Are Analysts Backing Shares In Diageo?

Almost every industry sector has been affected in some way by the Covid-19 crisis. For investors, that means there is a lot of uncertainty about which way large-cap stocks like Diageo (LON:DGE) will move over the near term.

Diageo is one of just 200 shares on the London Stock Exchange that have market valuations in excess of £1.0 billion. Its current market cap stands at £69,427m.

Large-cap shares like this are important because they are held in the investment funds and pension portfolios of millions of savers. So amid the chaos of Covid-19, how has the stock fared?

Over the past 12 months, the Diageo share price has seen an absolute move of -8.04%. On a relative basis - which take into account the movement of the wider market - the shares have moved by 7.57% over the past year and by 3.91% over the past six months.

But what now?

Do analysts rate it as a buy, sell or hold?

Regardless of recent performance, the main question for investors is what the future holds. In uncertain economic conditions, it's often difficult to get an accurate view. The good news is that analysts generally understand the market's biggest businesses better than most, so they are well-placed to make predictions. That shows up in their Buy, Hold and Sell recommendations.

Among the analysts covering Diageo, there are currently:

• 5 Buy recommendations
• 6 Hold recommendations
• 1 Sell recommendations

With this kind of information, it's possible to start forming a view about the outlook for any share. A combination of recent price performance and analyst recommendations gives you a flavour of whether the market is expecting a bright future - or whether there are causes for concern.

It's also worth looking at the profile of the stock to understand whether it has strong positive exposure to important factors like Quality, Value and Momentum. On that basis, Stockopedia currently classifies Diageo as a high flyer.