Member Info for jange

ICAP: Barclays raises target price from 370p to 390p and reiterates an overweight rating. JP Morgan ups target price from 324p to 409p maintaining a neutral rating. UBS moves target price from 290p to 330p and stays with a neutral rating.

Experian: UBS takes target price from 1040p to 1300p upgrading to buy.

And now they have increased it lol........

Dunelm Group: Deutsche Bank increases target price from 675p to 740p, while its hold recommendation is unchanged. Panmure Gordon ups target price from 802p to 886p and leaves its buy rating unaltered.

Devro: Societe Generale raises target price from 380p to 410p.

Dairy Crest Group: JP Morgan moves target price from 450p to 455p keeping an overweight rating. UBS revises target price from 360p to 390p and reiterates a neutral rating.

Daily Mail and General Trust: Citigroup takes target price from 645p to 725p and stays with its buy recommendation.

BHP Billiton: HSBC takes target price from 1980p to 2250p, while leaving its neutral rating unchanged.

Bellway: Deutsche Bank shifts target price from 1186p to 1188 reiterating a hold recommendation.

Beazley: Nomura raises target price from 212p to 234p and maintains its buy recommendation.

Ashmore Group: Numis upgrades to add with a target price of 380p.

ARM Holdings: Credit Suisse increases target price from 780p to 1130p and upgrades from neutral to outperform. Goldman Sachs moves target price from 1000p to 1250p leaving its buy recommendation unchanged.

Antofagasta: HSBC reduces target price from 1200p to 1160p, while upgrading to neutral.

Anglo American: HSBC ups target price from 1950p to 2240p and upgrades to overweight.

Aggreko: HSBC upgrades to neutral with a target price of 1650p.

The past few months for mining giant Anglo American (AAL) have been anything but plain sailing. Industrial strife in South Africa and growing militancy in general from employees in emerging economies have all added to the challenges faced by the sector. This point was underlined particularly at Lonmin (LMI), but for Anglo the departure of CEO Cynthia Carroll in the autumn was particularly traumatic, along with the consequential shake-up for the group’s businesses. New CEO Mark Cutifani was in the hot seat no longer than a month before announcing on January 28th that the miner will recognise a $4bn impairment charge in its 2012 results this week after completing a detailed cost and schedule review of the Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil.

ENRC (ENRC) saw its shares bid considerably higher after reporting solid Q4 production numbers. Rumours doing the rounds that a possible break-up or even a bid from China was in the offing did the shares little harm either.

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) cheered the markets no end, as the financial services group let the markets know in no uncertain terms that it is a company that pays its taxes and can still grows profits at 30%. Not only that, but the group boasted of its ability to deliver the aforesaid and maintain its reputation as it reported that a considerable chunk of savings business that would normally have gone go to banks had entered its own coffers. Indeed, it could be argued that the Bristol based company has provided a glimpse into an alternative future, one free of the vice like grip on the High St still enjoyed by the ‘big four’.

Trading on almost 17 times forecast underlying earnings, Synergy's shares are rated just above the UK average for the healthcare services sector at a time when significant parts of its operations face slowing growth in its established markets. Granted, expansion into the US seems like a good move given the size of the market, and European austerity will not last for ever. Yet the rating has moved to a level that is vulnerable to correction if the company fails to outperform the market's expectations. Given the consistently high capital spending Synergy must undertake, the possibility of disappointment is higher than average.

As support services businesses go, Synergy is unusual because a lot of its capital is tied up in tangible assets. That's because often it has to fund and build hospital cleaning facilities itself for the contracts it wins. That means lots of upfront spending in order to grow sales, as each new contract can mean another round of construction. Analysts at broker CanaccordGenuity estimate that to achieve an adequate cashflow return on its capital of around 8 per cent, the company must invest between 15m and 30m annually to generate the required income. This inhibits shareholders' returns as the lead time between winning a contract and starting operations is between 18 months to two years. CanaccordGenuity estimates that the company will clock up capital spending of 75m over the next three years. Given the lag between spending and revenue-generation, sales growth will be deferred, making Synergy much more cyclical than is generally perceived. Synergy also has its share of immediate problems resulting from austerity in the European Union. This affects its Dutch business supplying hospital linen, in particular. Meanwhile, a spending squeeze in the NHS, while not affecting existing contracts due to the importance for patient care, could slow the pipeline of new work that Synergy could bid for.