Broker tips: HSBC, Reed Elsevier

9th Jun 2015 11:24

Shares in HSBC fell 0.8% on Tuesday after the company outlined a round of job cuts and branch closures in its latest investor update.Shore Capital said the update was "rather uninspiring", and essentially reaffirms previously-held commitments around costs, returns and dividend policy, while aiming to add flesh to the bones of how these will be achieved.The only piece of material new information appears to be the announcement that the bank aims to reduce its risk weighted asset base by $290bn, with an emphasis on cutting back exposures in global banking and markets to less than one third of the group total, versus 42% at December 2014."We question whether management will be able to achieve this and deliver on its commitment to grow revenue," said Shore.Shore reiterated its negative stance on the stock, and 'sell' rating, saying there is little in the headlines of Tuesday's announcement for investors to get excited about.Barclays upgraded Reed Elsevier to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' and raised the target price to 1,225p from 1,135p."We believe Reed is a good value defensive stock with strong market positions," said Barclays."We see potential for progress on earnings per share momentum, driven by better margins, and we now see Reed as looking good value for its growth among a defensive peer group beyond the media sector."It said that the catalyst going forward would be a full-year margin upgrade at the company's first-half results. This would support a re-rating, as confidence in operational gearing improves, noted Barclays."Even if this is not delivered, we would argue Reed's shares can still deliver decent performance without a catalyst, given valuation relative to other defensives," said the bank.