BUZZ-Top of the Street: BAT, Inditex, Provident Financial

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

** Exane BNP Paribas raises British American Tobacco (Kuala Lumpur: 4162.KL - news) to "outperform", saying that while it is early days for BAT's tobacco heating product glo, the initial signs are very encouraging

The broker which now rates 3 out of 5 covered tobacco companies "outperform", says it is "an intriguing time for the industry"

** Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) raises Inditex (Amsterdam: IT6.AS - news) to "overweight" for the first time since late 2012, heavily dependent on its view that consensus forecasts for FY 2017/18 will prove materially too low

** Top-ranked Numis analyst James Hamilton resumes coverage of Provident Financial (Other OTC: FPLPF - news) with "hold" rating, saying that in line with co guidance the brokerage's numbers show more growth with lower margins and greater operating efficiency

(*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 & 24 -month periods)