INFI.L Share News (INFI)

Canaccord Genuity has lifted its recommendation on Costa and Premier Inn owner Whitbread from 'hold' to 'buy', saying it sees upside with the group on track to hit its medium-term targets.Analyst Nigel Parson said Whitbread's market-leading positions via Premier Inn and Costa mean the company is "well placed to achieve its new 2020 milestones of 85k UK hotel rooms and £2.5bn of Costa system sales"."Indeed, we believe both divisions could grow strongly for at least a decade before investors need to worry about hitting market saturation," he said.Furthermore, this should be more than enough time for Whitbread to expand internationally, turning its current overseas operations into "significant growth drivers".The broker has hiked its target price to 6,000p from just 4,300p previously."It's a big hike in our target price but our analysis reassures us that there really are big opportunities for Whitbread's Premier Inn and Costa Coffee. Execution is excellent and these brands are well-known and well-liked," Parson said. Exane BNP Paribas downgraded Compass Group to 'neutral' from 'outperform' and cut the price target to 1,240p from 1,330p."After years of outperformance, we believe Compass may no longer be the best choice in the sector," it said, noting a preference for Sodexo.Exane said that Compass is now working from an already high base and further improvements are likely to be more modest. Momentum is likely to favour the laggards, such as Sodexo, and self-help restructuring has further to go at Sodexo and Elior, it said.Still, it noted that Compass is a well-managed, cost-efficient business with a record of commercial outperformance and said that these factors together ensure good visibility on steadily growing cash generation, reinforcing the company's reputation as a generous cash-cow."Moreover momentum remains good with the prospect of continuing strong organic growth in the US and a modest improvement in Europe," said Exane.It added that the strategy to grow the top-line in Europe and in Emerging countries has proved its worth."Overall Compass remains a blue chip stock and deserves a premium to its sector." The investment case for renewable operator Infinis Energy is compelling, Investec said, following strong annual results.Investec reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock but lowered its discounted cash flow valuation to 240p.Investec analyst Harold Hutchinson said the firm's EBITDA of £140.2m was close to its forecast or £141.6m for the 12 months to 31 March 2015.Hutchinson said technology has enjoyed political support in Scotland, where the energy producer's main projects are based.The analyst said he expects UK government policy on renewables support to become clearer in the coming months, and affordability to be important.Globally transformation away from fossil fuels, toward renewables is "deep-rooted," the analyst said.