FTSE 100 movers: Computacenter rallies on broker note; Prudential falls
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 04 Sep 2026
(Sharecast News) - London's FSTE 100 was flat at 10,828.88 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Computacenter was the top performer on the index after UBS upped its price target on the stock.
Vodafone gained after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'sell' on higher relative returns and equity upside, despite its lower structural quality.
The bank, which hiked its price target to 155p from 85p, said Vodafone's return on invested capital is now accelerating, driven by UK mobile market repair and increased cost-cutting.
"This can drive a re-rating amplified by leverage; our estimates are above consensus for the first time in years," it said.
"Vodafone's structural quality remains at the lower end of the sector, primarily given a weaker Germany market structure and historical execution," Goldman said. "However, we model growth accelerating from here, raising our estimates to reflect expectations: UK market repair will begin to boost growth from CY27; Vodafone will increase its focus on cost efficiencies; growth in Africa is sustainable."
GS said these organic improvements mean its estimates are now above group consensus and no longer below on Europe, for the first time in several years. They also mean that Vodafone's relative ROIC improvement over the next three years is above the sector average.
"The equity upside from the resulting rerating will likely be amplified given its low EV/IC starting multiple and relatively high leverage," it said. "We also see increasing upside potential from German mobile market consolidation."
Prudential was in the red even as JPMorgan reiterated its 'overweight' rating on the shares, citing cash conversion and buyback upside.
The bank said the negative reaction to Prudential's first-half results was overdone, although reflecting understandable concerns over H1 new business profit growth, and the outlook for the Mainland China Visitor business in Hong Kong around Decree 837 / taxation.
"We believe the market is extrapolating too much from a H1 result affected by mix changes and tough comparators," JPM said. "Prudential met or exceeded consensus expectations on 1H26 new business profit, earnings and cash flow, and management provided detailed regional guidance that supports improved growth momentum in 2H26E."
JPM said the stock is pricing in a contraction in growth that is not going to happen, in its view, trading at around 9.5x 2027 estimate price-to-earnings - a 15% discount to European insurers offering half the growth - and at a circa 25%-30% discount to AIA Group at 0.75x 2027E embedded value.
"Most importantly, free cash generation suggests a high single-digit free cash flow yield, and we see continued upside to capital return forecasts," the bank said.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Computacenter (CCC) 5,540.00p 3.17%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 125.35p 2.33%
Kingfisher (KGF) 303.50p 2.08%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 506.20p 1.38%
M&G (MNG) 355.80p 1.34%
Spirax Group (SPX) 6,950.00p 1.31%
Weir (WEIR) 2,724.00p 1.26%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,065.00p 1.18%
Tesco (TSCO) 474.40p 1.17%
Informa (INF) 916.80p 1.15%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Experian (EXPN) 2,801.00p -4.84%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 343.40p -2.55%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,333.00p -1.98%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,267.00p -1.86%
Anglo American (AAL) 4,119.00p -1.61%
Haleon (HLN) 353.10p -1.51%
Relx plc (REL) 2,636.00p -1.19%
Prudential (PRU) 1,027.00p -1.11%
GSK (GSK) 1,845.00p -1.04%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,113.00p -0.99%
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