Broker tips: BATS, Experian, Gold miners...

24th Oct 2012 11:14

Below-consensus third-quarter results from British American Tobacco (BATS) have led Panmure Gordon to cut its price target for the stock.Nevertheless, a 'buy' rating for BATS has been retained after its 2.5% underperformance against the FTSE All-Share Index. The broker says that the valuation - the shares currently trading at 14 times future earnings with a current yield of 4.3% - is "undemanding given the strength of the underlying cash flows".Jefferies may view information services provider Experian as a 'core support services holding', but has been prompted to downgrade its rating on the stock from 'buy' to 'hold' on valuation grounds."In an uncertain world, with just 5% of group revenues from Eurozone economies, we continue to view Experian as a core support services holding: a clear global market leader, with a scalable business model, consistent cash flow returns & high barriers to entry offering 13.7% FY12-FY15F EPS CAGR [compound annual growth rate]," Jefferies said."However, post upgrades, Experian trades on FY13F PE [price-to-earnings ratio] of 20.2x & EV/EBITDA of 12.3x (within 6% of peak multiples); hence we moderate our stance from 'buy' to 'hold'."Investec has downgraded its ratings for both Randgold Resources and Centamin from 'buy' to 'hold', saying that its time to "take a breather (and profits)" in the gold mining sector."In a gold sector report earlier this year we lifted all of our gold company recommendations to 'buy', on the basis that the gold bullion price would increase and gold equities would outperform," the broker said in a research report on Wednesday."Gold equities have indeed performed well, appreciating by an average 28% since then. Whilst we are raising our estimates and price targets, given the sector's outperformance, we now recommend that investors take profits at current levels, on the basis of buying again at lower levels."UBS has cut its recommendation for media and advertising giant WPP, saying that a macro slowdown poses a risk to expectations."We downgrade WPP from 'buy' to 'neutral' given risk to management and consensus FY forecasts and read across of slowdown from peer Omnicom and companies such as GE," the broker said.BC