The Boral Limited (ASX: BLD) share price has been a strong performer in 2021.
Since the start of the year, the building products company's shares have risen 21%.
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Is it too late to invest?
The broker community remains extremely divided on the Boral share price.
In one corner you have Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) and Citi which believe Boral's shares can rise from here.
In the other corner you have Morgan Stanley and UBS that believe Boral shares are fully valued now.
Where next for Boral share price?
Macquarie and Citi currently have buy and neutral ratings, respectively, with price targets of $7.20 and $7.15. Based on the current Boral share price, this represents upside of 19% to 20%.
While Macquarie was disappointed with the sale price of Boral's fly-ash business, which it notes has a lot of potential due to fly ash's key role in the green concrete process, it remains positive due to the strengthening infrastructure demand environment and its transformation plan.
Elsewhere, the teams at Morgan Stanley and UBS currently have underweight and neutral ratings, respectively, with $6.10 price targets. This is broadly in line with where the Boral share price trades today, which suggests its shares are fully valued at the current level.
While UBS acknowledges that infrastructure demand is strong, it believes this is being offset by higher costs due to higher freight and labour expenses.
Morgan Stanley appears to agree with this view. In fact, it expects Boral to deliver a very disappointing half year result early next year. According to a recent note, the broker has pencilled in first half earnings decline of approximately 40% in FY 2022. In light of this, Morgan Stanley doesn't appear to be in a hurry to change its rating on the Boral share price.
Which brokers make the right call, time will tell.
