst Nigel Parson explained that Cineworld "traditionally under-indexes versus Odeon and Vue on blockbusters and our research suggests this quarter will be no exception."

Next year´s slate is "less strong" and it could become a 'crowded trade'.

Sky´s aggresive customer retention efforts kept BT Group from accelerating the pace of broadband additions in the second quarter and there were regulatory clouds massing on the horizon, Nomura said.

The former neutralised BT´s marketing around the launch of its UEFA content, but the broker nonetheless remained positive on a medium-term basis.

Regulatory sentiment was set to turn more negative over the next year the broker pointed out, with Ofcom expected to kick-start its Fixed Access Market Review - which will look at unbundling, wholesale line rental and fibre regulation - by the end of 2015, analyst James Britton said.

The regulator was also expected to provide initial guidance on its CDR conclusions in the first quarter of 2016, with policies to suport competition in the access layer anticipated.

Regulatory headwinds were also expected to resume from fiscal year 2017, the broker added.

Offsetting the above to an extent, EE´s trading momentum was "welcome" and BT remained well positioned to benefit from converged services and and EE synergies over the medium-ter, Britton explained to clients in a research note sent on Friday.

The analyst kept his 490p target price on the stock and reaffirmed his neutral recommendation.