Berenberg raises GB Group to 'buy' on multi-year growth story

Berenberg said it had always maintained that GB Group was "one of the highest-quality and most attractive" companies in its coverage.

With consensus too bearish on Covid-19's impact on 2021 full-year results, merger and acquisition catalysts building and the opportunity for its organic growth rate to accelerate in 2022 and beyond under-appreciated, the analysts felt it was time to upgrade the stock to 'buy'.

The German bank highlighted that its underlying earnings estimates for GB were 15%/10%/5% ahead of consensus in 2021-23, respectively.

Berenberg, which also upgraded the group from 'hold' to 'buy', said GB's point of difference was "clear" and stated that with Covid-19 accelerating e-commerce adoption and corporate digital transformation agendas, the company will benefit from higher global demand for fraud prevention, identity management and digital compliance software.