UBS’ highest conviction global stock picks to beat the market

UBS has named its high conviction buy ideas across Europe and Asia. For Europe, including the U.K., UBS analysts came up with 32 buy recommendations “poised to captivate and elevate” investors’ portfolios. It included what it called “high quality value buy” names such as British pharmaceutical giant GSK , German semiconductor firm Infineon Technologies and U.K. tobacco company Imperial Brands . For the Southeast Asian region, it added stocks such as petroleum producer PTTEP and conglomerate SM Investments . These are its high conviction picks, which the bank released this month. UBS gave Dutch online food delivery firm Just Eat Takeaway the highest potential upside to its price target in its list — 91%. It says the firm is enjoying a “substantial self-help opportunity” through the rising efficiency of its delivery logistics. The bank added that the firm’s U.K. market is “defendable” because of its local scale and ongoing investments in “meaningful product drivers such as logistics, grocery and restaurant choice.” “We see a substantially undervalued core business composed of the visibly high quality Northern European segment and the more debated UK & I segment, which we believe to be at an inflection point in its competitive trajectory and poised for substantial profit over delivery,” the bank said, referring to the U.K. and Ireland. British low-cost airline EasyJet received a potential 51% upside from UBS, among the highest. UBS said EastJet traffic volumes are expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels of 2019, which it says should continue to generate higher profits for the group. “We think profits can still grow on the back of a benign fuel price, profitable volume additions at the airline and a material increase in the profitability from the holidays business,” the bank wrote. UBS gave new addition Infineon Technologies a potential 29% upside. It believes that the semiconductor firm can deliver more than 10% growth as the economy recovers. “We have long believed Infineon has the capacity to outperform the sector and deliver high-single-digit through-cycle growth, supported by rising EV penetration and the growing importance of energy efficiency benefiting other parts of the business,” it said. It says Infineon enjoys “some of the most compelling structural growth drivers” in the sector as a leader in power semiconductors — and is set to grow faster than its peers. UBS is also positive on GSK , another of its additions, citing a greater shift to newer HIV drugs and the “associated positive mix shift” to older adult vaccines. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.