Bank of America named a number of buy-rated European stocks its analysts are most positive on. The bank ranked stocks based on “beat factor” — its analysts’ most out-of-consensus stock ideas based on price objectives and earnings estimates — in its Aug. 11 research note. All names are from the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index. Defense group Thales tops BofA’s buy-rated beat factor list. The bank is 6% above consensus on the company, in terms of earnings per share for the 2023 fiscal year. Banks on BofA’s beat list include Dutch firm ING and French company BNP Paribas . It also named several new entries for August, such as luxury fashion company Moncler , British retailer Next and data firm Experian . Small and midsized companies BofA also named several small-to-midsized firms on a list of European Beat Factor Top 10 stocks, all of which it is buy-rated on. British engineering company Smiths Group topped the list, followed by Italian gas distributor Italgas and vegetable oil producer AAK . Computer accessories company Logitech , building materials firm Kingspan and low-cost airline Wizz Air also made the bank’s list. “Our analysts’ view on consumer staples and tech is the most positive relative to consensus, with their bottom-up projections pointing to 19% and 25% upside potential for the two sectors over the coming twelve months, while consensus expects upside potential of 12% and 19%, respectively,” the bank said. “Our analysts are most negative relative to consensus on real estate, expecting 16% upside potential for the sector over the coming year, below consensus at 24%,” BofA added.
