Top of the Street: Hexpol, Amundi, URW, European building materials
26/02/2021 11:42
A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
** UBS upgrades Amundi AMUN.PA to "buy" from "neutral",
citing French asset manager's attractive valuation, recent
underperformance, strong excess capital position and
improving retail flows
** UBS also raises Westfield-owner Unibail URW.AS to
"neutral" from "sell"
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** "All mixed up; time to take profits" says Berenberg and
initiates Hexpol HPOLb.ST with "sell", adding it expects
rising raw material prices to burden Swedish polymers group's
core business and pressure margins in the next two years
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2KW2W8
** Deutsche Bank starts coverage of the European lightside
building materials sector
** The brokerage notes UK's Kingspan KSP.I ("hold")
benefits from regulation, penetration and M&A; however, it is
also caught in the UK cladding crisis
** DB says Geberit's GEBN.S (also "hold") margins are
peaking, market shares are already high and the Swedish company
is distributing most of its free cash flow via dividends or
share buyback, while valuation has reverted to peak levels
** DB considers Swedish firm Sika SIKA.S ("buy") the best
pick in the sector, offering 6-8% annual growth and a credible
margin story
(*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.)
((jagoda.darlak@tr.com; michal.aleksandrowicz@tr.com))