Top of the Street: Equinor, National Grid, British Land, European semiconductors and carmakers

Osram Licht AG

17/02/2022 11:55

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** HSBC raises Norway's gas and oil firm Equinor  EQNR.OL 
to "buy" from "hold", saying the stock has outperformed its peer
group by 13% since mid-2021, adding there could be more
outperformance to come if gas prices in Europe stay higher for
longer  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2US3TM
    ** Morgan Stanley cuts British energy transmission and
distribution company National Grid  NG.L  to "equal-weight" from
"overweight" on recent strength
    ** Jefferies cuts UK-based real estate company British Land
 BLND.L  to "underperform" from "hold", citing the collapse of
retail values and recently introduced stricter procedures for
property valuation
    ** Jefferies is negative on European semiconductors'
short-term outlook amid a downward market cycle
    ** The brokerage rates Infineon  IFXGn.DE ,
STMicroelectronics  STM.MI  and Melexis  MLXS.BR  as
"underperform" and AMS Osram  AMS.S  at "hold" on limited growth
prospects for 2022 caused by supply shortage, possible inventory
correction and earnings weakness  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2US358
    ** Jefferies favours Alphawave  AWE.L , ASML Holding
 ASML.AS  and ASM International  ASMI.AS , all rated "buy",
citing robust outlook on rising logic/foundry investments at
advanced nodes and increasing capex intensity and semiconductor
nationalism  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2US358
    INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
    ** JP Morgan resumes coverage of Italian energy group Eni
 ENI.MI  with "overweight" rating, citing upside to cash
returns, value crystallisation, and top-quartile free cash flow
(FCF) leverage to demand recovery  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2US3F9
    ** HSBC initiates coverage of Swedish information
technologies provider Hexagon  HEXAb.ST  with "buy",
highlighting its transformational ability and track record of
strong growth prospects and margin expansion
    ** Credit Suisse starts with "outperform" rating on
Germany's car and motorcycle manufacturer BMW  BMWG.DE , saying
it's their top pick in European Autos 
    ** The brokerage points out the Bavarian carmaker has one of
the highest xEV penetration rates among legacy OEMs, and is very
likely to double Battery EV sales this year  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2US3M5
    ** Credit Suisse also starts with "outperform" rating on
Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE , citing it's "unmatched" EUR 89 bln
pledge towards future technologies by 2026  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2US3M5
    
    
(*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 Anna Banacka and Sarah Morland)
 ((Anna.banacka@thomsonreuters.com;
Sarah.morland@thomsonreuters.com))