BUZZ-Top of the Street: Kering, ABF, G4S, H&M, EDF

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

** Bernstein's Mario Ortelli, rated 5 stars for the coverage of Kering (LSE: 0IIH.L - news) , says luxury stocks' valuation is overheated ; downgrades Kering to market-perform v outperform (Gucci turnaround almost all priced in)

** Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF.L - news) : Top ranked Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Edwards raises to "buy", citing strong EBIT/cash flow progress, expects Primark to drive divisional EBIT growth in 2017-2021

** G4S (Copenhagen: G4S.CO - news) : "What will emerge from the chrysalis of the 'transformation strategy' is not entirely clear" says HSBC, downgrades co to "reduce"; broker adds G4S moves business lines in and out of its "portfolio" and "discontinued" segments, which makes it hard to discern trends in the business

** H&M : Ahead of Q1 results (March 30) Goldman Sachs cuts to "sell", adding that long lead time supply chain model, headwinds from a flat/declining clothing market and competition limit LFLs

** EDF SA: Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) raises to "neutral" and removes name from Pan-Europe sell list but continues to see structural headwinds

** E.ON: Macquarie upgrades to "outperform" basing its current rating on the near-term share price outperformance which the brokerage sees over the next 1-2 months following the co's long-awaited c. EUR 1.35 bln capital increase

** Casino SA: Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) sees French store profitability vastly higher, but still at modest levels, as it cuts to "neutral"; it identifies two new risks: intensifying competition within Greater Paris (from Amazon Prime Now and Carrefour (LSE: 0NPH.L - news) 's rebranded DIA (EUREX: 13086668.EX - news) stores) and the potential for increasing investment in its store estate

(*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.)