Broker tips M&S shares to hit their highest level since 2015

Broker Peel Hunt has upgraded its expectations for Marks & Spencer shares, with analysts backing the retailer’s ambitious expansion plans focused solely on food.

M&S, which will update investors next week on its first-half performance, has become Britain’s fastest-growing supermarket under the leadership of boss Stuart Manchin.

Machin has helped attract shoppers despite a tough consumer environment as M&S has invested in larger food halls and launched new products.

It helped with driving M&S shares almost 40 percent higher since the beginning of 2024. More than 75 percent has been added in the past twelve months.

Peel Hunt on Friday raised its price target for the M&S share from 360p to 425p – 12.7 per cent above the current mid-morning level of 377.1p.

It follows a further vote of confidence from analysts at UBS, which in September raised its target price for the M&S share to 435p – higher than at any time since December 2015.

M&S opened four food-only stores in the first half of the financial year, with plans to open five more in the second half and a further ten next year.

It hopes to expand its food offering from 325 to 400 locations across the country.

Peel Hunt analysts said a recent visit to M&S’s new Friern Barnet store – an 18,000 sq ft site previously home to a Furniture Village – demonstrated the value of the retailer’s recent investments.

“The math clearly works given the direct sales density,” she added.

‘M&S is not going wild with its opening programme, but stores like Friern Barnet show what a powerful model M&S now has for new/renovated stores.

‘The interim figures on November 6 should make for a good, if not great, first half, but current trading is likely to be decent judging by the weather. An upgrade is possible and as consumers begin to gain more confidence, the risk profile has changed.”