Broker tips: Equiniti, Kingfisher, Next, British Land, Land Securities

Equiniti was “far more” than a registrar and could look forward to profitable growth, a top broker said at the start of the week.

It was a leader in growth markets, with the potential addressable market forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6% over 2014-19, Credit Suisse said in a research report sent to clients.

The company could also cross-sell to existing B2B clients and expand its service line both organically and via mergers and acquisitions.

Furthermore, its on-going expansion into B2C activities such as retail share dealing constituted “multi-faceted growth opportunities, underpinned by inflation escalation clauses embedded in around two-thirds of the group's contracts,” analysts Karl Green, Andy Grobler and Myfanwy Parratt said.

Green and his team initiated coverage of the stock with an ‘outperform’ recommendation and a target price of 210p.

B&Q owner Kingfisher was under pressure after Nomura downgraded the stock ‘reduce’ from ‘neutral’ and trimmed the price target to 335p from 340p as it took a look at the general retail sector.

The bank said it has no issues with Kingfisher’s proposed unifying strategy as a means of offering differentiated home improvement products at low prices to customers. Nomura thinks it will drive long-term market share.

However, it said it was unclear at this juncture as to the programme's capital and revenue costs.

Nomura also cut Next to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’, saying that given the strong performance of the shares since late September, there is little remaining upside to its unchanged price target of 8,000p.

“We do not expect to raise our EPS estimates for current trading or management’s initial guidance for FY17 when the company reports on 5 January,” the broker said.

Deutsche Bank upgraded Land Securities from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ and downgraded British Land Company from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ as it re-evaluates the UK real estate sector.

The investment bank said in its industry update on Monday that the sector is close to high cycle conditions.

“We believe we are close to high cycle conditions in London office given yields are at all time lows and rents are nearing all time highs,” it said.

“We think London office rental growth will continue given strong tenant demand and limited near term supply.”

However it also turned cautious on medium term office due to a number of risks including visibility on supply for 2018 onwards driven by high development activity, as well as new outer London hubs.

“On demand, weaker demand for space, business rates rises and Brexit are meaningful risks," it said.