A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:
** J.P. Morgan cuts British luxury brand Burberry BRBY.L to "underweight" from "neutral," saying consensus might be too optimistic on the improvements expected for next year and beyond
** JPM also downgrades German chemical company Evonik EVKn.DE as several large capacity expansions planned in China could worsen the industry oversupply from 2028, exerting pressure on Evonik's pricing and margins
** Berenberg cuts British betting firm Evoke EVOK.L to "hold" from "buy," citing an expected impact of UK taxes to earnings while it sees little reason for the company's shares to rerate in the short term
** The brokerage raises Mowi MOWI.OL to "buy" from "hold," expecting the Norwegian salmon farmer to benefit from significantly higher prices and lower costs in 2026
** Bernstein double downgrades Premier Inn owner Whitbread WTB.L to "underperform" from "outperform," as business rate payment changes deal a material hit to profitability
INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
** Exane BNP Paribas initiates UK industrial groups Weir Group WEIR.L, Smiths Group SMIN.L and IMI IMI.L with "outperform" rating, and Rotork ROR.L and Halma HLMA.L with "neutral"
** In a sector note on Multi-Industry, Goldman Sachs starts German truck and rail break manufacturer Knorr Bremse KBX.DE and German food tech firm Rational RAAG.DE, as well as Sweden's Addtech ADDTb.ST and Trelleborg TRELb.ST, with "buy" rating and initiates Swedish Indutrade INDT.ST with "neutral" rating
(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. The scale is from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being the best. Analysts are ranked on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)
(Reporting by Tiago Brandao and Boleslaw Lasocki)
((Tiago.Brandao@thomsonreuters.com; boleslaw.lasocki@thomsonreuters.com))