Goldman Sachs Reiterates Buy, $20 Target on Sara Lee

Goldman Sachs maintains its Buy rating and $20 target price on Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) as the company is compared with Walmart (NYSE: VMT) on the Nielsen's FDMx data.

Goldman says, "Interesting trends emerge when Walmart is added to the FDMx data. In the sausage category, for example, Sara Lee's volume growth is trending higher with a widening delta versus FDMx. This volume acceleration, however, is coming at the expense of price investment resulting in a negative gap at the overall sales line. The inverse is true in sliced lunchmeat (volume worse, price better), where Kraft is gaining market share with its Oscar Meyer Carvers brand. But overall the aggregate data reveals an overarching trend: while SLE's Meat Co. business continues to suffer volume losses, the declines are gradually abating."

SLE closed at $18.40 per share on Thursday.