BEST OF THE BROKERS

ITV
Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded ITV to “buy” from “sell” with a target price of 41p, based on its belief that TV will lead the charge on the advertising recovery, and that ITV will take the lion’s share of the budgets. The broker notes that the balance sheet is slowly being addressed and that the pension deficit appears manageable.

ASHTEAD GROUP
Equipment hire group Ashtead could make a good recovery play, said Evolution Securities, but it looks like its share price is already discounting a sharp rebound in 2011 profit. With its end -markets still in the doldrums, the assumption of an imminent bounce back is not without risk, according to the broker, which has a “reduce” rating on the stock.

BARCLAYS
Nomura analysts said that a presentation from Barclays Capital suggested that the first quarter performance from the division is not a one off. The broker regards this as the principal driver of the shares in the near-term and has a “buy” on the stock, owing to its wholesale market leverage, believing that it can continue to grow its way out of some of the issues that it has.