Analysts’ Upgrades: GKN’s target revised, CHR in favour

Chr. Hansen Holding (CHR), a Danish biotechnology firm producing cultures, enzymes and natural colors, saw its target price raised by an average 3.8% last week, with sales estimates for the next quarter lifted by 1.2%. The changes came after it reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings. CHR reported organic growth of nearly 10 percent, with natural colors and enzymes as main driving forces, and it raised its guidance. Still, it trades above analysts’ consensus and comes at a price of 25.17 times FY1 earnings.

Last week, GKN, a manufacturer of automotive drive line systems and engineered products, saw its consensus target price lifted 3%, leaving a potential 17% upside from the current market price. Bank of America Merrill Lynch expects a roughly 7.5 percent increase in earnings. All this comes after GKN announced its purchase of Volvo’s Aerospace division for USD 1bn. In a way, this is a strategic acquisition for GKN as it narrows the gap to some of its main competitors such as Safran SA (SAF).

Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI), the brewer of Budweiser, had its target raised an additional 2.5% by the consensus last week after it announced its acquisition of Grupo Modelo. Right after the announcement analysts upgraded the stock by 3.2 percent on average. The stock price has surged 32 percent so far this year, and is trading only 6 percent from its highest levels ever in 2007.

Those were the highlights, here are the top ten upwards revisions of last week:

For additional details about these stocks, take a look at Saxo Bank’s Equity Research offering here.

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