** Shares of Australian construction engineering firm Monadelphous MND.AX rise 3.8% to A$15.445, their highest levels since mid-December 2020

** Macquarie hikes price target to A$15.93 from A$14.80, and upgrades recommendation to "outperform" from "neutral"

** Brokerage raises FY25-27 earnings view by 4%-7%

** MND last week said 1H25 post-tax expected between A$40 mln ($25.03 mln) and A$43 mln, vs A$30.1 mln last year

** Macquarie says MND is showing "evidence of more meaningful margin improvement which supports a robust earnings outlook"

** Trajectory of MND's 1H25 margin suggests there could be further upside to 2H margin estimate, brokerage says

** MND "a high quality contractor from risk mgt standpoint along with a strong bal sheet" - Macquarie

** MND up 10.4% this year, including the day's move, partly recovering from last year's 5.7% losses

($1 = 1.5980 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)

((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com;))