Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

(ShareCast News) - JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded Next to 'neutral' from 'overweight' following the stock's strong recent share price performance, with an unchanged price target of 7,700p.JPM noted that the shares are up 13% since mid-April, as the company beat consensus expectations in both the first and second quarter, and now trade on 17.2x 2016 price-to-earnings ratio.It pointed out that over the same period, Marks & Spencer shares fell 4% and now trade on 14.4x 2016 PE.JPM said it prefers Marks & Spencer, which it rates at 'overweight' with a 600p price target, where the self-help gross margin story is ongoing. It said the group's solid first-quarter performance reflected an underlying improvement in the General Merchandise business."The 19% premium at which Next trades to Marks is unusually wide versus the 5-year average of 10%. We would also note that the premium was only 5% as recently as late May. With no particular catalysts on the horizon, we would therefore expect Marks to regain some of its recent underperformance given that the fundamental strengths of the M&S investment case remain intact," said the bank.JPM expects the current discount between Next and M&S to narrow and says Marks' valuation is an attractive entry point.At 1446 BST, Next shares were down 1.1% at 7,925p and M&S shares were 1.2% weaker at 544.18p.