Although many people are winding down ahead of the Christmas break, brokers were still as busy as ever adjusting financial models and recommendations last week. This led to a decent number of buy and sell recommendations being made.
Three buy ratings that caught my eye are summarised below. Here's brokers like these ASX shares:
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)
According to a note out of the Macquarie equities desk, its analysts have retained their outperform rating and $40.00 price target on this mining giant's shares. The broker appears pleased to see that BHP experienced strong demand for its US$5.2 billion off-market buyback and its plans to pay a special dividend of US$1.02 per share to shareholders in January. This dividend was in line with the broker's expectations. In addition to this, Macquarie's analysts have suggested that the company could return another US$3 billion to shareholders in the second half of FY 2019. I agree with Macquarie on BHP and think it would be a great option for investors.
Catapult Group International Ltd (ASX: CAT)
Analysts at Morgans have retained their add (high risk) rating and $1.88 price target on the shares of this beaten down sports analytics and wearables company following its U.S. market update. According to the note, the broker was pleased that management expects a significant lift in sales in the second half following the sizeable increase in the size of its sales force. Furthermore, the broker appears optimistic on the potential of its VISION product which is targeting the U.S. college market. The market doesn't appear to agree with Morgans at this point, though. Its shares were trading at a three-year low of 76 cents last week. While I do like Catapult and its products, I'd suggest investors wait to see if the significant lift in sales happens before considering an investment.
Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG)
A note out of Goldman Sachs reveals that its analysts have initiated coverage on this fund manager with a buy rating and $28.90 price target. Goldman notes that the company's Global Equity strategy has outperformed its benchmark by 600+ basis points in the current half. The broker believes this demonstrates that Magellan has been successful with its strategy of capturing 100% of rising markets but only a portion of falling markets. In light of this outperformance, it suspects that the fund manager could experience increasing flows. In addition to this, it points out its attractive valuation and estimated FY 2019 dividend yield of 6.4%. I think Goldman makes a great point on Magellan and feel it could be worth a look next week.
