BUZZ-Top of the Street: Ericsson, Sky Plc, BHP

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

** Kepler upgrades Ericsson (Hanover: ERCB.HA - news) to "hold" from "reduce", expecting large margin upside, as risk-reward looks more neutral

** Jefferies lifts Sky Plc (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) to "buy" from "hold" seeing merger approval prospects favourable and says shareholders could hold out for a better offer

** Citi raises BHP to "buy" from "hold" on a share price selloff, saying latest commodity price changes have caused earnings upgrades for 2018-2019

INITIATIONS:

** Sodexo: Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) starts with a "buy" rating saying it sees Sodexo as a 'safe haven' with a track record of structural and consistent earnings growth and solid cash generation

** Deutsche Bank initiates coverage of Compass with a "hold" rating, as it deems the group "high quality" and sees limited risks from investing in Compass given its strong track record

** Prefers Sodexo vs. Compass due to its margin catch-up potential and 20% lower valuation (FY18E EV/EBIT, Deutsche Bank analyst adds)

** Edenred (LSE: 0MUM.L - news) : Deutsche Bank starts with "hold" rating, saying sees some benefits in the shift towards Expense Management and favourable factors ahead (currency move, full integration of acquisitions)

(*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)