FTSE 100 movers: Experian rallies; AZN hit by downgrade

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,561.57 in afternoon trade on Tuesday. Experian rallied as it narrowed its full-year targets to the upper end of guidance after a strong third quarter with revenue growth accelerating from the first half.

Ocado gained after the online grocer forecast a return to positive earnings for 2022/23 year as fourth-quarter revenues rose by almost 11%.

Housebuilder Persimmon was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from hold' at Jefferies, which said it sees scope for a meaningful change in sentiment towards the group, given its position to leverage into an improving market.

Rightmove took a hit after JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded the shares to 'underweight' from 'neutral' and cut the price target to 493p from 585p as it pointed to higher R&D and opex spend.

AstraZeneca was in the red after UBS downgraded the shares to 'sell' from 'buy'.

"Our key concern is the exposure of the company to US Medicare Part D reform, which slows our sales growth assumptions from 2025," it said. "We see AstraZeneca's oral oncology portfolio as particularly exposed to the requirement for pharma to fund 20% of catastrophic cover from 2025, up from around 2%.

"This forced effective price cut, coupled with likely increased PMB formulary pressures, means we are around 5% below consensus core earnings before interest and tax for 2025/26.

"On the positive side, our view of probability-adjusted mid-stage pipeline means we are modestly above consensus by 2028/29."



FTSE 100 - Risers

Experian (EXPN) 3,193.00p 2.14% Ocado Group (OCDO) 631.20p 1.97% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,964.50p 1.63% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,231.50p 1.61% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,500.00p 1.10% Compass Group (CPG) 2,212.00p 1.00% Persimmon (PSN) 1,464.00p 0.93% BP (BP.) 457.15p 0.92% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,058.00p 0.67% Haleon (HLN) 335.90p 0.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rightmove (RMV) 537.80p -4.78% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 109.05p -3.75% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,576.00p -2.54% Fresnillo (FRES) 515.60p -2.20% BT Group (BT.A) 113.95p -2.02% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 247.40p -2.02% Airtel Africa (AAF) 128.20p -1.76% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 142.95p -1.75% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 760.80p -1.65% Frasers Group (FRAS) 809.00p -1.58%