Jefferies Initiates Buy, $51 Target on Ametek

Jefferies initiates its coverage on Ametek AME with a Buy rating and a price target of $51 per share as it sees the premier mid-cap as both a defense and offense play. Jefferies comments, “AME is a premium mid-cap industrial, and we believe investors will gravitate toward the stock in 2012 because earnings have both leverage to a cyclical upturn and downside protection in a slowdown.” AME closed at $41.83 per share on Tuesday.