J.P. Morgan Reiterates Neutral Rating on Brown-Forman (BF.B)

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for free. J.P. Morgan is out with an analyst note this morning where they reiterate their Neutral rating on shares of Brown-Forman Corp.

; they have a price target on the stock of $58.00. JPM analysts cited the company’s most recent quarterly earnings report where the company took a $0.03 one-time impact to taxes. They said underlying top line was slightly better than our forecast, by +1%, but lower GM and higher SG&A were an offset. Overall, there were no big surprises in fundamentals for the quarter, and underlying sales continue to improve slowly. J.P. Morgan analysts noted that “Management has made several changes in its go-to-market structure through both new partnerships and increased company-owned distribution. BFB sees a lot of opportunity in developing markets (including Russia, Poland and Mexico) as well some developed markets, including France.” They added, “Recent changes include moving to ownership of distribution in Germany and Brazil and switching partners (to Coca-Cola Hellenic) in Russia. Increased spending in FY11 will be more weighted internationally for both A&P and headcount (for areas in which there is new company-owned distribution).” They closed by saying, “Global trends appear to be improving, with some small signs of recovery.”