Broker tips: Centamin, FirstGroup, BP...

9th Apr 2013 11:00

Canaccord Genuity has kept its 'sell' rating and 38p target price for Egyptian gold miner Centamin despite the strong first-quarter production figures announced on Tuesday morning, saying that legal issues still remain.The broker said: "Although we would expect shares to be stronger today we think that the legal appeal on the validity of the Sukari's mining license remains the key overhang, which is likely to limit upside and leaves the stock vulnerable to negative news flow from deteriorating economic environment and social instability in Egypt."Investec has retained its 'hold' rating and 200p target price for transport firm FirstGroup after the firm's pre-closing trading update which showed that trading was broadly in line during the fourth quarter.Investec analyst John Lawson said: "The turnaround of FirstGroup is a slow process and, despite the planned sale of the London bus business, debt remains high and the future DPS [dividend per share] is still unclear (at present, we forecast an unchanged DPS, but this could change in May when the board makes a formal decision). The underlying trading trends look mixed (some OK, some less good), so not too much to get excited about here."Tradenext has highlighted a list of attractive opportunities on the London stock market given the recent weakness of the sterling pound."A fall in the value of sterling will further support FTSE100 stocks and earnings, and make it easier for UK companies to sell their products overseas," said Ronnie Chopra, Head of Strategy at Tradenext.He said that dollar earnings such as BP, Shell, Barclays, Vodafone and GlaxoSmithKline are "all the more attractive at current levels" due to sterling weakness, especially against the dollar.BC