A round-up of notable broker activity from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:
** Morgan Stanley downgrades Swiss dental implant maker Straumann STMN.S to "underweight" from "equal-weight", citing pressures on U.S. volume growth
** Berenberg downgrades BASF BASFn.DE to "sell" from "hold" saying that consensus earnings estimates appears too high as the German chemicals company deals with tough economic conditions and overcapacity
** UBS upgrades Swiss cement maker Holcim HOLN.S and Germany's Heidelberg Materials HEIG.DE to "buy" from "neutral", while initiating Austrian brick maker Wienerberger WBSV.VI with a "sell" rating
The broker describes as Holcim "the purest way to play a new regime for European cement".
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** Exane BNP Paribas reinstates its coverage of Orsted ORSTED.CO with a "neutral" rating, as political and operational risks faced by the Danish wind power group overshadow the stock's cheap price
(*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 Maciag and Bernadette Hogg)
((Marta.maciag@thomsonreuters.com; Bernadette.Hogg@thomsonreuters.com))