BUZZ-Top of the Street: BBVA, Standard Life Aberdeen, Commerzbank

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

** "Too cheap to ignore," UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) says about BBVA (LSE: 931474.L - news) and ups the bank to "buy", also pointing to earnings (it sees c10% EPS CAGR 2018-19) and BBVA's stronger position in capital terms

** DB cuts Smith & Nephew (Frankfurt: 502816 - news) to "sell", citing the company's capacity of delivering only low single digit earnings growth

** Standard Life Aberdeen: Macquarie cuts to "neutral". "The proposed sale of Standard Life Assurance to Phoenix Group changes our thesis for Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) Aberdeen," the broker says

** Equinet Bank cuts Aareal Bank (Xetra: 540811 - news) to "neutral" as it sees its shares fairly valued at present without any share price triggers ahead

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Helvea starts with "buy" on Commerzbank (Xetra: CBK100 - news) , optimistic about the company's own growth estimates, revenue and interest rate environment, adding that Commerzbank should fully deliver on the current cost-cutting program, boosting the return on investment

(*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.)