UPDATE: Wedbush Initiates Coverage on Lumber Liquidators on Successful Company Transformation

In a report published Friday, Wedbush analyst Seth Basham initiated coverage on

with an Outperform rating and $125.00 price target. In the report, Wedbush noted, “We believe CEO Rob Lynch has transformed LL into a best-in-class vertically-integrated growth retailer with enormous tailwinds supporting a medium-term 30% EPS growth rate on top of 63% growth in 2013. Despite the stock's strong run, we see continued upside driven by fundamental outperformance and expect resolution to the sourcing issue overhang in due course. LL shares have been under pressure recently primarily due to concerns over its Asian sourcing operations. We spent considerable time investigating these operations and suppliers by consulting experts on Asian flooring imports and Chinese resources. We found no evidence of widespread negligence and believe this issue will be resolved in isolation, with minimal repercussions. Moreover, if there was illegal sourcing, it is extremely unlikely that it was a significant driver of gross margin expansion for LL as potentially illegally sourced wood types represent a small portion of LL sales.” Lumber Liquidators closed on Thursday at $97.56.