BUZZ-Top of the Street: Lindt & Sprungli, Electrocomponents, WH Smith
A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:
** Berenberg cuts Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprungli to "hold" from "buy", highlighting limited upside and integration risk of Russell Stover in North America
** Peel Hunt raises Electrocomponents (LSE: ECM.L - news) to "add" from "hold" seeing c.14% upside potential for stock
** Stifel upgrades WH Smith (LSE: SMWH.L - news) to "buy" from "hold" following recent weakness in the share price
"Increasingly established International Travel credentials (£9m EBIT, +30% YoY), proven resistance to the Amazon threat and one of the most shareholder value-focused management teams in the sector give WH Smith shares a rightful place on our top picks list," broker says in a note on European consumer & retail stocks
(*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.)