The weekly wrap 3: Macquarie divides once more

Greg Peel of FNArena
So a rally too far, or a rally representing a justifiable return from the confidence abyss? Perhaps Macquarie Group is testament to the current level of uncertainty.

This week Credit Suisse downgraded its call on Macquarie Group from outperform to neutral for the simple reason the shares had rallied 12 per cent over only nine days. On the same day, Citi decided the GFC credit crisis risk appears to now be abating, and that's reason enough to stop considering Macquarie in terms of its balance sheet problems and return to considering its potential earnings upside.

This flip in sentiment not only has Citi raising its rating on MQG from hold to buy, it also has the analysts increasing their target price an astonishing 50 per cent from $33.85 to $50.92. This target is now far and away the highest in the FNArena universe, and stretches the target price spread from $27.80 (UBS) for a 68 per cent range around the $36.70 average.


20090724 weekly wrap tab

20090724 weekly wrap tab




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