BUZZ-Top of the Street: Daimler, ArcelorMittal, Umicore, Enel

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

** Daimler (IOB: 0NXX.IL - news) : Five-star Exane BNP Paribas ups to "neutral" on high exposure to growing China premium demand among other things

** HSBC ups National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) to "buy" as it expects UK energy regulator Ofgem to defer next electricity transmission price controls by 2 yrs

** Natixis (LSE: 0IHK.L - news) says advertisers may sacrifice long-term margin targets and be prepared to spend cash to spur growth; raises WPP (Swiss: OXWPP.SW - news) to "buy"

** Five-star ABN Amro analyst Mutlu Gundogan adds Umicore (Hamburg: 3771399.HM - news) to conviction list as market underestimates growth of co's battery segment, both in terms of revenue and earnings

** Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) raises world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal (LSE: 0NSF.L - news) to "buy" as structural changes are set to act in co's favour (industry consolidation, tightening US/European policies, China capicity curtailment)

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** SocGen (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) calls Enel (Swiss: ENEL.SW - news) "best loved stock" in electric utilities sector as it views perceived risks to co's earnings and dividend outlook as overdone; starts with "buy", adding to 19 analysts already rating "buy" or higher

** Numis believes only BT's Openreach is prepared to deliver the scale, all-fibre infrastructure Britain wants, without spending NPV-negative capex; starts with "buy"

** JPMorgan (LSE: JPIU.L - news) initiates B&M European Value Retail with "neutral" as longer solid track record and/or new catalysts needed for next leg up; believes further re-rating could originate from replicating domestic success internationally

(*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)