UPDATE: Nomura Equity Research Upgrades SPX Corporation to Buy, Raises PT

In a report published Friday, Nomura Equity Research upgraded its rating on SPX Corporation

from Neutral to Buy, and raised its price target from $69.00 to $80.00. Nomura Equity noted, “SPX has sold off on high volume this week, as we think news of a potential acquisition of Gardner Denver (GDI) has disappointed investors who have been attracted to the company‟s path of divestitures, deleveraging, and buyback. We were not expecting a large deal either and the outcome remains unclear, but we view the risk/reward as favorable. Based on our understanding of SPW‟s credit covenants, we think the company may be able to acquire GDI within its 3.5x leverage covenant. Given the uncertainty of the outcome, we are basing our new target price on a 50/50 probability of these two estimates and setting our target at $80, based on 14x $5.70 of EPS (flow peer group median multiple).” SPX Corporation closed on Thursday at $60.86.