MARKET REPORT: Barclays upgrade revs up shares in Aston Martin with luxury car maker expected to post second quarter profits of £41m

Aston Martin cruised up the FTSE 250 leaderboard as analysts looked favourably on its prospects.

In a note to clients, Barclays said it expects the luxury car maker – which makes James Bond’s favourite vehicle – to post second quarter profits of £41million next week.

That would be more than the £30million implied by Aston Martin’s own guidance. Barclays also said it now views Aston Martin as a less risky bet for investors.

As a result, Barclays retained its ‘overweight’ rating on the stock and increased the target price to 375p from 300p.

Shares, which have more than doubled so far this year, gained 3.7 per cent, or 11.6p, to 329.4p.

Back on track: Barclays said it expects Aston Martin to post second quarter profits of £41m next week

Concerns over fresh economic data out of China weighed on the London stock market, with the FTSE 100 down 0.4 per cent, or 28.15 points, to 7406.42 and the FTSE 250 falling 0.9 per cent, or 162.38 points, to 18404.43.

And the price of oil retreated with Brent crude slipping back towards $79 a barrel. 

Chemicals group Johnson Matthey was on the rise after a positive broker note. Deutsche Bank Research increased its rating on the blue-chip stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and raised the target price to 2300p from 2500p.

That was in contrast to analysts at Bernstein, which named Johnson Matthey among the companies within the European chemicals sector that are likely to issue further profit warnings.

The broker cut its target price on the stock to 1800p from 1900p. Despite this, shares inched up 0.7 per cent, or 11.5p, to 1765.5p.

Wetherspoons shares slid 1 per cent, or 7p, to 703.5p despite Jefferies raising the pub chain’s target price to 900p from 850p. 

Stock Watch – Dianomi

Dianomi shares hit a record low after it warned its revenue will be lower than hoped.

The advertising platform places adverts on websites such as Reuters, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.

But traffic levels across its key publishers fell between 10 per cent and 30 per cent in the six months to the end of June. 

As a result, Dianomi is forecasting revenues of between £30.5million and £32.5million for 2023, below market expectations, down from £35.9million in 2022. 

Shares tumbled 40.8 per cent, or 32p, to 46.5p.

Review website Trustpilot has appointed former chief operating officer of Just Eat Adrian Blair as boss, four months after founder Peter Holten Muhlmann said he wanted to take on a different role within the group.

Trustpilot shares slid 0.8 per cent, or 0.6p, to 76.9p.

Tullow Oil surged 9.1 per cent, or 2.82p, to 33.76p after its Jubilee field in Ghana reached a milestone of producing more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

The target was met with the help of the Jubilee South East project in Ghana, which started production on Friday.

Costain rose 1.7 per cent, or 0.8p, to 48p after its contract to provide management and asset maintenance activities throughout the North West was extended by two years. 

The construction and engineering firm was chosen by United Utilities (up 0.06 per cent, or 0.6p, to 951.6p) in 2019 to be its managed service provider until May 2024.

The deal will now run until May 2026, with an option for a further three years. Outgoing Brickability boss Alan Simpson insisted that long-term demand for housing and materials for the construction sector ‘remains robust’ following a strong financial year.

The group, which supplies more than 500m bricks every year, saw its revenue surge 30.9 per cent to £681.1million in the 12 months to the end of March, while profit jumped 87.5 per cent to £34.5million.

In May, the group announced that Simpson, who has spent 36 years with the group, will hand over the reins to clay brick producer Michelmersh’s (flat at 92p) joint chief executive Frank Hanna.

Brickability shares rose 2.4 per cent, or 1.3p, to 56.5p.

Ladbrokes owner Entain owner has agreed to buy a US data firm for up to £203million as it eyes further expansion across the Atlantic.

Entain said it would purchase Angstrom Sports – a sports modelling, forecasting and data analytics company – for an initial £81million with further payments of £122million over three years.

Entain shares, however, lost 1.6 per cent, or 20.5p, to 1252p.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk