Top of the Street: Banca Mediolanum, Equinor, Orsted, Pernod Picard, Tenaris

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

Jefferies downgrades Italy's Banca Mediolanum BMED.MI to "hold" from "buy", expecting downside risks to consensus EPS

RBC cuts Norwegian energy company Equinor EQNR.OL to "underperform" from "sector perform", citing that its free cash flow and distributions are set to lag peers amid rising gearing and softer gas prices

Barclays upgrades Pernod Ricard PERP.PA to "equal weight" from "underweight", saying it sees risks skewing to the upside for the French spirits maker

Barclays cuts Danish wind power developer Orsted ORSTED.CO to "underweight" from "equal-weight", citing continued pressure from the U.S. tariffs, Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and legislative uncertainties impacting both offshore and onshore wind

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

Exane BNP Paribas initiates coverage of Tenaris TENR.MI with "outperform" rating, as it sees the Italian steel pipe maker well equipped to navigate "choppier" market conditions this year, citing its unique exposure to LATAM upstream growth

(*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.)