Broker tips: Petrofac, ITV, Rightmove

Investec downgraded Petrofac to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ saying investors should pause for breath following the recent strong rally in the share price, but lifted the price target to 940p from 780p.

“Debt is a dirty word in the oilfield services sector currently, and the unexpectedly sharp reduction in debt overshadowed bigger-than-expected losses at Laggan,” Investec said.

Last week, Petrofac reported a sharp big drop in its annual profit due to delays in getting production up and running at its Laggan-Tormore plant and the costs associated with it.

Investec noted that Petrofac has a strong order backlog and good prospects for further contract wins in 2016, given its essentially 100% MENA exposure. However, the ongoing farm-down process in Mexico may not result in a large cash release, it said. Investec said the company’s underlying full year results were broadly in line and Petrofac is confident that losses at Laggan project are behind it.

Investec placed its target price on ITV under review and kept its rating at 'hold' on Wednesday after the broadcaster warned revenue would be flat in the first quarter.

ITV reported 2015 profit rose to £641m from £605m as revenue increased 15% to £2.97bn and adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation grew 18% to £865m.

Adjusted earnings per share were up 20% to 16.5p.

The company saw 6% growth in net advertising revenue (NAR) to £1.72bn, with total ITV revenue for ITV Studios up 33% to £1.24bn. Meanwhile, online, pay and interactive was up 23% to £188m.

In addition, ITV said it will be returning £400m to shareholders via a 10p per share special dividend as well as the 4.1p final dividend, which it said reflect the group’s strong cash generation and the board’s confidence in the business.

However, shares declined as the company said advertising revenue in the first quarter of the year was likely to be flat. Though the second quarter is expected to pick up thanks to the European football championships.

"The outlook for 1Q is worse than we expected (and we had already cut) so bad for the bulls, but the special dividend of 10p/share (£400m) is positive - while not in our numbers, this was widely anticipated however," said Investec analyst Steve Liechti.

"We remain at Hold – persistent take-over speculation in the media and retransmission fees imply some support though we see mid-term TV structural challenges and ITV specific issues e.g. slowing NAR, consistent share of commercial impacts pressure, peak commissioning performance and management changes."

Jefferies upgraded Rightmove to ‘hold’ from ‘underperform’ and lifted the price target to 3,600p from 2,131p following “another robust set of results”.

Jefferies upped its EBIT estimate for 2016 by 7% to £161.1m and its 2017 estimate by 11% to £178.7m.

It said Rightmove operates the most robust business model it has ever seen, its offering is increasingly seen as integral to the operations of its clients and home sellers expect to see their properties listed on the group’s websites.

“The group is focused on maintaining its dominant core advantage and defending its position against disrupters and believes that such are the untapped opportunities in the core venturing into adjacent markets is not required,” Jefferies said.

Jefferies said Rightmove was hinting that it could offer the traditional agents service offered by the newer wave, more digitally focused agents, "which could put the cat among the pigeons".

It added that while the rating on the shares suggests Rightmove is making the right decisions, it sees better value elsewhere in the sector.

Jefferies noted Rightmove generates a stable and visible 3% yield (including anticipated share buybacks) and 13.7% earnings per share growth.