Benzinga's Top Initiations for May 2, 2012

Listed below are today's Top Initiations at Benzinga:Stifel Nicolaus Initiates Whiting USA Trust II (NYSE: WHZ) at Hold:Stifel Nicolaus comments, "The trust likely provides a declining quarterly income stream from oil and natural gas sales absent rising commodity prices. The payments resemble an amortizing debt instrument in that upon final payment the value of the security will be zero. We believe the current valuation reflects the discounted value of the future cash flows under our long-term price assumptions for oil and natural gas and thus are initiating coverage with a Hold rating."Credit Suisse Assumes Boardwalk Pipeline Partners (NYSE: BWP) at Outperform:Credit Suisse comments, "We are reducing our price target on BWP by $3 to $30 based on our belief that investors will continue to demand more yield from BWP given its below average distribution growth outlook. We expect BWP to trade at roughly a 125 bp discount to the AMZ index and is likely to trade in a yield range 7%-7.5%. We believe BWP has 12-month total return potential of 13%-20% which keeps us at Outperform."Oppenheimer Initiates Vipshop Holdings (NYSE: VIPS) at Outperform:Oppenheimer mentioned in the report, " Vipshop is a leading online discount retailer for brand name products and operates China's largest flash sales website with annual revenue of $227M and market share of ~18%. While we do not expect Vipshop to be profitable until 2013, we believe it is well positioned to capitalize on the significant growth potential for online discount retail. While potential competition with other online discount retailers and e-commerce players could pose risks to its growth and margin expansion, and limit near-term valuation multiple growth, we're bullish on VIPS' longterm prospects."Goldman Sachs Initiates Vipshop Holdings (NYSE: VIPS) at Buy:Goldman Sachs said, "Vipshop's online flash sales model is positioned to benefit from rapid Chinese online brand shopping growth and addresses existing significant demand from suppliers to sell excess inventory efficiently. We view the characteristics of flash sales companies as distinct from general multi-category e-tailer platforms or marketplaces, resulting in less competitive intensity than such winner-take-all industries. We forecast Vipshop will turn profitable in 2013E as the company grows revenue from US$227mn in 2011 to US$1.2bn in 2013 and scales up off its cost structure."Sterne Agee Initiates Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) at Neutral:Sterne Agee said, "Based on annualizing Q4 results, the 62 European Hollister locations average $10 million in sales, or $620 million total, compared to the average for the chain estimated at $2.85 million per store. The nine int'l flagships averaged $44 million per store last year contributing $400 million in total. Hollister openings abroad are expected to contribute $1.5 billion by FY15 with the flagship potential overseas cited at $1.25 billion by FY15. Direct-to-consumer (DTC), which was about 30% from int'l last year, is growing rapidly with targets of $1 billion by FY15 which may prove conservative."All of Benzinga's Analyst Ratings news can be viewed here.