There are signs of value emerging in the beaten down AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) share price, but you'd be hard pressed to find a broker who would recommend the ASX share as a buy.
The AMP share price is hovering at record lows and the sum of its parts are now greater than its market value.
That's the view of JPMorgan, which put a 12-month price target of $1.35 on the embattled ASX wealth manager.
Sum-of-parts worth more than the AMP share price
This implies a close to 20% upside for the AMP share price and the broker noted other positives for this ASX underperformer.
"There is significant downside baked into the market valuation of AMP. Wealth Management arguably has virtually no ascribed value assuming reasonable multiples for other divisions)," said JPMorgan.
"A key point of uncertainty remains what may be achievable on AMPCI [AMP Capital Investors] (valued at 15x here)."
The broker noted that other real asset businesses typically trade on a 20 times one-year forward valuation. Of course, these other businesses didn't take a big reputational hit like AMP did.
AMP share price ignoring good news
But the market also appears to be ignoring other positives in AMP's latest quarterly update. This includes a slowing in the rate of decline in capital flows.
AMP's Australian Wealth Management business suffered outflows of $1.5 billion, which was better than JPMorgan's estimate of $1.7 billion. Assets under management in the quarter of $125.7 billion was also ahead of the broker's circa $124 billion.
Meanwhile, loans written by AMP Bank grew slightly to $20.8 billion in the March quarter. This was also slightly better than what JPMorgan had forecast.
Value emerging but brokers stay cautious
Despite the valuation support and relatively improved performance from parts of AMP's business, JPMorgan is sticking to its "neutral" recommendation.
Other brokers have largely followed suit as they mull the many risks facing the AMP share price and the wave of negative investor sentiment.
UBS has put a 12-month price target of $1.45 on the AMP share price, while Citigroup reckons fair value is at $1.25 a pop.
Foolish takeaway
Both these brokers have a "neutral" equivalent rating on the AMP share price. This ASX share is the worst performer among its peers, which includes the Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX: PTM) share price, Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) share price and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price.
It would take a brave broker to dare call the AMP share price a "buy", and an even braver investor to snap up the apparent bargain.
