Broker snap: Positive trend at Glaxo to continue, says RBS

27th Oct 2011 12:23

RBS has hailed the third quarter results of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and reiterated its buy recommendation and 1,725p target price on the stock.The company reported on Wednesday that revenues in the third quarter rose by 4% in sterling terms, as it confirmed its full-year guidance.Meanwhile, RBS notes that with a lack of bolt-on deals this year, the company has raised its share buy-back programme to £2.3bn for 2011. After raising its own buy-back forecasts, the broker ups its earnings per share estimates for 2013-2017 by about 1.5% per annum."GSK continues to beat expectations for shareholder returns via more share buybacks for 4Q11. We see this trend continuing into 2012, especially if bolt-on deals remain few and far between," RBS said.Despite the positive comments, Glaxo, along with pharma peers Shire and AstraZeneca, was among the few stocks in the red on Thursday, falling 0.68% to 1,383.5p by 12:34.BC