Top of the Street: Kingfisher, Naturgy, paper & packaging firms

Holmen AB

09/07/2024 13:15

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** RBC raises Naturgy  NTGY.MC  to "sector perform" from
"underperform" following a stock price correction after TAQA and
Criteria dropped a plan to jointly bid for the Spanish utility
    ** Deutsche Bank raises British home improvement retailer
Kingfisher  KGF.L  to "buy" from "hold", citing "robust" income
growth, increased consumer confidence, political stability, and
inflation coming under control
    ** Exane BNP Paribas raises Voestalpine  VOES.VI  to
"outperform" from "neutral" as it views the Austrian specialty
steelmaker as well-positioned with its leading contract
exposure, resilient value-add mix and large non-steel businesses
    
    INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
    ** Wolfe Research initiates credit data firm Experian
 EXPN.L  with "peer perform" rating, citing its fair valuation
and noting more upside potential in other sector firms
    ** KBC Securities initiates coverage of Aalberts  AALB.AS  
with "accumulate" rating saying the semiconductor end-market
holds the highest organic growth potential for the Dutch
industrial group 
        ** Stifel starts coverage of pulp, paper and packaging
sector on an upbeat view, assigning nine "buy" and six "hold"
ratings, as it expects a marked recovery in apparent demand
following 12-18 months of destocking
  
        ** It starts Swedish paper products maker Holmen
 HOLMb.ST ,  Swedish forestry firm SCA  SCAb.ST , and Finnish
forestry firm Stora Enso  STERV.HE  with "hold" rating
  
        ** It gives its "buy" rating for British paper and
packaging firms DS Smith  SMDS.L  and Mondi  MNDI.L , Finnish
forestry firm 
    UPM
      UPM.HE  and French glass packaging producer Verallia
 VRLA.PA  
  

    
(*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 Marta Serafinko, Anastasiia Kozlova)
 ((marta.serafinko@thomsonreuters.com))