** Analysts at Morgan Stanley raise price target on Australia's Coles COL.AX to A$21.7 from A$18.4; upgrades stock rating to "over-weight" from "equal-weight"

** Brokerage hails top-line growth performance at the country's second-largest retailer

** Says Coles has fit-for-purpose supply chain with ample runway to capture efficiency gains and various sustainable drivers of gross profit margins

** Coles has taken 30 basis points of relative share from rival Woolworths' WOW.AX over 1H24-1H25, driven by better consumer price perception, optimised promo spend and share gains from WOW industrial action

** Brokerage adds COL's ability to take 50% incremental share of WOW's lost sales during the industrial action period in Q2 suggests a material step up in the quality of COL's supply chain

** COL up 0.6% YTD

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru)

((Rishav.Chatterjee@thomsonreuters.com))