UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Mettler-Toledo Ahead of Anticipated Growth Inflection

In a report published Friday, Morgan Stanley analyst Daniel Brennan initiated coverage on Mettler-Toledo International MTD with an Overweight rating and $271.00 price target. In the report, Morgan Stanley noted, “Stock has lagged as growth disappointed given China/global macro weakness, despite strong execution on margins and EPS growth. With growth set to improve in 2014, we see good entry point on MTD shares. Strong pricing power, a dominant, scale advantaged franchise enabling steady share gains, combine to yield mid single organic growth thru a cycle, superior to most peers. An appealing capital deployment strategy - limited M&A, steady share buybacks, investing back into core business - leads to a high ROIC, which has a tight linkage to valuation historically in the tools sector.” Mettler-Toledo International closed on Thursday at $223.96.