Numis hikes Spirent Communications target price, upgrades to ‘buy’

"This is +39% versus the stock's last closing price, so we also up our rating from hold to buy," it said.

Numis said it thinks Spirent expects trading in the telco sector - which makes up around 70% of its business - to be no better or worse in FY24. Its prospects remain strong when telcos can no longer continue to sweat their assets, or some break rank to gain share, it noted.

"So SPT is urgently pivoting to non-telco sectors for sales growth and managing costs carefully, in part by fundamentally streamlining itself, without cutting any of the R&D that serves its future," it said.

At 1030 GMT, the shares were up 2.8% at 114.60p.