Jefferies upgrades Rightmove on "robust" results

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.

At 0956 GMT, Rightmove shares were down 0.6% to 4,046p.