UPDATE: Cowen Upgrades Macerich

In a report published Wednesday, Cowen analyst James Sullivan upgraded

to Outperform from Market Perform, raising its price target to $70.00 from $59.00. According to the report, the success of recent projects has alleviated the analyst's concerns about MAC's development pipeline. MAC has also materially improved the quality of its portfolio through asset sales. It is believed that the company is well positioned to handle any increases in store closures by JCP and SHLD and to benefit from the favorable sector fundamentals. “Through a combination of successful execution of its development/redevelopment pipeline and dispositions over the last three years, Macerich has materially improved the quality of its portfolio which leaves the company very well positioned to handle an accelerated level of anchor store closings and generate above average levels of SSNOI growth,” the report noted. “While we have had concerns regarding both Santa Monica Place and The Fashion Outlets of Chicago, both projects have been very successful. Macerich expects The Fashion Outlets of Chicago to rank within its top 20 assets ranked by sales per square foot which have sales productivity in the $593 - $1,040/sq ft range. Santa Monica Place has also been a success, as of 3Q13 the asset had TTM sales of $716/sq ft. The redevelopment pipeline totals ~$1 billion with large projects such as Tysons Corner and The Fashion Outlets of Niagara expected to be completed by the end of 2015.” MAC closed Tuesday at $58.92 with shares trading up at 1.15 percent.