UPDATE: Oppenheimer Upgrades WW Grainger to Outperform Following 2013 Guidance

Oppenheimer raised its rating on WW Grainger (NYSE: GWW) from Perform to Outperform and reduced its price target from $225 to $220 following the company's Annual Analyst Meeting.

Oppenheimer commented, "EPS guidance of $10.85-12.00 compared to $12.05 consensus, and includes a mild recession at the low end. We believe guidance overall takes a conservative approach, and on the recent pullback, we are upgrading to Outperform based on (1) long-term US and global market share runway and solid margin drivers, (2) our expectation of defensive financial characteristics, given risky macro (while retaining strong cyclical leverage), and (3) expectation that pace of share gain (which has ebbed) will re-accelerate at some point as management tweaks the various approaches to growing market share."

WW Grainger closed at $187.08 on Thursday.

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