Pali Capital Upgrades Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ), Lifts 2010 Estimates

Analysts at Pali capital upgraded Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ) to a “Buy” rating from “Neutral” and revised their price target to $46.00.

The firm raised 2010 EPS estimate to $2.65 from $2.29 to reflect strength in the asset management segment. Their 2009 EPS estimate goes to $0.10 from $0.59 reflective of an $87mm charge related to the acceleration of former CEO Bruce Wasserstein’s RSU.

The Firm said “We are upgrading shares of LAZ to Buy from Neutral. We believe we are closer to the “sweet spot” for LAZ than at any point in the last several years. We define the “sweet spot” as the point in time when the outlook for all three of LAZ’s business units is constructive. Restructuring, while expected to slow given the strong pace of closings in Q2 and Q3 remains healthy.”

It further added “The outlook for the AUM business is robust given increasing allocations to international equities, and we believe the outlook for mergers is starting to slowly improve. LAZ is also likely to experience compensation leverage in 2010 from a slower pace of stock award amortization attributable to general run-off.”