Broker tips: Endeavour Mining, Ocado, Standard Chartered

(Sharecast News) - Analysts at Berenberg lowered their target price on Endeavour Mining from 3,300p to 3,200p on Friday after its recent H1 earnings showed that it had "plenty more room to run". Berenberg updated its model on Endeavour following the company's Q225 results a day earlier, in which Endeavour delivered "a broadly in-line quarter operationally", with the analysts' key takeaways being maintained production and unit cost guidance for 2025, and the declaration of a record $150m interim dividend, which was in addition to $69m in share buybacks for H1.

"Shareholders are now seeing capital returns in earnest, reaping the rewards of increasing FCF generation from Endeavour's, in our view, underappreciated portfolio of low-cost West African gold mines," said Berenberg, which reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock.

"We update our model for the results, with moderately increased cost assumptions trimming our price targets to 3,200p/CAD $59. The shares are currently trading on 1.34x NAV and 3.1x/2.3x 2025/26E EBITDA; with 39% upside in our price targets."

JPMorgan Cazenove reiterated its 'overweight' rating on Ocado on Friday and lifted its price target on the stock to 437p from 400p.

It said the company's operational performance, particularly within its Technology Solutions segment, continues to improve, while bearish arguments were increasingly losing traction. After changing its view on Ocado earlier this year and turning OW for the first time since 2018, it now sees more and more data points for improvements in operational performance coming through that should drive a continued, sustained re-rating.

The bank noted that the current pipeline of eight new customer fulfilment centres (CFC) ramp-ups scheduled for 2025-2027 is largely de-risked, providing visibility into Technology Solutions revenue growth.

JPM also pointed out that the retail operations - now consolidated under Marks & Spencer - have emerged as the fastest-growing UK retailer, with a 16.3% revenue increase in the first half, driven by a 13% rise in customer growth year-on-year.

Finally, JPM argued that Ocado's balance sheet was now manageable with no further refinancing requirements in the next three years, dismissing a key concern from investors.

Shore Capital has raised its numbers for Standard Chartered after the bank's stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, but kept a 'hold' rating on the stock despite the company's increasing momentum.

The broker upped its fair value estimate for the shares from 1,270p to 1,355p, but said the stock looks "up with events", following a 38% surge so far this year and an 88% jump over the past 12 months.

Thursday's update from the emerging markets lender showed pre-tax profits at $2.28bn, up 44% over last year and some 32% ahead of consensus forecasts. Even after adjusting for a one-off $238m gain on the disposal of ecommerce marketplace Solv India that wasn't fully captured into market estimates, the company still impressed with income generation, and lower impairment and restructuring charges than expected.

"This strong momentum is said to have continued into Q3, resulting in an FY25F income guidance upgrade, which is reflected in our revised estimates. Whether it can be sustained into Q4 and beyond is more questionable," Shore Capital said.

The company, which has benefitted from the increased volatility caused by US tariff uncertainty, may find that income growth could be limited next year if volatility normalises, especially given the strong comparative with this year, the broker said.

"Following a strong run, the shares are trading in line with our revised fair value of 1,355p," Shore Capital said.