Broker tips: Admiral, Experian, HomeServe

10th Nov 2011 12:53

UBS has downgraded insurance titan Admiral from buy to neutral and slashed the target price by a whopping 45%, from 1,610p to 890p, following the group's statement yesterday which resulted in over a quarter of its market value being lost."Although we believe that Admiral remains among the best managed non-life companies in Europe, earnings transparency is low until the reasons for the acceleration in large bodily injury claims become clear," said UBS analyst James Pearce.Other brokers have cut their ratings and/or targets today on the stock: Nomura kept its buy rating but reduced its target price from 1,900p to 1,100p; Credit Suisse downgrades from neutral to underperform, target cut from 1,500p to 1,100p. Prime Markets sees significant upside to Experian's current share price, saying that the group is "very much at the forefront of the global credit service boom"."The half year numbers are a win win on every metric, and if that isn't enough, the 14% increase in the dividend completes a compelling investment case," said Prime Markets' head of dealing Richard Curr.The broker expects the stock to retest the 52-week high of 841p in the next few weeks, before pushing on to 900p plus thereafter.Panmure Gordon has kept its sell rating on repair services firm HomeServe, despite the firm revealing today that it has restarted its sales activity following the mis-selling scandal exposed on 31 October. However, the broker said, "The risk of mis-selling issues remains unknown but real." Panmure said it will stay cautious until it has spoken to the company in a conference call later today.The 400p target price is unchanged.BC