Broker tips: Easyjet, Diageo, Booker

18th Sep 2014 11:47

Numis Securities repeated its 'buy' rating for Easyjet on Thursday, hailing the budget airline's decision to lift its dividend payout ratio and order 27 new planes from Airbus."We believe that the dividend hike, promise of further returns of cash to shareholders and the aircraft option exercise provide compelling evidence of management's confidence in easyJet's strong market position and growth prospects: a view with which we concur," Numis said.Diageo's upcoming first-quarter results are expected to be weak and major M&A is unlikely, according to Nomura, though the broker said it still sees upside as it reiterated its 'buy' stance for the Guinness, Baileys and spirits group."Although short-term newsflow continues to look weak, we would look to accumulate the shares into any weakness as we see an improving dynamic during [the current financial year]."Peel Hunt said it continues to see "signficant upside" at Booker after a decent second-quarter update, and the future looks bright for the wholesale retailer. The broker kept a 'buy' recommendation and 180p target price, hailing an "encouraging" statement."Booker's second quarter was slightly ahead of our expectations and demonstrated that it has not been knocked off course by the travails of the mainstream food retailers," said analyst Charles Hall.