Jefferies cuts Legrand on expanding gap to sector's top players, shares fall

** Jefferies downgrades Legrand LR to "underperform" from "hold" citing its widening growth gap to the top three players in the European electricals sector

** Shares of the French electrical and digital building infrastructure firm fall 7% to EUR 95.5

** Legrand is exposed to structurally challenged markets such as U.S. offices and weaker construction momentum in Europe, Jefferies says

** The analysts point to the company's lower organic growth and lack of margin expansion vs ABB ABBN, Siemens SIEMENS and Schneider SU

** They expect these three to grow 6.9% organically in FY25/26 vs 3.6% growth for Legrand, and cut the latter's PT by 16% to EUR 86 to reflect its estimated valuation discount of 15%

** Out of 21 analysts that cover Legrand, 12 rate the stock "strong buy" or "buy",​ five "hold" and four​ "strong sell" or "sell"