Barclays upgrades Victrex, downgrades Synthomer

Barclays upgraded Victrex on Thursday and downgraded Synthomer as it took a look at European chemical stocks.

Victrex was upgraded to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ and the price target was lifted to 2,200p from 2,060p.

Synthomer was downgraded to ‘equalweight’ from ‘overweight’ and the price target cut to 323p from 420p.

Barclays said Victrex should have outperformed other cyclical chemical stocks this year given its relative resilience in a recession, but instead it has materially underperformed.

Meanwhile, it noted that Synthomer is "one of the more vulnerable stocks" and said it was downgrading despite the recent re-rating.