Top of the Street: Ahold Delhaize, ABN Amro, Smith+Nephew, Leonteq

Leonteq AG

16/03/2022 12:55

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** Kepler Cheuvreux ups U.S.-Dutch Ahold Delhaize  AD.AS  to
"buy" from "hold" saying the stock is "a good place to hide in
the sector" thanks to its presence in the United States, where
consumers, far from the war in Ukraine, are less likely to be
affected by the energy crisis and food price inflation
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2VJ27P
    ** HSBC upgrades "overly de-rated" Dutch bank ABN Amro
 ABNd.AS  to "buy" from "hold", and lowers French Credit
Agricole  CAGR.PA  to "hold" from "buy" on a "relatively
vulnerable" looking near-term dividend  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2VJ1M2
    ** Jefferies raises British holiday package provider On The
Beach Group  OTB.L  to "hold" from "underperform", noting its
valuation now adequately reflects caution around the business
model gaining share and repairing the brand  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2VJ2IZ
    ** UBS cuts Dutch health technology company Philips  PHG.AS 
to "neutral" from "buy" citing headwinds from product recall and
litigation overhang, as well as valuation versus peers
      
    INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
    ** RBC starts "under-priced" Smith+Nephew  SN.L  with
"outperform", saying it has the potential for revenue and margin
growth from Sports Medicine and Ambulatory Surgical Centers, its
CORI surgical robot and new cement-less knee portfolio, and
operational improvement programme
    ** Credit Suisse initiates financial technology firm Leonteq
 LEON.S  with "outperform" on its growth potential and dividend
payouts  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2VJ1KO
    
(*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 Dagmarah Mackos and Aleksandra Jasiurska)
 ((Aleksandra.jasiurska@thomsonreuters.com))