BUZZ-Top of the Street: Roche, Axel Springer, Kingfisher, Halma

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

** Roche: Liberum upgrades to "buy", citing reduced biosimilar risks following the Medicare rule change, shares having underperformed Novartis (IOB: 0QLR.IL - news) by 17% since March and significant value on offer from continued delivery by R&D engine

** Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) cuts Axel Springer (Swiss: SPR.SW - news) to "equal weight" saying share price has continued to rise since positive Q3 results and now broker lacks confidence on further upside

** Jefferies raises Kingfisher (Frankfurt: 812861 - news) to "buy" reflecting growing confidence that disruption impact of 'ONE Kingfisher' strategy is over; "ONE Kingfisher" plan involves unifying product ranges across the business, improving e-commerce capabilities and driving efficiencies

** Numis downgrades Halma (Frankfurt: 865047 - news) to "hold" as stock is 'reassuringly expensive' with FY 2017 P/E at 32.7x and broker sees FY 2018 P/E of 30.6x

** Berenberg upgrades meat casings producer, Viscofan (Amsterdam: VF6.AS - news) , to "buy", saying co will emerge as ultimate structural industry winner, largely at expense of smaller players

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Societe Generale (Swiss: 519928.SW - news) initiates coverage of Rubis (LSE: 0MUI.L - news) with "buy", saying that market positions appear secure and an intensive M&A strategy will likely continue to boost EPS growth and valuation

(*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)