Top of the Street: Valeo, Azimut, Gjensidige, Kingfisher, Stora Enso, Schroders, SEB

Gjensidige Forsikring ASA

29/01/2024 12:20

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** HSBC raises French car parts maker Valeo  VLOF.PA  to
"buy" from "hold", seeing a recovery for the company driven by
reversing semiconductor cycle and stable pricing
    ** Barclays cuts Italian asset manager Azimut  AZMT.MI  to
"equal weight" from "overweight", saying the momentum has not
turned positive yet for asset gatherers due to sub-optimal flow
mix
    ** Jefferies downgrades Norwegian insurer Gjensidige
Forsikring  GJFG.OL  to "hold" from "buy", as it expects
elevated weather claims to continue to act as a margin headwind
in Q1
    ** RBC cuts European home improvement retailer Kingfisher
 KGF.L  to "sector perform" from "outperform", saying it is
cautious on outlook for France and consensus earnings near term
    ** Inderes cuts Stora Enso  STERV.HE  to "sell" from
"reduce" saying price pressures in certain products, tight wood
market and negative forecast risks persist for the Finnish
forestry firm even if it is likely to guide for 2024 earnings
growth against last year's low levels
    ** Exane BNP Paribas cuts British fund manager Schroders
 SDR.L   to "underperform" from "neutral", as it expects
pressures to intensify in the core business and slowing momentum
in growth areas
    ** UBS cuts SEB  SEBa.ST  to "neutral" from "buy" citing
downside risks to consensus forecasts for the Swedish lender,
and saying it is cautious on 2025 credit losses and above
consensus on expenses

    
(*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 Ozan Ergenay and Antonis Triantafyllou)
 ((ozan.ergenay@thomsonreuters.com,
antonis.triantafyllou@thomsonreuters.com))