These ASX stocks enjoyed the biggest broker upgrades this week

About this update from Ebos Group Limited

Welcome back to our weekly check up on the biggest moves from the biggest brokers that cover ASX stocks. They were certainty busy this week, in particular, with plenty of updates to their ratings and price targets for Aussie mining stocks. Like most Aussie investors, you've probably got a least a few of the stocks mentioned in the tables below in your portfolio. You're probably also acutely aware that the prices of several commodities key to Australia pulled back sharply in June. Generally, moves in commodity prices translates to updates to the assumptions that underpin ASX commodity stock valuations, as well as translating to moves in their share prices. So, there are a couple of moving targets for brokers to contend with (valuations vs share prices). This conundrum is probably most pronounced in the ASX lithium sector where lithium prices and sector constituent prices have both plunged. Very interestingly, this week share prices in the ASX lithium sector appear to have finally reached a level where the brokers are comfortable to upgrade their ratings. I note that Core Lithium ASX:CXO , IGO ASX:IGO x 2, Liontown Resources ASX:LTR , and Pilbara Minerals ASX:PLS each received ratings upgrades. Good news, right? Any rating upgrade is usually a welcome development for a stock, but I note in each of these cases, brokers were only comfortable to go as far as a neutral/hold, up from sell. Also note that the commentary accompanying each of these upgrades centred on the fact that share prices had fallen so far that sell ratings were no longer warranted. It wasn't a case of "stock specific positive developments have improved the value proposition in XYZ", if you get my drift. A similar theme accompanied ratings upgrades to Deterra Royalties ASX:DRR , Iluka Resources ASX:ILU , Ebos Group ASX:EBO , Lend Lease ASX:LLC , and Mirvac Group ASX:MGR , that is, share price plunges equals greater perceived value, equals rating upgrade. At least in the case of DRR, ILU, and MGR ratings went to buy/overweight. On the downgrades front, I note several gold stocks saw their ratings shaved, mainly from buy to neutral (Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR), Newmont Corporation ASX:NEM , and Regis Resources ASX:RRL . There were also a few that saw the reverse effect to commodity stocks – recent share price success saw brokers less enthusiastic about their present valuations (Generation Development Group ASX:GDG , Goodman Group ASX:GMG , GQG Partners ASX:GQG , and Suncorp Group ASX:SUN . In price target changes, it was very pleasant to see several stocks I follow very closely in my ChartWatch ASX Scans uptrends list garnering sizeable price target increases (Metro Mining ASX:MMI , Austin Engineering ASX:ANG , Pro Medicus ASX:PME , Superloop ASX:SLC , Tuas ASX:TUA , and Whitehaven Coal ASX:WHC to name a few). Going the other way, notably, those afore mentioned lithium stocks (note disparity between ratings upgrades and price target cuts!), and interestingly another two previously hot sector that has come off the boil – uranium stocks (Boss Energy ASX:BOE and rare earths stocks (Arafura Rare Earths ASX:ARU , and Lynas Rare Earths ASX:LYC . There are plenty of other interesting broker moves for the period – and you can only get this level of detail on what they’re up to from us – so let’s dive in! How to read broker recommendations 🔎 Typically, there are two major components of a broker’s view: Rating: A call to action, usually along the lines of buy, hold, or sell, but depending on the broker’s ratings system, can be somewhere in between (e.g., accumulate or add is typically between a hold and a buy). Price target (PT): The price at which the broker expects the stock will be trading at some point in the future, generally within the next 12 months. Broker upgrades since Wednesday, 3 July Company Broker New Rating Old Rating Price Target PT Upside% CSL (CSL) Citi Buy Neutral $335.00 12.2% Core Lithium (CXO) Jarden Neutral Sell $0.10 7.5% Deterra Royalties (DRR) Goldman Sachs Buy Neutral $4.70 15.8% Deterra Royalties (DRR) UBS Buy