Broker tips: WPP, Next, Weir

Nomura has maintained its 'buy' rating and 1,300p target price for advertising and media group WPP, saying that the tie-up of rival firms Publicis and Omnicom could be good for the UK-listed company.While the merged company will have a dominant positive in the creative and marking services industries, Nomura reckons that the new merged company will have "less of an advantage in the field where scale matters, ie media buying". "With WPP maintaining a strong media buying position combined with the potential for clients wins arising, we believe the Publicis Omnicom deal may have more positives than negatives for WPP."Panmure Gordon has hiked its target price for Next by a tenth and kept its 'buy' rating for the stock after the High Street retailer's decent second-quarter update and increase to profit guidance.The broker said: "Our 'buy' rating is based on our long-term view that Next will continue to be a winner in the online race, given its historic and on-going investment in home shopping, which has put it miles ahead of the competition in multichannel retail."Investec has upgraded its rating for Weir Group from 'hold' to' buy' in the hope that the engineering firm will hit full-year targets despite missing forecasts in the first half."We believe that the rational given for the larger 2H skew being achieved is credible, however, the focus will quickly turn to FY14. In the longer term we believe the group remains well positioned in attractive end markets with an increasing installed base."BC