Citi upgrades URW to 'buy' on expected rental growth, shares rise

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE

17/04/2024 10:12

** Shares of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield  URW.PA  rise 2.5% to
74.60 euros per share after Citigroup upgrades the French
shopping mall owner to "buy" from "neutral"
    ** Citi raises URW's PT to 85.2 euros from 52.5 euros,
saying it expects rental growth and easing interest rates to
enable higher asset sales
    ** "We remove our deep recession view on rents," Citi says,
but adds it remains cautious that URW's U.S. and European
portfolio could be overvalued
    ** The broker says its rental value estimates have moved
from 2.7% to 4.4% average yearly growth rate in its property
valuation model, which improves the estimated risk on property
values from -10% to +15%
    ** Out of 18 analysts that cover URW, ten rate the stock
"strong buy" or "buy", ​five "hold" and three​ "strong sell" or
"sell
    ** Including Wednesday's rise, the stock has gained 11.5%
YTD​

 (Reporting by Shivani Tanna)