Neutral $4.90 20.7% Ebos Group (EBO) Citi Neutral Sell $31.50 5.4% Fortescue (FMG) Jefferies Hold Underperform $21.00 -3.9% G8 Education (GEM) Macquarie Outperform Neutral $1.35 8.9% IGO (IGO) UBS Neutral Sell $6.10 5.2% IGO (IGO) JP Morgan Neutral Underweight $6.40 10.3% Iluka Resources (ILU) JP Morgan Overweight Neutral $8.20 22.8% Lendlease Group (LLC) UBS Neutral Sell $5.79 0.5% Liontown Resources (LTR) Citi Neutral Sell $1.00 5.8% Mirvac Group (MGR) UBS Buy Neutral $2.19 18.4% Pilbara Minerals (PLS) JP Morgan Neutral Underweight $2.95 -2.0% REA Group (REA) Macquarie Outperform Neutral $212.00 7.7% Sims (SGM) JP Morgan Neutral Underweight $10.00 -5.1% Vicinity Centres (VCX) UBS Neutral Sell $1.86 -3.9% Biggest broker rating upgrades since Wednesday, 3 July. Price Target Upside/Downside (“PT Upside%”) values in the last column are based on closing prices on Tuesday, 9 July. From the brokers: Citi upgrades CSL ASX:CSL to BUY from neutral “With several negative catalysts behind, we see less headline risks going into 2H CY24.” “The stock offers reasonable value given the 14% NPATA CAGR between FY23 and FY27e, in-line with consensus.” “We expect CSL to be able to deliver double-digit growth despite the increasingly competitive environment medium term.” The price target was increased to $335 from $305 UBS upgrades Deterra Royalties to BUY from neutral “DRR's recent share price performance is unjustified, in our view, with price falls accounting for more than 60% of the EV of Trident, while 90% of NAV and NPAT remains subject to the exceptional MAC royalty stream. ” The price target was increased to $4.90 from $4.80 Macquarie upgrades REA Group ASX:REA to OUTPERFORM from neutral “The fundamental outlook in the next 6-12 months should remain solid and underpin incremental earnings upgrades. Valuation support limited but relative valuation among marketplaces is starting to look supportive for REA.” The price target was increased to $212 from $196. Broker downgrades since Wednesday, 3 July Company Broker New Rating Old Rating Price Target PT Upside% Arena Reit. (ARF) UBS Neutral Buy $3.94 2.3% BWP Trust (BWP) UBS Neutral Buy $3.79 9.9% Centuria Capital Group (CNI) UBS Sell Neutral $1.51 -3.2% Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals (CUV) Morgans Hold Add $16.00 9.7% Generation Development Group (GDG) Morgans Hold Add $2.57 11.3% Goodman Group (GMG) UBS Sell Neutral $31.71 -9.1% Gold Road Resources (GOR) JP Morgan Neutral Overweight $1.90 7.0% GQG Partners Inc. (GQG) Ord Minnett Accumulate Buy $3.20 10.3% Jumbo Interactive (JIN) Jarden Underweight Neutral $15.40 -5.9% Monadelphous Group (MND) Bell Potter Hold Buy $14.00 9.0% Macquarie Group (MQG) Macquarie Hold Outperform $201.00 -0.9% Newmont Corporation (NEM) JP Morgan Neutral Overweight $66.00 0.7% Regis Resources (RRL) UBS Neutral Buy $1.85 0.8% Regis Resources (RRL) Citi Neutral Buy $1.90 3.5% Scentre Group (SCG) UBS Sell Neutral $2.96 -6.9% Sonic Healthcare (SHL) Bank of America Underperform Buy $23.50 -9.4% Suncorp Group (SUN) Macquarie Neutral Outperform $15.80 -5.7% Biggest broker rating downgrades since Wednesday 3 July. Price Target Upside/Downside (“PT Upside%”) values in the last column are based on closing prices on Tuesday 9 July. From the brokers: UBS downgrades Goodman Group ASX:GMG to SELL from neutral “For GMG, we see very strong growth from the data centre strategy but move to Sell on valuation grounds/high investor expectations.” The price target was increased to $31.71 from $29.25 JP Morgan downgrades Newmont Corporation ASX:NEM to NEUTRAL from overweight “We still like gold, but downgrade NEM and GOR to Neutral, and prefer NST and EVN from a valuation perspective.” The price target was lowered to $66 from $67 Biggest broker price target changes since Wednesday, 3 July Company Broker Rating New PT Old PT PT Change% PT Upside% Metro Mining (MMI) Shaw and Partners Buy $0.13 $0.07 85.7% 124.1% Austin Engineering (ANG) Shaw and Partners Buy $0.75 $0.60 25.0% 23.0% Insurance Australia Group (IAG) Macquarie Outperform $8.00 $6.40 25.0% 14.9% Pro Medicus (PME) Citi Sell $95.00 $80.00 18.8% -29.2% Superloop (SLC) JP Morgan Overweight $1.90 $1.60 18.8% 