Haverty Furniture Upgraded At Raymond James On Attractive Risk-Reward

In a report published Tuesday, Raymond James analyst Budd Bugatch upgraded the rating on

from Market Perform to Outperform, while establishing a target price of $25. Analyst Budd Bugatch pointed out that Haverty Furniture had managed to face the impact of competition from a newly opened Nebraska Furniture Mart in the Dallas Fort Worth market, owned by

, and had continued to expand into new markets. The company reported 2Q15 sales of $187.7 million, ahead of the Raymond James estimate and consensus expectations. Haverty Furniture's comparable-store sales rose by 4.8 percent in 2Q15 as compared to a 3.2 percent increase in 2Q14. "Total sales for the quarter and six months ended June 2015 increased 7.2% and 6.2%, respectively. Sales growth in the quarter was led by the upholstery and dining categories," the report stated. Haverty Furniture opened new stores in the Waco, Texas and Rogers, Arkansas markets during the latest quarter and now plans to open a new store in Fr. Lauderdale, Florida while renovating two others in the current quarter. "…we believe that HVT shares have more reward than risk at the current level," Bugatch mentioned. The revenue estimates for F2015, 2016 and 2017 have been raised from $814 million to $819 million, from $863 million to $866 million and from $914 million to $917 million, respectively. The EPS estimate for F2015 has been raised from $1.28 to $1.29, while that for F2016 and F2017 have been reduced from $1.58 to $1.51 and from $1.85 to $1.70, respectively.