Broker tips: Tullow, John Menzies, JD Wetherspoon

Patience is a virtue, points out Morgan Stanley as it keeps its 'overweight' rating and 1,500p target price on oil explorer Tullow.

The broker said that in April, Tullow should provide investors with some clarity in on the recent purchase of some Uganda assets.

Tullow Oil said in January that it has agreed to buy Heritage Oil's assets in Uganda for up to $1.5bn.

Morgan Stanley thinks that ownership of the assets will support increased production at Tullow.

Aviation and newspaper distributor John Menzies should be re-rated after getting debt to more acceptable levels and re-introducing the dividend, says JP Morgan .

Tuesday's results revealed a "resilient" performance from the distribution operations, while like for like (LFL) trading at the aviation business beat expectations in the fourth quarter.

This year started well, with positive LFL trends in January for the first time since the recession began.

"Menzies Aviation remains geared into a recovery and if trading conditions improve, particularly in cargo volumes, the group should start to see the benefit on the bottom line relatively quickly," said the broker.

Menzies only trades on a PE of 7 compared with 8 for Smiths News and almost 13 for the FTSE All Share, so JPM upgrades its view to 'overweight' from 'neutral'.

Pub owner JD Wetherspoon's interim results were 6% ahead of broker Panmure Gordon's forecasts, due to a lower net finance charge.

Wetherspoon is trading on a current year (2010) P/E of 13.9 times and an EV/EBITDA ratio of 7.1 times.

The broker believes this is too low for a compelling roll-out story with a stabilised cost base that is now well positioned to benefit from increasing LFL sales growth and improving margins. Its stance remains 'Buy' with a 600p price target.