Piper Jaffray Overweight on Bridgepoint Education

Piper Jaffray is out with a research report on Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI) and it has an Overweight rating and a $31 price target on shares.

In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "We believe BPI's shares are among the most interesting in the sector based on its differentiated positioning, appealing long-term growth prospects, and sharply below sector average valuation. While patience will be required given uninspiring near-term earnings (consistent with our expectations for the post-secondary industry broadly), we think the risk/reward is appealing given an 8.2x 2012E P/E (5.7x net of cash) relative to our expectation of mid-teens long-term sustainable EPS growth."

Shares of BPI closed at $19.46 on Friday.