Exane BNP Paribas refreshes preferences on Nordic telecoms

** "Out with the old, in with the new" - Exane BNP Paribas updates views on Nordic Telecoms after its new annual prioprietary consumer survey STAMP 2024 (Survey of Telecom & Media Preferences)

** It double upgrades Telenor TEL to "outperform" expecting the company can grow FCF faster than consensus expects and enough to cover the dividend

** The broker sees that Telenor, the best-ranked Nordic telecom on STAMP, can cut costs in Norway, bringing down capex and increasing Asian dividends

** "Still a star but shining less brightly", the brokerage says of Elisa ELISA, and double downgrades the company to "underperform"

** It points out that the gap versus Elisa's Finnish peers has narrowed; the broker still expects the company to grow faster than European peers, but by a smaller margin and by less than consensus expects

** The brokerage cuts Tele2 TEL2_A to "neutral", cuts target price by 1% to SEK 88, citing a deterioration in fixed-line customer perceptions and that the shares are trading close to the broker's target price following the Iliad stake purchase

** The broker maintains "neutral" rating on Telia TELIA