Top of the Street: DNB, Aena, Fraport, Intertek, Zurich Insurance Group
BUZZ-Top of the Street: DNB, Aena, Fraport, Intertek, Zurich Insurance Group A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:
** Goldman Sachs downgrades Norway's largest bank DNB DNB.OL to "sell" from "neutral", citing continued pressure on earnings from margin compression, further market share loss and a premium valuation
** Barclays upgrades Spanish airport operator Aena AENA.MC to "overweight" from "equal weight", noting that reduced uncertainty around its upcoming five-year regulatory settlement "unlocks the quality story"
** The brokerage also cuts Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport FRAG.DE to "equal weight" from "overweight", taking a more cautious view of Frankfurt's medium-term traffic recovery amid complex Lufthansa dependencies
** Jefferies downgrades UK quality assurance firm Intertek ITRK.L to "hold", noting the stock has "more limited upside" as it now trades in line with EQT's recent takeover offer and a competing bid appears unlikely
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** RBC initiates Swiss insurer Zurich Insurance Group ZURN.S at "outperform", anticipating US market growth and noting that the company has "demonstrated best-in-class execution over the past decade"
(*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 Rafal Nowak and Amir Orusov in Gdansk)
((RafalWojciech.Nowak@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 66 63;))