Charles Stanley upgrades Cobham first half performance

(ShareCast News) - Analysts at Charles Stanley upgraded Cobham to 'accumulate' from 'hold' after its encouraging first half results.Cobham shares flew to the top of the FTSE 250 index after the defence manufacturer's first half results came in higher than expected. At 1602 BST shares were up by 6.82% to 280.40p.Charles Stanley upped its target price to 299.7p from 262.5p and said it liked the company's focus on high end niche technology.Analysts said short-term headwinds in certain marine and land markets were expected to improve by the end of the year, and noted synergies from Cobham's Aeroflex acquisition were on track."There is still a lot to do in the second half, but Cobham maintained guidance for mid-single digit organic sales growth in 2015 (H2-bias), and there are signs that the down cycle in US defence spending is starting to stabilize," analysts said.