UPDATE: Deutsche Bank Initiates Coverage on Casey's General Stores on Mixed Factors

In a report published Thursday, Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Short initiated coverage on Casey's General Stores CASY with a Hold rating and $70.00 price target. In the report, Deutsche Bank “We are initiating coverage of CASY with a Hold rating and a $70 price target. Our price target values the stock at an EV/EBITDA of 8.5x, and a PE of 17.9x. We have Hold rating for 4 reasons: 1) even though CASY continues to gain share – as evidenced by extremely robust in-store comps and positive traffic - ROIC has been declining since 4Q10 (ending April 2010), 2) during this same time period, CASY's EV/EBITDAR valuation multiple has been expanding - rising from 5.2x in 4Q10 to 8.7x today, while 3) the company's relative valuation multiple has also expanded, and 4) CASY ranks #13 out of 16 in our Universe Ranking.” Casey's General Stores closed on Wednesday at $72.67.