Spectris share price has further to fall, says JPMorgan

Industrial equipment manufacturer Spectris's recent share price falls are not done yet, according to JPMorgan, which reiterated its 'underweight' position on the stock on Thursday.

The bank has cut its target price from 3,100p to 2,850p for the stock, which was down 2% at 3,069p by 1005 BST.

"While shares have fallen 14% since July, they are +4% ytd, outperforming instrumentation peers by c.25% with the shares de-rating by 10% less than peers who have already cut guidance on China, life sciences and semiconductor end markets," said analyst Lushanthan Mahendrarajah.

In a research report ahead of the company's third-quarter update on 31 October, Mahendrarajah said that newsflow since Spectris's interim results in late-July suggests orders will have continued to soften, and so cuts to 2024 forecasts are likely.

"With the shares trading on 11.4x 12-month forward consensus EV/EBIT, in line with its historic discount to instrumentation peers and a lower discount to Oxford Instruments versus history, we do not believe risks are reflected in the share price and remain underweight," the analyst said.