BUZZ-Top of the Street: Micro Focus, easyJet, Outokumpu, ASML, NN Group

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

** Micro Focus International (Frankfurt: M7Q4.F - news) : 5-star rated Citi analyst cuts rating to "neutral", saying it sees flowback risks in the near-term post HPE deal completion among other things

** 4-star ranked Davy's analyst Stephen Furlong raises easyJet to "neutral" believing European low-cost carriers will continue to see improving pricing trends as peak summer is approaching

** Outokumpu (LSE: 0FJ8.L - news) : Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) see negative implications for run rates into 2018 and review their forecasts downwards, due to material drop in the Ferrochrome (FeCr) price; cut to "neutral"

** Citi analyst raises ASML (Milan: ASML.MI - news) to "buy" as the valuation has turned supportive again and says its conviction around long-term fundamentals remains intact

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** NN Group: Credit Suisse starts with "outperform", saying the market may be underestimating earnings/synergy potential of combined group after the merger with Delta Lloyd (Euronext: DL.NX - news) , as well as management actions to improve capital

(*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)