A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:
** J.P. Morgan raises German chipmaker Infineon IFXGn.DE to "overweight" from "neutral", saying it is a key beneficiary of the growth in AI power semiconductor demand and seeing evidence for car market stabilization
** RBC raises German kitchen equipment supplier Rational RAAG.DE to "sector perform" from "underperform" on a combination of strong Q4 results, confident growth and margin outlook, and heavy derating of the shares over the past 18 months
** RBC upgrades Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro NHY.OL to "outperform" from "sector perform" citing rising supply risks in the aluminium market linked to the Middle East conflict, while saying the group offers relatively defensive exposure in the European mining space
** Goldman Sachs cuts Lufthansa LHAG.DE to "sell" from "neutral", saying the airline group will be negatively impacted by the war in the Middle East in Q2 and Q3
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** Berenberg initiates Swiss software provider Temenos TEMN.S with "buy", saying its "specialised focus" on banking software provides a strong competitive advantage and resilient recurring revenue
(*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 Joao Manuel Mauricio and Rafal Nowak)
((JoaoManuel.VicenteMauricio@thomsonreuters.com; rafalwojciech.nowak@thomsonreuters.com))