UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises PT to $92 on Ecolab on Inflection in International Investments

Piper Jaffray maintained Ecolab

with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $84.00 to $92.00. Piper Jaffray noted, "We maintain our Overweight rating on shares of ECL following the company's in-line 4Q print of $0.89 in EPS on $3.05 billion in revenues. Beyond the sustained outperformance in energy services, we are particularly encouraged by margin improvement in Europe (+250 bps) in 4Q as well as the outlook (+100 bps again in FY13). We believe we are just starting to see the fruits of the international investments, especially as growth in emerging regions enables further operating leverage. The 1Q13 guidance of $0.56 - $0.60 is in-line when the effect of Champion (which is not in guidance but is in many street models) is factored in." Ecolab closed at $75.84 on Tuesday.