Morgan Stanley ups Talanx to 'overweight' on both near and longer-term strengths

Talanx AG

02/05/2025 10:43

** Morgan Stanley upgrades its rating for Talanx TLXGn.DE to "overweight" from "equal-weight", seeing both near-term and longer-term potential for the German insurer

** Broker states that Talanx's earnings per share growth of over 8% on annualised basis is very well supported by underlying balance sheet strength and resilience

** Analyst cites Talanx's sustainable book value growth from its 50.2% stake in Hannover Re HNRGn.DE and low exposure to current macro challenges, including U.S. tariffs

** It adds that they estimate Talanx's "bolt-on" M&A optionality at over 4 billion euros ($4.53 billion), which is not captured in MS' base case

** Morgan Stanley says even disregarding Hannover Re at market value by looking only at the primary business valuation, Talanx does not screen as particularly expensive at 7x forward earnings

** Of seven analysts covering Talanx, five rate stock as "hold," one as "buy," and one as "sell"

($1 = 0.8826 euros)

 (Reporting by Maria Rugamer)

 ((Maria.Rugamer@thomsonreuters.com))