UPDATE: BTIG Initiates CNO Financial Group with Buy. $9.50 PT on Current Value

BTIG initiates its coverage on CNO Financial Group CNO with a Buy rating and a price target of $9.50. BTIG says, "We believe many investors' focus on CNO's checkered past may be distorting their view of the company's present, in which it features a meaningfully improved risk profile (lower debt, toxic liabilities spun off), improving fundamentals and a strong earnings growth outlook, robust free cash flow generation, an attractive market niche within the life insurance industry with limited competition and the ongoing benefit of large net operating loss carry-forwards (NOLs). And not to be overlooked is CNO's potential for significant capital deployment, which we believe will be a game-changer for the stock now that management has put the brakes on voluntary deleveraging and made share buybacks a priority." CNO closed at $7.39 on Monday.