Benzinga's Initiation Summary for June 20, 2012

Listed below are today's Top Initiations covered by Benzinga:

JP Morgan notes, "While this is the best version of Huntington that we have seen in over a decade, it's still a laggard on many key metrics. Huntington has emerged from the financial crisis as a classic turnaround story. Despite meaningful progress, however, on the surface compared to peers, HBAN has (1) less capital, (2) still worse credit quality, (3) a lower NIM, (4) greater volatility of PTPP income and (5) greater regulatory scrutiny and costs given that the bank is over $50 billion in assets."

Piper Jaffray notes, "We are initiating coverage on Edwards with an OW rating and $12 PT (60+% upside) as we believe the company, as a leader in vacuum and abatement systems, likely benefits from : a) Sustained '13 WFE spending (+3% yoy) and a rising vacuum intensity (5.6% of Wafer Fab Equipment spend) that will likely drive its '13 semi revenues by 10% yoy to £275m b) Diversified customer base (>20,000 customers) that enables revenues to be resilient through the cycle, and c) improving gross margins over the next 8 quarters (by 200bps) as the company likely reaps the benefits of its multi year restructuring."

Deutsche Bank notes, “We expect Edwards Group the leading vacuum and abatement equipment provider to demonstrate above average revenue/earnings growth and strong cross cycle cash generation/margin profile due to its dominant position in semis as well a exposure to the general vacuum segment. We believe the company ha incremental revenue opportunity of at least $100M/year when the EUV segment ramps going forward. Exposure to Intel (Buy, $27.51) and share gain at key foundries should offer near-term stability in an uncertain macro environment.”

Goldman Sachs comments, "Edwards trades at just 6X normalized EPS and 6X EV/EBITDA, and we expect EPS to grow at a highsingle-digit CAGR cycle to cycle as it (1) benefits from growth beyond the semi end market in areas such as industrial; (2) better capitalizes on its large installed base as it is currently capturing just 35% of the service opportunity on its own pumps; (3) reduces net debt from 1.8X post IPO to about 1X next year, contributing 10%-15% to our out-year EPS estimates."

Cantor Fitzgerald says, "Recent execution has been flawless, in our opinion, reflecting strong comps, continued improvements in shrink, lower occupancy costs, and strong leverage of direct store expenses. The prospects for further earnings beats and another FY:12 guidance raise are likely, in our view. With WFM executing at the highest level in its operating history, the underlying earnings power from existing operations and improved profitability for new stores is still not fully appreciated, in our view."