Deutsche Bank sees 79% upside in St James's Place after lifting its price target from 2000p to 2050p, maintaining a Buy rating on what analyst David McCann describes as the firm's top pick.
St James's Place, the UK wealth manager, has shed 16% on a total shareholder return basis year-to-date against a FTSE All-Share gain of 7%, but McCann argues the earnings growth case underpinning a greater-than-£30 price target by 2030 remains unbroken.
The analyst identifies three forces behind the underperformance: lingering investor concern over artificial intelligence disruption, first-quarter net flows that came in at the softer end of expectations, and a pullback by momentum-driven investors who had piled in during a strong 2025, with the prior-year strength itself partly to blame for the current hangover.
Crucially, McCann notes that first-quarter flows, while disappointing in tone, were "still adequate to deliver the earnings growth expected," suggesting the sell-off reflects sentiment rather than a fundamental deterioration in the investment case.
