Piper Jaffray Reiterates Overweight, $49 PT On Dick's Sporting Goods

In a note out today, Piper Jaffray reiterated an Overweight rating and $49 price target on Dick's Sporting Goods DKS, implying significant upside from where the shares currently trade. "Over the last 11 quarters, DKS has exceeded the high end of its initial guidance by an average of $0.06/share. We believe this magnitude of earnings beat may not be repeated given the difficult comparable store sales comparisons combined with winter temperatures well above normal. While we do believe that sales likely have come through quarter to date, we believe the sales may have been at the expense of margins. We note our checks post Christmas did see a significant amount of clearance on the floor with advertisements claiming 25% off additional clearance items through 1/4/2012. While we did not lower EPS expectations for the fourth quarter, we due believe it may limit some of the upside to guidance," Piper said in the note. Shares of Dick's are up almost 1% today.