Top of the Street: European internet & media, European business services, IAG, Intertek
20/01/2022 14:12
A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
** JP Morgan downgrades IAG ICAG.L to "neutral" from
"overweight" as the British Airways owner, with 2021 net debt of
about EUR 13 billion ($14.75 billion), may need to issue equity
at some point, which is likely to cap the upside potential of
the shares urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2U014S
** Credit Suisse ups British inspection and product testing
company Intertek ITRK.L to "outperform" from "neutral", seeing
it generating the fastest organic growth among its peers in 2022
as its trade and resources divisions recover
** The same broker downgrades Bureau Veritas BVI.PA to
"neutral" from "outperform" saying the stock's current valuation
already reflects the French business support company's long-term
growth
** Kepler Cheuvreux ups Bucher Industries BUCN.S to "buy"
from "hold", expecting the Swiss engineering group to report a
strong performance in Q4 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2U01NC
** The brokerage also raises British luxury group Burberry
BRBY.L to "buy" from "hold" citing the group's improved
quality of its business as well as its good shareholder return
policy
** Peel Hunt ups commercial landlord British Land BLND.L
to "buy" from "add", pointing to the company's current asset
allocation and growth opportunities in London, while it
downgrades UK-based housebuilder Countryside Properties CSPC.L
to "hold" from "buy" on recent "disappointing" profit warning
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2TT201 and concerns around operational issues
** The same broker raises Hikma HIK.L to "buy" from
"hold", saying the generic medicine maker's business and
prospects are "underappreciated" at its current share price
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** Goldman Sachs resumes coverage of a number of companies
in the European internet & media sector with Prosus PRX.AS and
Naspers NPNJn.J (both reinstated at "buy") being the broker's
top picks, while it remains cautious on stocks with weaker
fundamentals such as Informa INF.L , ITV ITV.L and JCDecaux
JCDX.PA (all reinstated at "sell") urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2U027K
** Berenberg initiates coverage of German biotechnology
company Evotec EVTG.DE with a "buy" rating and a target price
of EUR 51, citing its multimodality drug discovery platform and
projected earnings growth urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2U02CF
** Jefferies starts radiation therapy equipment maker Elekta
EKTAb.ST at "underperform", citing shares not fully reflecting
increased competition following Varian/Siemens Healthineers
SHLG.DE merger among others urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2U01QJ
(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. The scale is
from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being the best. Analysts are ranked
on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of
recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)
($1 = 0.8815 euros)
(Reporting by Antonis Pothitos and Marta Frackowiak)
((antonis.pothitos@thomsonreuters.com ;
marta.frackowiak@thomsonreuters.com))