Analyst: Chico's FAS Inc. Take-Out Worth $18.15 and $20.25/Share

Chico's FAS Inc.

would be worth between $18.15 and $20.25 a share in a takeover, an analyst said Wednesday. The womens' apparel retailer closed Wednesday at $18.24 up nearly 6 percent. On Tuesday, multiple reports suggested Chico's is in take-out talks with private equity firm Sycamore Partners, although Sycamore reportedly hadn't nailed down financing. Oscar Gruss special-situations analyst Louis Meyer offered the $18.15 and $20.25 a share estimate based on a multiple of eight-to-nine times the company's $323 million in earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation, according to Bloomberg. Sycamore appears to be trying to pick a "healthy survivor from a sea filled with decaying apparel retailer species," Meyer wrote in a blog. Chico's in November posted a 26 percent drop in third-quarter net income to $0.17 cents a share. The company is slated to post fourth-quarter results Feb. 26.