BUZZ-Top of the Street: Adidas, UK REITs, Antofagasta, Konecranes

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:

** Telsey Advisory Group raises Adidas (IOB: 0OLD.IL - news) to "outperform" on well-positioned global brands, US industry stabilisation, achievable operating margin target and attractive valuation

** 5-star ranked Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) cuts Land Securities (LSE: LAND.L - news) to "sell", expects limited activity from co as it waits for a correction in London office markets; says it is likely to have to wait some time, with no guarantee it will be able to invest sufficiently material amount

** Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) double downgrades Intu Properties (LSE: INTU.L - news) to "underperform", says Hammerson (Frankfurt: 876140 - news) 's recent takeover approach appears attractive for the co, but deterioration in UK retail since the deal was announced poses a risk to the transaction

** Canaccord Genuity (Frankfurt: A0B6V4 - news) ups Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) to "buy", says co's 20% total return profile now ranks second most attractive of the broker's UK copper coverage

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) initiates coverage of major UK banks, expects UK net interest margins to beat a pessimistic consensus with its earnings estimates 10% ahead of the street despite challenges rebuilding statutory profitability and dealing with Brexit

** Barclays starts Lloyds Banking Group with "overweight" as its "top pick", expects co to beat consensus on net interest margin

** On Royal Bank Of Scotland, Barclays initiates with "overweight", sees normalisation by 2020 after a resolution of legacy issues, which should enable RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) to generate returns ahead of cost of capital, resume dividends and start to ease the exit of the UK govt as a shareholder

** Barclays starts Standard Chartered (BSE: 580001.BO - news) with "underweight", sees good progress but the co's valuation is "discounting a much faster recovery in earnings than is realistic"

** For HSBC Holdings, Barclays starts with "equal weight", says it is encouraged by the co's revenue recovery, but valuation looks expensive

** Goldman Sachs starts Konecranes (LSE: 0MET.L - news) with "buy", sees accelerating topline on late-cycle industrial capex and better service growth after MHPS acquisition, expects EBITA to grow 3x as fast as the sector over the next 3 yrs

(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. Scale is from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being best. Analysts ranked on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)