JPM upbeat on European insurers' earnings resilience into 2025

ASR Nederland NV

04/12/2024 09:13

** J.P.Morgan remains optimistic about European insurers
into 2025, citing the sector's earnings resilience during a
period of uncertainty
    ** "We see scope for this earnings resilience to continue
and forecast the majority of stocks in the sector to outperform
2025 consensus," JPM says
    ** It raises Ageas  AGES.BR  and ASR Nederland  ASRNL.AS 
both to "overweight" from "neutral", expecting the Belgian group
to deliver solid earnings through its Elevate27 strategic plan,
while ASR should beat estimates thanks to the Aegon Netherlands
integration
    ** JPM places Dutch Aegon  AEGN.AS  ("overweight") on a
positive catalyst watch, saying it has potential to surprise
positively on ROE and capital returns
    ** It raises SCOR  SCOR.PA  to "neutral" from "underweight",
as the French insurer's efforts to rebuild reserves and address
underwriting create some stability
    ** It cuts Dutch NN Group  NN.AS  to "neutral" from
"overweight", seeing less scope for a positive earnings surprise
despite the stock's attractive valuation
    ** Swiss stocks appear expensive with limited scope for
positive surprise, it says, downgrading Swiss Life  SLHN.S  to
"underweight" from "neutral" and Helvetia  HELN.S  to "neutral"
from "overweight"

 (Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova)
 ((Anastasiia.Kozlova@thomsonreuters.com))