Hold Rating For Rite Aid (RAD)

Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB)(FREE stock trend analysis) has issued a Hold rating on Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD)(FREE stock trend analysis), following its quarterly results. The price target is $1.60 against the current price of $1.33.

Rite Aid’s Q3 EPS is above previous estimates and, according to Deutsche’s computations, the Q3 EBITDA was ahead of the estimates at $200 million.

Rite Aid has no debt maturities due until mid-2012 and the SG&A margins have improved nicely. The lease termination & the impairment charges were $35 million below the estimate of $60 million. In the past year, Rite Aid’s store count has gone down to 4,801 from 4,914 in Q3 2008. The guidance for Q4 has been lowered below consensus.