Broker tips: National Grid, Betfair, Imperial Tobacco

Jefferies downgraded National Grid to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ but lifted the price target to 950p from 900p.

It said that following the strong share price performance in recent months the shares are now at fair value.

Still, it continues to believe National Grid will outperform against its current regulation in the UK and offer a secure and growing dividend to investors.

It pointed out that National Grid's policy is to deliver dividend per share in line with RPI inflation.

“But with RPI expected to be only around 1.0% this year, can National Grid be more generous? We conclude that above RPI dividend growth is perfectly feasible while maintaining their current financial metrics.”

Broker Numis has upgraded Betfair and Paddy Power to a 'buy' rating as the two bookmakers close in on a merger.

Despite their high valuation, the pair have a history of outperforming market expectations and the broker believes their share prices will rise as investors to revisit the merger case as documentation is published.

Lifting its target price to to 4,000p for Betfair and €135 for Paddy Power, Numis also foresees a relatively low-risk integration and "rich mix of revenue synergy opportunities" and the new Paddy Power Betfair, nicknamed 'Betty', ascends to the FTSE 100 index.

"We acknowledge that there are uncertainties, but we would invest ahead of this newsflow," the broker said, reversing its 'reduce' recommendation on Betfair and 'hold' on its Irish peer.

Betty will, analysts forecast, gain economies of scale from total revenues of £1.2bn and online revenues of over £1bn, investing in innovation and harvesting the rewards across the enlarged customer base.

Other benefits will come from geographical diversity, being online leader or thereabout in the UK, Australia and US, while the two complementary brands have limited overlap of only around 3% in terms of regular UK bettors.

Credit Suisse upgraded its price target on Imperial Tobacco to 3,800p from 3,500p on the back of better-than-expected cash flow.

It said the company’s full year 2015 results provide further tangible evidence that its cost optimisation programme is delivering to the bottom line.

The bank said tighter control of working capital and net capex has meant Imperial has been able to absorb the cash costs of the cost optimisation programme (£300m so far) and still grow free cash flow faster than profits.

It added that free cash flow has been further boosted by this year’s US acquisition.

CS said that with the significant savings – around £100m – still to be delivered from the cost optimisation programme and potential to improve fixed cost recovery in the US, it sees further scope to lower unit cost over the next three years.