Broker tips: Oil stocks, IHG, Vodafone, Balfour Beatty

A continued drop in oil prices was weighing heavily on the exploration and production sector again on Monday, with stocks dampened further after a number of ratings downgrades by US broker JPMorgan Cazenove.

The bank has cut its recommendations for UK-listed Afren (from 'overweight' to 'underweight'), Enquest (from 'overweight' to 'neutral'), Ophir Energy (from 'neutral' to 'underweight') and Tullow Oil (from 'overweight' to 'neutral').

UBS has downgraded Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza owner Intercontinental Hotels Group from 'neutral' to 'sell', saying that the stock is expensive given its concerns about slowing growth.

In regard to revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth in the US, the bank said: "We are not calling the end of the cycle, but we believe it is late enough in the cycle to not pay peak multiples."

Credit Suisse has lifted its target price for Vodafone, saying that price erosion is slowing and usage of 4G is accelerating at the telecoms giant.

The bank raised its target for the shares from 220p to 250p and reiterated its 'outperform' recommendation.

The £1bn potential bid by John Laing Infrastructure Fund for Balfour Beatty's public-private partnership (PPP) portfolio will test the latter's new boss, according to analysts at Canaccord Genuity.

They labelled the price a "significant lump of cash" but said that £1bn for the portfolio was a "fire sale value".