Citi Raises Price Target On Coca-Cola Bottling (COKE)

Citi Investment Research raised its price target on Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated COKE to $61 from $58, but is keeping its Hold rating on shares. In a note to clients, Citi writes, "Owing to improved on- premise trends in CSDs and presumably some margin recovery in 2011 (as we are optimistic that the CSD companies will raise selling prices to offset higher commodity costs), we are raising our 2010, 2011 and 2012 EPS estimates (as detailed below). Given our target multiple of roughly 15x (based on a market multiple of roughly 14x) and our 2011 EPS estimate of $4.10, we are raising our target price to $61 from $58. While we commend COKE for delivering respectable top line growth in 3Q10, with the stock trading at roughly 15x our FY11 EPS estimate, we find the shares to be relatively fully valued and maintain our Hold (2S) rating on the stock." Shares of COKE gained $1.29 yesterday to close at $56.71, a gain of 2.3%.