BUZZ-Top of the Street: Umicore, DCC, Electrocomponents, Bunzl

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

** Following Umicore's profit warning, 5-star analyst Berenberg cuts to "hold" saying "the bad news [for the company] has not stopped". It points to recent announcements of ramp-ups in capacity from competitors

** Stifel downgrades DCC to "hold", saying given the market's current unease about strategy, we are unlikely to see multiples expand from current levels

** The same broker says Electrocomponents' ability to continue to make meaningful adjustments as strategies mature will inevitably diminish and cuts to "hold"

** Morgan Stanley raises Sabadell to "overweight", believes improving visibility on both earnings and capital should drive a re-rating of the stock

** Bunzl gets downgraded to "hold" by Stifel, the broker sees no earnings growth in FY 2019 and a low single digit for the outer years

** Credit Suisse says scope for positive surprises for Cembra Money Bank appears limited and broker doesn't expect current growth initiatives to contribute noticeably to results within the next 2-3 years; cuts to "neutral"

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Partners Group: Deutsche Bank starts with "hold" as it believes rising demand for alternative assets, coupled with strong business momentum has created a highly predictable, visible and growing revenue stream at the company

(*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.)