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STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UCB up as Barclays upgrades to "overweight"

Reuters - UK Focus

Shares in Belgian pharmaceutical group UCB (Other OTC: UCBJY - news) rise 1.3 percent, among the top risers on the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, with traders citing an upgrade to "overweight" from "equal weight" at Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) as reviving interest in the shares.

The stock has risen 8.6 percent in the 12 months to Wednesday, lagging a 21 percent rally for the MSCI Europe Mid Cap Health Care index, Datastream data shows.

Barclays says this was due to a lack of announcements on new drugs and competition from generic drugs and argues this will change in the medium term.

"We believe medium-term investors will look through a near-term earnings shortfall to under appreciated operating leverage," Barclays writes in a note to clients.

Reuters messaging rm://robertjan.bartunek.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net