UBS Group Reiterates “Buy” Rating for NEXT (LON:NXT)

NEXT (LON:NXT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at UBS Group in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a £152 target price on the stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 20.40% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on NXT. Shore Capital Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of NEXT in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a £140 target price on shares of NEXT in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of NEXT in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Peel Hunt restated a “hold” rating and set a £130 price target on shares of NEXT in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NEXT has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of £141.97.

NEXT Stock Performance

Shares of NXT opened at £126.25 on Wednesday. NEXT has a 12-month low of £105.05 and a 12-month high of £146.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 117.05. The company has a market cap of £14.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of £130.07 and a 200-day moving average price of £132.37.

NEXT (LON:NXT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported GBX 760.10 EPS for the quarter. NEXT had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 35.14%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NEXT will post 660.7526882 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Headlines Impacting NEXT

Here are the key news stories impacting NEXT this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results: NEXT reported quarterly EPS of GBX 760.10 and showed a strong return on equity (35.14%) and a healthy net margin (12.28%), numbers that support earnings quality and likely helped sentiment today. Quarterly results
• Positive Sentiment: Broker support: UBS and Shore Capital both reaffirmed “buy” ratings this week; UBS specifically keeps a £152 price target, which provides an upward valuation anchor for investors. Broker ratings
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/street note: Recent coverage (Yahoo/finance piece) frames NEXT as “repricing its story” around finer assumptions and risks — useful context for investors but mixed in directional implication. Repricing story
• Negative Sentiment: Technical and liquidity signals: today’s volume (≈3.06M shares) is below the stock’s average volume (≈6.66M), and the share price remains under the 50‑day (£130.34) and 200‑day (£132.41) moving averages—factors that could limit momentum if selling resumes.
• Negative Sentiment: Leverage: NEXT’s debt-to-equity ratio (~117%) is elevated for a retailer and raises sensitivity to interest rates and margin pressure, which could weigh on sentiment if macro headwinds intensify.

NEXT Company Profile

Founded as a tailoring business in Leeds in 1864 by Joseph Hepworth and Son, today, the company offers clothing, footwear, accessories, beauty and home products to our UK and International customers.

NEXT has over 500 stores in the United Kingdom and Eire, and over 180 franchise branches across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The company’s main divisions are NEXT Online, NEXT Retail and NEXT Finance. We also launched Total Platform, an online, distribution, tech and logistics solution, in 2020.