Orange downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Emmet Kelly downgraded Orange (ORANY) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of EUR 12.50, down from EUR 15. The firm says recent escalations in French competition “bode badly” for the company. Given that France represents over half of Orange’s enterprise value, the asset is the most important in the company’s portfolio, and generating meaningfully positive EBITDA growth would be key for shares to outperform, the analyst tells investors in a research note.