BUZZ-Top of the Street: Richemont, Air France-KLM, Sanofi

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

** Richemont: Exane BNP Paribas raises to "outperform"

** "We see a wholesale-dependent lagged peak supporting hard luxury in FY18E, jewellery exposure, self-help in the specialist watchmakers division, ample loss-reduction potential at Dunhill and Lancel...," broker says

** Also sees opportunities for placing (part of) YNAP stake, progress in shaping the new senior management organisation and a more muted FX impact than at other European names

** Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) upgrades Air France-KLM (LSE: 0LN7.L - news) to "hold" on valuation, FCF

** Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) double downgrades Sanofi (LSE: 0O59.L - news) to "underweight" on limited pipeline upside/catalysts. Broker lowers 2020 sales and EPS forecasts on slow recent launches and a tough year ahead for the diabetes franchise

** Macquarie raises Siemens Gamesa to "neutral", with stock now in line with its TP (suffered steep drop in Nov); says co's self-help programme and positive developments in India could result in a "compelling recovery trade" in 2019

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) starts on Spirax-Sarco with "equal-weight" noting stock valuation already reflects co's high-quality

(*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.)