Broker tips: Next, Burberry, Bunzl, Tullow, Vesuvius

UK high street retailer Next raced up the FTSE 100 index on Wednesday after JPMorgan lifted its rating on the company to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’.

While JPMorgan favours Marks & Spencer stock on three-to-six month view for its ongoing turnaround potential, the US investment bank sees scope for Next to recover some of its recent underperformance (stock down 13% year-to-date) between now and its upcoming trading update on 29 April.

Burberry produced a solid trading update for the second half on Wednesday, though the market reaction was mixed, with strong early gains being mostly erased by mid-morning.

Richard Hunter from Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers said the company "remains in fashion". However, a 25% rise in the stock over the last year has "prompt[ed] the market to think that the shares may be up with events for the moment", Hunter said. As such, he said that the consensus view of the group is a 'hold', "albeit a strong one".

Investec has lowered its rating on Bunzl from 'buy' to 'hold', saying that its sees "limited upside" to its target price for distribution and outsourcing stock.

"Overall, we view this as a solid update from Bunzl, however, we expect consensus numbers for FY15 to remain broadly unchanged, with a positive contribution from acquisitions serving to offset a weaker organic top-line performance," Investec said.

Shares in oil and gas exploration company Tullow Oil rose after the stock had its rating promoted to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ by US investment banking titan Goldman Sachs who called it a “source of opportunity.”

“We believe the stock offers exposure to a strategic asset base, given its materiality, oil-phase and positioning towards the bottom of the cost curve in Western and Eastern Africa,” said the bank.

Shares in metal flow engineering group Vesuvius dropped sharply on Wednesday after analysts at JPMorgan lowered their stance on the stock from 'overweight' to 'neutral'.

The bank said weak steel production in the States has prompted it to cut forecasts for Vesuvius, while the stock is trading in line with its reduced target price of 510p (531p previously) after a strong share-price performance over the past 12 months.