UDPATE: Bank of America Upgrades Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers to Buy

Bank of America has published a research report on Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers RBA and has upgraded the company from Neutral to Buy after visiting the company's Orlando auction. In the report, Bank of America writes, "We upgrade RBA to a Buy as our recent visit at the Orlando auction indicates robust growth momentum into 1H12, driven by both healthy pricing and rising equipment volume. We think RBA should benefit from improving construction spending in the US, which appears to have bottom in mid-2011, and more normalized inventory level in the distribution channel. The company also appears to be past the peak of capex and G&A cost ramp-up, which together with higher fee structure (as of July '11), should result in attractive op leverage with volume turn. Following the meeting, we raise our '12/'13 EPS from $1.00/$1.20 to $1.12/$1.25, and remain above consensus." Bank of America has also raised the price objective from $24 to $30 on Ritchie Brothers, which is currently trading up $0.91 from yesterday's $24.62 closing price.