L Brands, The "Shareholder Friendly" Company

Before announcing their earnings, many firms weighed in on L Brands, Inc.

, here is what some of them had to say: Sterne Agee: Sterne Agee sees a strong combination of domestic strength, international growth, and shareholder returns as reasons to stay long in the stock. L Brands recently raised their quarterly dividend 47% and issued a special $2.00/share dividend. Analyst Ike Boruchow says L Brands continues to be "one of the most shareholder friendly companies in our coverage universe". Boruchow reiterates a Buy rating and price target of $97. Mizuho: Analyst Betty Chen remains impressed with L Brands ability to propel solid comp momentum and clean inventory levels to increase margin gains year over year. Despite solid momentum of their core brands, Chen believes L Brands 24x P/E valuation may leave little upside to current price. Chen gives L Brands a neutral rating and retains a price target of $92. Tigress: Tigress analysts praise the management of L Brands, stating that they "validate our confidence in the strength of the company's key performance metrics". Of the moves made by management, Tigress notes the $250M share buyback plan coupled with a net sales increase of 7% to $783.1 million as main drivers in their conviction of L Brands strength. Credit Suisse: Analyst Christian Buss mentions many of the positives already covered in companies. In addition to the dividend activity and the share repurchase, Buss focuses on supply chain saying that " tight inventory control combined with a fast response supply chain is the right move for the long-term and margin health." Buss reiterates an Outperform rating as well as raising price target from $82 to $85.