20.6% Suncorp Group (SUN) Morgan Stanley Overweight $20.20 $17.05 18.5% 20.5% Tuas (TUA) Citi Buy $5.25 $4.50 16.7% 11.7% GQG Partners Inc. (GQG) Ord Minnett Accumulate $3.20 $2.85 12.3% 10.3% Regis Resources (RRL) Citi Neutral $1.90 $1.70 11.8% 3.5% Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (SXE) Shaw and Partners Buy $2.00 $1.80 11.1% 13.6% GQG Partners Inc. (GQG) Goldman Sachs Buy $3.00 $2.73 9.9% 3.4% CSL (CSL) Citi Buy $335.00 $305.00 9.8% 12.2% Coronado Global Resources Inc. (CRN) Goldman Sachs Buy $1.70 $1.55 9.7% 20.6% Whitehaven Coal (WHC) Goldman Sachs Neutral $8.10 $7.40 9.5% -9.7% Whitehaven Coal (WHC) UBS Buy $9.65 $8.85 9.0% 7.6% GQG Partners Inc. (GQG) Macquarie Outperform $3.05 $2.80 8.9% 5.2% Goodman Group (GMG) UBS Sell $31.71 $29.25 8.4% -9.1% New Hope Corporation (NHC) Goldman Sachs Sell $3.90 $3.60 8.3% -22.8% Coronado Global Resources Inc. (CRN) UBS Buy $1.95 $1.80 8.3% 38.3% REA Group (REA) Macquarie Outperform $212.00 $196.00 8.2% 7.7% Gold Road Resources (GOR) Goldman Sachs Buy $2.10 $1.95 7.7% 18.3% Integral Diagnostics (IDX) Macquarie Outperform $2.85 $2.65 7.5% 11.3% South32 (S32) Goldman Sachs Buy $4.30 $4.00 7.5% 15.6% South32 (S32) JP Morgan Overweight $4.40 $4.10 7.3% 18.3% Lynas Rare Earths (LYC) JP Morgan Underweight $4.70 $5.00 -6.0% -26.7% De Grey Mining (DEG) JP Morgan Overweight $1.55 $1.65 -6.1% 33.6% Genesis Minerals (GMD) UBS Buy $2.15 $2.30 -6.5% 13.5% Transurban Group (TCL) Macquarie Neutral $12.81 $13.74 -6.8% 3.1% Suncorp Group (SUN) Macquarie Neutral $15.80 $17.00 -7.1% -5.7% Boss Energy (BOE) Bell Potter Buy $5.90 $6.35 -7.1% 56.1% Fortescue (FMG) JP Morgan Neutral $25.00 $27.00 -7.4% 14.4% Gold Road Resources (GOR) UBS Buy $2.35 $2.55 -7.8% 32.4% Regis Resources (RRL) Goldman Sachs Neutral $2.10 $2.30 -8.7% 14.4% Cyclopharm (CYC) Bell Potter Buy $3.10 $3.40 -8.8% 85.1% Monadelphous Group (MND) Bell Potter Hold $14.00 $15.40 -9.1% 9.0% Core Lithium (CXO) JP Morgan Underweight $0.08 $0.09 -11.1% -14.0% Bluescope Steel (BSL) Macquarie Outperform $26.10 $29.45 -11.4% 29.4% Ramsay Health Care (RHC) Citi Neutral $50.00 $56.50 -11.5% 7.4% Adore Beauty Group (ABY) Citi Buy $1.50 $1.70 -11.8% 76.5% Regis Resources (RRL) UBS Neutral $1.85 $2.10 -11.9% 0.8% Northern Star Resources (NST) UBS Buy $16.00 $18.50 -13.5% 23.3% De Grey Mining (DEG) UBS Buy $1.80 $2.10 -14.3% 55.2% Liontown Resources (LTR) Goldman Sachs Neutral $1.15 $1.35 -14.8% 21.7% Fortescue (FMG) UBS Sell $18.90 $22.30 -15.2% -13.5% Boss Energy (BOE) Macquarie Outperform $5.00 $6.00 -16.7% 32.3% Core Lithium (CXO) Jarden Neutral $0.10 $0.12 -16.7% 7.5% Sonic Healthcare (SHL) Bank of America Underperform $23.50 $29.00 -19.0% -9.4% Liontown Resources (LTR) Canaccord Genuity Hold $1.05 $1.30 -19.2% 11.1% Clean Seas Seafood (CSS) Bell Potter Hold $0.22 $0.27 -20.4% 2.4% Meteoric Resources (MEI) Macquarie Outperform $0.36 $0.46 -21.7% 176.9% Arafura Rare Earths (ARU) JP Morgan Underweight $0.10 $0.14 -28.6% -48.7% Cygnus Metals (CY5) Shaw and Partners Buy $0.30 $0.50 -40.0% 597.7% Biggest broker price target changes since Wednesday 3 July. Price Target Upside/Downside (“PT Upside%”) values in the last column are based on closing prices as of Tuesday, 9 July. From the brokers: Shaw and Partners increases price target for Metro Mining to $0.13 from $0.07 (implies 124% upside) “We make no change to our FY24 production forecast (6.8Mt) or earnings forecasts post the site visit. June quarter production of 1.42Mt was a new record for the second quarter and, despite being below target, full-year guidance of 6.3-6.8Mt looks achievable.” Rating is retained at BUY Shaw and Partners increases price target for Austin Engineering to $0.75 from $0.60 (implies 23% upside) “ANG is a very well-run company delivering impressive results under a revised strategy. The company remains attractively priced versus comparable companies.” Rating is maintained at BUY UBS increases price target on Coronado Global Resources (ASX: CSN) to $1.95 from $1.80 (implies 38.3% upside) “We lift our price targets on WHC and CRN reflecting higher expected met-coal prices).” Rating is maintained at BUY

View stock analysis, news, and events for Ebos Group Limited