UPDATE: Bank Of America Upgrades Tiffany & Co. On Positive Outlook

In a report published Thursday, Bank of America analyst Lorraine Hutchinson upgraded the rating on Tiffany & Co. TIF from Neutral to Buy, and raised the price target from $95.00 to $100.00. In the report, Bank of America noted, “We are upgrading Tiffany to Buy from Neutral as we think the strong comp trajectory in the Americas will continue, and we expect margins to rise. Under new leadership, Tiffany is in the very early stages of improving operations in its Americas store fleet. A new designer should bring an updated and elevated fashion aesthetic to the brand in key lines, without alienating the classic customer. We forecast continued margin expansion from a favorable commodity cost environment and higher selling prices. "We are raising our F2014 and F2015 EPS estimates by $0.08 and $0.19 to $4.15 and $4.60, respectively, and increasing our price objective to $100. Tiffany is currently trading at 19x our F2015 EPS estimate, in line with the global luxury peer average. The stock typically trades at a premium to the group when its NA business is accelerating, leaving room for multiple expansion to our $100 target.” Tiffany & Co. closed on Wednesday at $86.73.