Top of the Street: Diageo, Kingspan, Novonesis, Rockwool, Talanx
25/03/2026 11:25
A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts: ** Citigroup raises Danish biotechnology group Novonesis NSISb.CO to "buy" from "sell", citing its "sharp" valuation reset and a more-resilient-than-expected operating outlook ** Exane BNP Paribas upgrades UK spirits maker Diageo DGE.L to "neutral" from "underperform" as the stock's valuation now better reflects its mid-term growth profile following material underperformance against the sector over the last 12 months ** Morgan Stanley raises British specialty chemicals maker Croda CRDA.L to "overweight" from "equal weight", pointing to the company's superior pricing agility to pass on input inflation to its customers ** UBS upgrades Swiss packaging firm SIG Group SIGNC.S to "buy" from "neutral", citing the solid performance of key driver aseptic carton with incremental support from new leadership, CEO and room for portfolio optimisation INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS ** J.P. Morgan starts German insurance company Talanx TLXGn.DE at "overweight", saying the market undervalues the group's primary insurance arm relative to its 50.2% stake in Hannover Re HNRGn.DE ** RBC initiates Irish group Kingspan KSP.I at "outperform", expecting the firm's organic growth to beat the building materials peer group by roughly 6.2% over 2026-28, driven by acceleration in its ADVNSYS business, gains in U.S. roofing market share and continued strength in insulated panels ** RBC also initiates Denmark's Rockwool ROCKb.CO at "sector perform", citing limited near-term upside and a lack of catalysts following the seizure of its Russian assets, but seeing longer-term support from rising insulation demand driven by tighter energy-efficiency, building code regulations (*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 Marta Serafinko and Clement Martinot in Gdansk) ((marta.serafinko@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 66 00; ))