UPDATE: Bank of America Raises Price Objective on Express, Management Meetings Explore Growth Opportunities

In a report published on Friday Bank of America analyst, Lorraine Hutchinson, raised the PO on

from $24 to $26 and maintained its Buy rating on the company. In the report Bank of America commented, "We hosted meetings with Express management and came away with increased confidence in the company's current sales momentum and strategy. Management's tone was good and we think that the comp acceleration achieved in May has continued. The company reiterated its long term goal of achieving 13% operating margins, and may be able to exceed that mark if the outlet and international growth strategies are successful. The recent assortment strength gives us confidence in Express's go-to-market strategy, as issues last year were largely a function of straying from the process. This year's more productive line was developed with better adherence to the usual test and react playbook. We expect a strong assortment and merchandising execution to support improving comps and margin trends over the next few years. We maintain our Buy rating and are raising our price objective to $26 to reflect confidence in the strategy." Express opened on Friday at $22.75.