Shares in Tate & Lyle rise 1.7 percent, among the top gainers on the FTSE 100 , boosted by Societe Generale's upgrade according to traders, as the broker raises the British sweeteners and starches maker to "buy" from "hold" and ramps up its target price to 805 pence from 650 pence.
"Tate's transformation from a commodity company to a leading specialty food ingredients player is still a work in progress but after significant underperformance year-to-date we think the current valuation fails to reflect the improvement in earnings quality and growth prospects to date," Societe Generale says in a note.
The market implied five-year compound annual growth rate for Tate & Lyle is minus 0.8 percent, well below sector peers and suggests the market's valuation of the firm might be pricing in too much disappointment, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine data.
Tate Lyle's share shares also trade at a discount to its sector on 11.6 times forward 12-month price-to-earnings compared with peers on between 14 and 16 times.
Reuters messaging rm://david.brett.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net
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