UPDATE: Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Buy, $44 PT on LifePoint Hospitals

Cantor Fitzgerald initiates a Buy rating and $44 price target on LifePoint Hospitals

as the company's accelerating earnings growth. Cantor Fitzgerald comments, "We are initiating coverage of LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. with a BUY rating and a $44 price target that assumes the company will ultimately be valued at a premium to the group because its earnings growth is accelerating. We believe that the company's strategy of acquiring larger, more urban facilities will increase its market share by capturing physicians and patients that would otherwise leave the area. We also like the Duke joint venture, which opens up an attractive new market and partners it with a nationally renowned provider that enhances LifePoint's reputation." LPNT closed at $38.32 a share yesterday.