Broker tips: Cable and Wireless Comms, First Property

Cable and Wireless Comunications (CWC) went ex-div on Wednesday morning, resulting in a big fall, with the share price of the recently demerged telecoms firm not helped by Evolution Securities recommending its clients get shot of the shares.Though the broker acknowledges that the company's first set of results as an independent entity were better than expected in terms of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and net debt, it still has reservations about the company as an investment."Our concerns over poor cash performance and lack of adequate dividend cover were not resolved. The company signalled higher capital expenditure and tax going forward. We actually cut our free cash flow forecasts and now forecast that CWC's $210m dividend commitment is just 0.3 times covered in 2010/11," Evolution analyst Steve Malcolm said.Malcolm's view is that investors focus on CWC's "after everything" 3% free cash flow yield and 6.2 times enterprise value/ proportionate EBITDA, which the broker regards as "an unjustified premium to the sector."Evolution has cut its price target by a penny to 42p.Full year results from UK and Central and Eastern Europe focused property fund manager First Property were slightly ahead of house broker Arden's expectations.The broker had pencilled in £2.7m for pre-tax profit, slightly below the £2.8m First Property delivered."Overall, the trading outlook for the current year remains positive. Investment of the new fund will drive increased revenues at FPAM [First Property Asset Management] and Group Properties will have the benefit of an increased contribution from the larger holding in the Blue Tower management company," said Arden analyst Chris Thomas.The broker think the shares are "very significantly undervalued" but concedes that, with the bulk of the group's earnings denominated in euros, it will face some significant currency headwinds this year and next.