BUZZ-Top of the Street: Aegon, Sage, Ferrari
A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:
** Societe Generale (Swiss: 519928.SW - news) cuts Aegon (Swiss: AGN.SW - news) to "hold" & reduces earnings forecasts for co which it says is the most negatively exposed to strong euro among euro zone insurers; Bernstein starts Aegon with "market-perform" (see below)
** Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) raises Sage to "equal weight", saying that after a year of underperformance, having been solidly following the transition plan, co could revive market expectations
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) starts coverage of Ferrari (Xetra: 30092157.DE - news) with "neutral", saying it expects co's EBITDA to more than double by 2022 through volumes and price/mix
GS reckons Ferrari's quality & luxury characteristics merit a luxury multiple; post a strong run it sees more upside elsewhere in Autos on a 12-mth view, with the stock now trading on similar multiples to best-in-class player Hermes
** Bernstein starts coverage of Aegon with "market-perform". Says capital levels are (or will now be) adequate, but struggles with industrial logic of group in current form (e.g. euro-denominated divi funded 60% in $) & sees limited (if any) synergies
(*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)