Broker tips: IAG, Weir, De La Rue, Taylor Wimpey, Insurers

27th May 2015 11:33

Credit Suisse has maintained its 'outperform' rating for airline conglomerate IAG after its proposed €1.4bn acquisition of Irish carrier Aer Lingus received the green light from the Irish government.The bank said that it continues to see the acquisition as "strategically positive" for IAG, whose stock is already "considerably undervalued".Deutsche Bank has downgraded industrial engineer Weir Group to 'hold' from 'buy' and cut its target price from 2,000p to 1,900p.Deutsche said that while the US rig count has nearly bottomed out, a key negative has been the outlook for margins, largely driven by pricing, and a major reason that consensus earnings per share forecasts are down around 30% year-to-date.Annual results from banknote printer De La Rue beat analysts' estimates, though a cautious outlook has prompted Investec to downgrade the stock.The broker cut its rating from 'add' to 'hold' and lowered its target price for the shares from 560p to 540p. It said: "The cautious outlook does not give us any comfort that the headwinds, especially in currency are easing, and note that the current euro weakness against the US dollar is aiding European competitors."Goldman Sachs removed Taylor Wimpey from its Conviction List, but kept the stock at 'buy' with a 204p price target, following the strong share price performance mainly on the back of solid earnings growth.Since adding it to the Conviction List on 8 October 2013, the stock is up 87.2% versus the FTSE World Europe up 10.9%. "We continue to see Taylor Wimpey as geared to the ongoing recovery in UK housebuilding and expect it to exhibit strong earnings growth and free cash flow generation," it said.JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded Beazley and Hiscox to 'overweight' from 'neutral' as it took a look at the Lloyd's insurers."We believe the Lloyd's insurers will continue to re-rate, as in our view the compound benefit of their approach to capital is not yet being fully valued," said JPM. The potential for further M&A should also support valuations, it added.