Broker tips: Mulberry, Micro Focus, Filtrona

Merchant Securities has hailed Mulberry's preliminary results as a "very strong performance" and placed its numbers and ratings under review. While the broker notes that the stock is not cheap, trading on a forward 2012 price-earnings multiple of 40, "given the excellent performance, bullish outlook statement, accelerated international expansion and scope for market upgrades, we believe there is still room for the share price to move upwards," Chohan added.finnCap, also impressed with Mulberry's performance, has kept its 'buy' rating and hiked its target price on the stock from 1,580p to 1,660p, saying that "[b]etter-than-expected FY [fiscal year] 2011 prelims and a stronger-than-assumed start to FY 2012 result in the latest in a series of forecast upgrades."Panmure Gordon raises its forecasts for Micro Focus International ahead of its final results and a potential bid.The broker said that the software firm's results for the year ended 30 April will give the detail on how the company managed to "pull a rabbit out of the hat" to achieve 'in line' results. "Following the results, Micro focus needs to pull another rabbit out of the hat and get a bid for the company" said analyst George O'Connor.The target price is raised to 450p, from 427p, and a 'buy' rating its kept.Despite UBS expecting the shares of Filtrona to trade sideways until a strategic review on 25 August, the broker raises its target price by 55p, saying that it is "[o]nly the beginning of the new day.""From here, we believe the investment case will be more focused on the actual delivery rather than the concept of what management can do," said analyst Alex Hugh."On our base case forecasts, the stock looks fully valued. With the re-rating story having played out, we believe further upside to the shares will be driven by consensus earnings upgrades from higher organic growth, self help measures and acquisition growth," Hugh said.The target price now stands at 430p, up from 375p previously. A 'buy' rating is maintained.---BC