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(Sharecast News) - Analysts at Berenberg lifted their target price for energy provider SSE from 2,800p to 2,980p on Thursday, reiterating the stock as their top sector pick and arguing that the market was still failing to reflect the firm's "unprecedented, extended and highly visible" longduration growth opportunity.
Berenberg said confidence in SSE's £33bn 2026A-30E investment plan remained strong, noting that around 80% relates to regulated networks. It highlighted that 11 major electricitytransmission projects - all of which were networkessential and governmentbacked - accounted for 75% of SSE's RIIOT3 totex, with fasttracked approvals and a fully secured supply chain already in place.
The German bank described RIIOT3 as a "landmark inflection", with SSE's £29bn totex dwarfing the £6bn invested under RIIOT2. Regulated asset value rose 2.5x to £9bn over RIIOT2 and was expected to quadruple to £35bn by 2030, making SSE Europe's fastestgrowing transmission operator - underpinning the broker's forecast 11% earnings per share compound annual growth rate from 2025/26 to 2030/31, with scope for highsingledigit growth into the 2030s.
Beyond 2030, Berenberg noted that the National Energy System Operator has already identified seven additional major projects linked to SSE's network, representing roughly £17bn of potential further capex, with more likely as the RIIOED3 framework is finalised.
Updating its model, the broker raised EPS forecasts by 4%, 5% and 7% for 2027, 2028 and 2029, respectively.
UBS upgraded Man Group to 'buy' from 'neutral' on Thursday and lifted its price target on the stock to 365p from 335p as it pointed to a solid performance from AHL, the company's suite of trend-following funds.
"We believe EMG's share price does not reflect the recent positive performance across its AHL strategies (+7%) over the past six weeks," UBS said. "In our view, this offers an attractive entry point as we expect material upgrades to consensus EPS with Q3 coming to a close at month end."
In the longer term, UBS views Man Group's business model positively and thinks the company, through its technology, has a sustainable competitive advantage over peers.
"We also expect institutional investors to increase allocations to Man Group's liquid alternatives and credit strategies in the coming years," it added.
UBS expects the next catalysts to be upgrades to consensus earnings per share in early October as the sell-side marks its models to market to reflect AHL's recent performance and Man Group's Q326 AUM release on 16 October.
Deutsche Bank upgraded B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher to 'hold' from 'sell' on Thursday and lifted its price target on the stock to 300p from 260p.
DB said there had been a sequential improvement in its tracked data points despite overall weakness in the European consumer outlook.
The bank said it was increasing its estimate for FY27 pre-tax profit by 4% to £605m, which while ahead of consensus of £580m sits marginally above the mid-point of the £565m to £625m guidance range.
"We downgraded Kingfisher to sell in December 2025 on UK cost pressures and weaker macro outlook but the earnings and share price are only down marginally since then," the bank said. "With industry datapoints improving despite the macro overhang, we see limited scope for a change to full-year guidance at the 1H stage and accordingly upgrade to hold."
DB also noted that its first-half pre-tax profit estimate of £412m was ahead of consensus expectations of £372m.