A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:
** Exane BNP Paribas upgrades DNB DNB.OL to "neutral" from "underperform", as it points to the Norwegian bank's three years of underperformance and a relative de-rating, while highlighting Norway's "incredibly resilient" economy
** Jefferies upgrades Legrand LEGD.PA to "buy" from "underperform", citing the French electrical equipment maker's growing data centre business and signs of a cyclical rebound
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** Degroof Petercam initiates coverage on CVC CVC.AS with a "buy" rating, citing the Dutch asset manager's competitive advantages and attractive valuation with a stock trading at a 33% discount to its peer
** Jefferies initiates coverage on French electrical parts distributor Rexel RXL.PA with a "hold" rating as it sees "not enough spark" to justify a sustainable valuation re-rating
(*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.)
(Reporting by Boleslaw Lasocki and Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk)
((boleslaw.lasocki@thomsonreuters.com; mathias.derozario@thomsonreuters.com))