Broker tips: Standard Life, Serco, Oil stocks

Panmure Gordon has reiterated its ‘buy’ recommendation for Standard Life after the insurer beat forecasts with its 2014 results on Friday, saying it expects the shares to rally.

“These results were ahead of expectations and we anticipate that the strong underlying performance that suggests that there is real momentum within the business should see the shares rally in the short to medium term.”

The share price of Serco was given a boost on Friday after analysts at Credit Suisse lifted their recommendation for the outsourcing group from ‘underperform’ to ‘neutral’.

The bank, which hiked its target price for the shares from 142p to 208p, said that upgrade “reflect[s] strong reported progress in the disposal process for non-core private sector business process outsourcing assets”. This should lead to a drop in the assumed dilution from a proposed rights issue.

Despite the recent rally in oil prices uncertainties still remain for the sector, according to Westhouse Securities which picked out Faroe Petroleum, Genel Energy and Ithaca Energy as its key recommendations in the face of ongoing volatility.

Analyst Jamal Orzabayeva recommended investors build positions now and have a “realistic” investment horizon at least for the next 12-18 months. Investors should also “cherry-pick” stocks that are protected by hedging or those with a low cost base or healthy balance sheet. He also suggested that investors should choose stocks that can deliver upside on the current futures curve and have near-term operational catalysts coming up.