Exane BNP favors Vallourec over Tenaris

Tenaris SA

10/10/2025 10:26

** Exane BNP Paribas says it prefers French steel tubes maker Vallourec VLLP.PA over its Italian rival Tenaris TENR.MI in a weaker price environment

** It cuts its rating on Tenaris to "neutral" from "outperform", while keeping "outperform" on Vallourec

** The brokerage says the downgrade reflects a challenged outlook for oil country tubular goods (OCTG) makers, facing weaker prices and uncertainties around U.S. tariffs on tubes

** "Size is not everything, positioning is!," it says, expecting Vallourec to narrow its profitability and valuation gap with Tenaris over the next couple of years

** It highlights Vallourec's greater revenue exposure to markets with less investment risk such as the Middle East, Africa and APAC, and a possible takeover bid from ArcelorMittal MT.AS

(Reporting by Laura Contemori)

((Laura.contemori@thomsonreuters.com))