Henkel gained ground on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Thursday, following a recommendation upgrade by Deutsche Bank, which was slightly less negative about the German consumer goods giant.

Henkel shares are currently up 1.7%, the second biggest gainer on the DAX behind Siemens (+1.8%), while the index is gaining 0.1% at the same time.

While he believes the company still has "a lot to prove", the analyst can't help noticing that the stock has lost 2.1% of its value since the start of the year, while the MSCI Europe has risen by 4% over the same period.

Knowing that its earnings per share (EPS) have outperformed by 15%, the PER on which the stock trades has now returned to 14x at 12 months, the research firm argues.

While it believes that the first-quarter publication will not lead to a downward revision of consensus estimates, Deutsche is concerned about the level of profit margins in adhesives.

As far as consumer brands are concerned, the professional points to the need to implement a cost-cutting program, but also sees a "considerable" need to invest in innovation.

He therefore raises his recommendation from "sell" to "hold", with a price target raised from 60 to 70 euros.

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