Berenberg raises target price on Judges Scientific

Analysts at Berenberg hiked their target price on scientific instruments business Judges Scientific from 12,000.0p to 12,400.0p on Tuesday following the firm's acquisition of Teer Coatings holding company Magsputter.

Berenberg said Judges Scientific's acquisition of the cutting-edge coatings provider for an initial consideration of £12.3m was "attractive strategically" and could add roughly 4% to FY25 underlying earnings, providing some cushioning to estimates from temporary end-market weakness.

"Following Judges’ acquisition, we have increased our sales forecasts by low to mid-single-digit percentage points in FY24 through to FY26, and low to mid-single-digit for adjusted EBIT over the same period. This reflects our new expectation of higher sales volumes and our continued expectations of end-market recovery driving a return to growth (and margin expansion) from FY25 onwards," said Berenberg.

The German bank, which reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock, added that Judges currently trades on an 18.9x enterprise value/underlying earnings ratio.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com