Asbestos Settlement Means Good News For This Mid-Cap

Oppenheimer recently issued a company note on EnPro Industries, Inc.(NYSE: NPO) after the company announced a comprehensive settlement to resolve all current and future asbestos claims for $480 million. Currently analysts at Oppenheimer rate EnPro Industries as an Outperform with an $85 price target. Ian Zaffino, an analyst at Oppenheimer, wrote, "Barring unexpected objections to the plan and assuming at least 75 percent of claimants vote for the plan, the plan could be approved and become final during the summer of 2017... Overall, we believe this development is highly favorable to NPO shareholders. It eliminates a large overhang on the stock, allows investors to more credibly view pro forma estimates and paves the way to major shareholder capital returns."Analysts at Oppenheimer gave one key reason why the company was able to contain the risk of asbestos claims and move forward with their strategic business operations:1. The reorganization of Garlock Sealing Technologies(GST)Oppenheimer noted that in an effort to mitigate the risk of asbestos claims, EnPro bankrupted their GST subsidiary. This has allowed the parent company to remove significant monetary overhangs from the stock. Going forward analysts believe that EnPro should be able to streamline business operations and recover from the settlement. Currently, EnPro is trading at $60.07, up 2.97 percent.