Shares in Legal & General climb 1.6 percent to bethird-top risers on Britain's FTSE 100, with tradersciting the impact of a rating upgrade from Bernstein, whichhighlights the insurer's growth potential.
"We upgrade Legal & General to Outperform on the basis ofour belief in the group's ability to deliver higher thancurrently anticipated earnings growth, and the anticipatedeffective deployment of excess capital, in the form of furtherdividend return and investment," Bernstein says in a note.
Bernstein lifts its full-year 2013 and 2014 earningsestimates by 5 percent and 6 percent.
Thomson Reuters StarMine data shows that L&G has a lowerestimated price/earnings ratio than many of its peers.
According to the StarMine "SmartEstimate", which favourstop-rated analysts, L&G trades on a 12-month forwardprice/earnings ratio of 11.6 times against Prudential,for example, on 12.3 times, and Standard Life, on 13times.
Reuters messagingrm://tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net