Top of the Street: Persimmon, BASF, German autos, semiconductor suppliers

Symrise AG

03/12/2024 12:13

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** Citi upgrades UK homebuilder Persimmon  PSN.L  to "buy"
from "neutral" saying cost headwinds and concerns over earnings
recovery are reflected in the current valuation
    ** Baader Helvea ups BASF  BASFn.DE  to "buy" from "add"
citing the German chemicals group's mid-term recovery and growth
potential in the years to come
    ** UBS upgrades BMW  BMWG.DE  to "buy" from "neutral" saying
the automaker's improving FCF and cash returns make it an
attractive stock
    ** It cuts Mercedes Benz  MBGn.DE  to "neutral" from "buy"
on worse FCF trends and higher risks from CO2 regulation and
U.S. tariffs than BMW, and no product cycle support until late
in the year
    ** Kepler Chevreux cuts Symrise  SY1G.DE  to "hold" from
"buy", saying the flavour and fragrance maker's expensive
valuation and higher bond yields are offsetting its margin
targets which appear to be priced in
    ** Kepler cuts NN Group  NN.AS  to "hold" from "buy", citing
favourable inflation and a ruling on insurers by the Dutch
Supreme Court; reiterates its preference for peer ASR Nederland
 ASRNL.AS 
    
    INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
    ** BNP Paribas Exane resumes coverage of semiconductor
equipment suppliers ASML  ASML.AS  and ASM International
 ASMI.AS  with "outperform" and "neutral", respectively, saying
ASML might benefit from rising wafer demand due to U.S. tariffs,
while ASMI could be negatively impacted by further trade
restrictions with China
    
(*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 Gianluca Lo Nostro and Isabel Demetz)
 ((gianluca.lonostro@thomsonreuters.com;
isabel.demetz@thomsonreuters.com))