Top of the Street: Diageo, NN Group, Admiral, Aviva

NN

05/12/2024 13:07

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** Jefferies upgrades Diageo  DGE.L  to "buy" from "hold",
citing the spirits maker's renewed focus on growth, profit and
cash under a new CFO
    ** Goldman Sachs cuts Dutch insurer NN Group  NN.AS  to
"neutral" from "buy", saying recent performance issues in the
Netherlands Life segment limit its capital return potential
    ** Deutsche Bank upgrades British motor and home insurer
Admiral Group  ADML.L  to "buy" from "hold", citing improvements
in the group's international businesses and the positive impact
of UK pricing of 2023 
    ** Exane BNP Paribas upgrades another insurer, Aviva  AV.L ,
to "neutral" from "underperform" and says that even if its bid
for Direct Line Insurance  DLGD.L  does not go through, Aviva
could return the funds that would have been used in the
transaction to its investors
    ** J.P.Morgan downgrades Sika  SIKA.S  to "underweight" from
"neutral", expecting further rating cuts for the Swiss
industrial and construction chemicals company if its end-markets
don't recover as quickly as expected

    INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
 
    ** Kepler Cheuvreux initiates London-listed bottler Coca
Cola HBC  CCH.L  with "hold", citing risks such as its exposure
to Russia and economic volatility in Africa
    
    
(*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 Antonis Pothitos and Maria Luiza Amaral)
 ((antonis.pothitos@thomsonreuters.com;
mia.amaral@thomsonreuters.com))