Piper Jaffray Pronounces Family Dollar as Underweight, $47 PT

In a report released earlier today, Piper Jaffray gave a rating of Underweight to Family Dollar Stores Inc.

, along with a price target of $47. Piper Jaffray explained their decision in the report, saying, “We expect FDO shares to modestly underperform on today's Q2 earnings release. The company posted upside to Q2 EPS ($1.15 vs. consensus of $1.13), but its comp of 4.5% missed the quarterly guidance of 5%. This marks the 5th straight quarter in which the company has missed the midpoint of its comp guidance...At this point, our UW thesis remains unchanged as we see continued potential for the company to miss comp guidance and elevated inventory levels keep us concerned about ongoing gross margin pressure.” Family Dollar Stores Inc. closed at $58.24 yesterday.