UK MARKET TALK ROUNDUP: SHARES GAINING

13th Jul 2010 09:15

Stocks on the rise in the UK today. Compiled by Dow Jones Newswires Markets Desk, [email protected] Contact us in London. +44-20-7842-9464 [email protected] 0815 GMT [Dow Jones] Societe Generale cuts Barclays (BARC.LN) price target to 395p from 481p. Says at its recent investor meeting, the chief financial officer pointed to a weaker 2Q for BarCap than 1Q, offset by a gain in own debt due to spread widening in 2Q. Says group impairment guidance is maintained despite some deterioration in Spanish real estate values. SocGen takes the opportunity to cut EPS forecasts. Lowers '10 EPS forecast by 12% to 27.3p, '11 by 17% to 38.7p and '12 by 15% to 49.8p. But remains firm buyers of Barclays. Shares +1.0% at 303p. ([email protected]) 0808 GMT [Dow Jones] Panmure Gordon downgrades Cranswick (CWK.LN) to hold from buy, noting the shares have risen around 13% this year. "We continue to believe that the company remains well positioned to deliver further growth but view the shares as fairly valued at current levels." Says the company's 1Q update is in line with expectations, with most of the divisions performing strongly. Has 880p price target on the stock. Shares +0.5% at 864p. ([email protected]) 0805 GMT [Dow Jones] Panmure Gordon upgrades Capita (CPI.LN) to buy from hold and raises price target to 885p from 750p, noting 19% implied upside to its revised price target. "We are fans of Capita and firmly believe its organic growth profile should gather positive momentum in 2011E and 2012E." As such, expects its valuation to move back towards previous historical trends and at current levels reckons the potential rewards more than outweigh the risks. Shares +0.6% at 747p. ([email protected]) 0757 GMT [Dow Jones] Goldman Sachs upgrades British American Tobacco (BATS.LN) to buy from neutral and target to 2840p from 2370p. Within the brokerage's global coverage of tobacco, at 78%, British American has the highest group volume exposure to emerging markets. "Despite accounting for 80% of global cigarette consumption, emerging markets share only 50% of the global category profit pool. As income levels rise across these markets, we expect the global industry profit pool to triple from $63B in 2008 to $183B by 2030." Shares +1.9% at 2261p. ([email protected]) Contact us in London. +44-20-7842-9288 [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 13, 2010 04:15 ET (08:15 GMT)