Broker tips: Future, Whitbread

Future surged on Wednesday as Jefferies upgraded the shares to ‘buy’ from ‘underperform’ and hiked the price target to 1,280p from 635p.

Calculator

Source: Sharecast

The bank said "signs of inflection and Growth Acceleration Strategy (GAS) progress provide us with confidence to double upgrade".

Jefferies said it was confident of a strong return to growth in revenue, supported by macro inflection, positive audience trends, content quality improvements, and further upside from higher yielding US direct ad sales.

The bank said peaking macro pressure skews risk to the upside. It said macro improvement should result in a strong return to revenue growth, especially for digital ads & affiliate product.

"We expect Future to outperform peers, due to its highly cyclical Tech & Gaming portfolio (66% of audience), monetised largely via digital Ads (30% of revenue) and affiliate product (10%)," it said.

It also noted that importantly, the top 12 websites (around 70% of traffic) show positive momentum.

"Our analysis, suggests that the core online audience will continue to recover and support a continued recovery in the overall audience which will enable a return to growth in digital ad and affiliate product revenue with the macro," it said.

Analysts at Berenberg kept their recommendation for Whitbread at 'buy', arguing that markets were wrong to price in a continued drop in demand.

The supply/demand balance in the UK continued to be favourable and the company's Accelerating Growth Plan was capable of driving "strong" growth in profit before tax into the medium-term.

So too, the German operations were headed towards breakeven and the Euro 2024 championships would help to raise the brand awareness of Premier Inn.

The shares' valuation was also supportive.

Berenberg judged the 13.9 price-to-earnings multiple that the shares were trading on to be "too cheap" given the quality of its outlook.

The broker kept its target price at 4,000.0p.

Isin: GB00BYZN9041
Exchange: London Stock Exchange
Sell:
666.00 p
Buy:
670.50 p
Change: 27.00 ( 4.22 %)
Date:
Prices delayed by at least 15 minutes

Compare our accounts

If you're looking to grow your money over the longer term (5+ years), we have a range of investment choices to help.

Lloyds Bank is not responsible for the content and accuracy of the Markets News articles. We may not share the views of the author. Understand the risks, please remember the value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invest. We don't provide advice so if you are in any doubt about buying and selling shares or making your own investment decisions we recommend you seek advice from a suitably qualified Financial Advisor. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

Important legal information

Lloyds and Lloyds Bank are trading names of Halifax Share Dealing Limited. The Lloyds Bank Direct Investments Service is operated by Halifax Share Dealing Limited. Registered Office: Trinity Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 2RG. Registered in England and Wales no. 3195646. Halifax Share Dealing Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN under registration number 183332. A Member of the London Stock Exchange and an HM Revenue & Customs Approved ISA Manager.

Logo Allfunds

The information contained within this website is provided by Allfunds Digital, S.L.U. acting through its business division Digital Look Ltd unless otherwise stated. The information is not intended to be advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any of the shares, companies or investment vehicles mentioned, nor is it information meant to be a research recommendation. This is a solution powered by Allfunds Digital, S.L.U. acting through its business division Digital Look Ltd incorporating their prices, data news, charts, fundamentals and investor tools on this site. Terms and conditions apply. Prices and trades are provided by Allfunds Digital, S.L.U. acting through its business division Digital Look Ltd and are delayed by at least 15 minutes.

FE fundinfo Logo

Data provided by FE fundinfo. Care has been taken to ensure that the information is correct, but FE fundinfo neither warrants, represents nor guarantees the contents of information, nor does it accept any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions or any inconsistencies herein. Past performance does not predict future performance, it should not be the main or sole reason for making an investment decision. The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise.

Refinitiv Logo

© 2025 Refinitiv, an LSEG business. All rights reserved.