Broker tips: Retailers, BTG, Bovis Homes

2nd Jan 2014 11:23

Analysts at Numis Securities reassured retail investors on Thursday that Debenhams' woes are not indicative of trends across the wider industry after its profit warnings earlier this week.They said they are confident that the strong updates from department store peers John Lewis and House of Fraser "will put them both firmly in the 'winners' column this year, but, supporting our long-held view, see enough to suggest that Debenhams problems are more company-specific than market-led."N+1 Singer has maintained its 'sell' recommendation for healthcare group BTG on concerns that partners Sanofi and Genzyme may not go ahead with their new Multiple Sclerosis (MS) drug Lemtrada in the US."This news has only a relatively small impact on our forecasts and valuation, because, compared to our peers, we were already bearish about Lemtrada," Analyst Elizabeth Klein said. "The negative sentiment, though, could start to dent BTG's recent outperformance. We continue to believe the shares are overvalued. Even more so now - 'sell'."Panmure Gordon has named Bovis Homes as the "pick of the bunch" among UK housebuilders, saying that the stock remains cheap despite strong growth prospects.Panmure retained a 'buy' rating and 900p target price for the stock, saying that its current low rating - trading at just 1.2 times net asset value - is "anomalous" given its "higher-than-average recovery-based growth".BC