RBC Capital upgrades Anglo American to 'sector perform'

(Sharecast News) - RBC Capital Markets upgraded Anglo American on Tuesday to 'sector perform' from 'underperform' and lifted the price target to 2,310p from 2,200p. The bank downgraded Anglo in January, arguing that much of the good news on restructuring had been delivered and the trickier parts remained, such as De Beers and Woodsmith.

However, it said that a flurry of positive headlines followed as the miner got a good price for its nickel disposal, signed a marketing agreement with Botswana and agreed a joint venture with Codelco.

"This all helped offset consensus downgrades of 11% year-to-date," RBC said.

It said the next key event will be the spin of Anglo Platinum, but that it does not believe it will be a significant re-rating event.

RBC said it was updating its modelling to reflect the forthcoming spin out in June, changing its valuation methodology to reflect the higher proportion of copper earnings.

The bank said that in order to be a buyer, it would need to be more optimistic on the copper or iron ore premiums outlook.