Barclays says Russia/Ukraine prompts it to look for defensive shelter in EU media

Atresmedia Corporacion de Medios de Comunicacion SA

14/03/2022 11:22

** Barclays rethinks its approach to European media names
after Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that in view of
heightened risks focusing on cyclical versus defensive stocks in
the sector matters more
    ** "In a time of heightened uncertainty, we see scarcity
value in reliable, defensive revenue streams, especially where
those are relatively inflation-proof," Barclays says
    ** It adds that in the current environment it thinks it
makes more sense to focus on the relationship between defensive
and cyclical names in the sector on PE
    ** As such it upgrades Wolters Kluwer  WLSNc.AS  and
Byggfakta Group  BGNH.ST  to "overweight", while cutting all
four advertising agencies WPP  WPP.L , Interpublic Group of
Companies  IPG.N , Omnicom Group  OMC.N  and Publicis  PUBP.PA 
to "equal weight"
    ** It also upgrades Universal Music Group  UMG.AS  to
"overweight" from "underweight", citing its defensive
characteristics, music industry's growth potential and cheaper
valuation
    ** It moves Ströer  SAXG.DE  to "underweight" from
"overweight" on "significantly cyclical" positions and Spain's
Atresmedia  A3M.MC  to "underweight" from "equal weight"
    ** Barclays adds exposure to Russia/Ukraine is modest in
general for the sector, but adds a handful of names have
exposure, such as Eutelsat  ETL.PA , CD Projekt  CDR.WA ,
Ubisoft  UBIP.PA , Embracer  EMBRACb.ST  and Keyword Studios
 KWS.L 



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