Broker tips: StanChart, Sainsbury's, AMEC

13th Nov 2013 11:13

Nomura has maintained its 'buy' rating and 1,810p target price for emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered saying that the company's medium-term guidance is still better than consensus estimates despite a reduction in targets this week."There still appears to be scepticism in the market that it is not out of the woods yet as far as Asian concerns go. We believe this will remain the case until STAN can convincingly show sequential growth, which we expect from 1Q14. Read-across from Asian peers will be equally important in this context. STAN remains a stock owned predominantly in the West, and is therefore the West's sentiment beacon on the East. With growth prospects for Asia turning for the positive, we believe STAN is well positioned at reasonable valuation."Panmure Gordon kept its 'hold' rating but upped its target price for UK grocery chain Sainsbury's from 400p to 425p after a better-than-expected first half and continued outperformance against its rivals."Sainsbury's is the only 'Big Four' grocer that is taking market share, and that comes from being the only one, in our view, that isn't in the process of rectifying previous strategic mistakes, whether it be lack of exposure to growth channels (c-stores and online) in the case of Morrisons or a portfolio of overly large stores in the case of Tesco."AMEC's share price was lower on Wednesday despite the announcement of a contract with GDF SUEZ, as Credit Suisse dampened enthusiasm by downgrading its rating on the stock from 'outperform' to 'neutral'.The bank said shares of the project management and engineering firm have seen "strong multiple expansion" so far this year with the stock up nearly 20% despite consensus forecasts remaining more or less unchanged. "This leaves the shares trading on almost 12 times our revised 2014 earnings per share (EPS) [estimates], a 10% premium to the sector and to peers and with limited upside to our (unchanged) 1,250p target price."BC