UPDATE: Ladenburg Thalmann Initiates Coverage on Franklin Electric

According to a research report published earlier today, Ladenburg Thalmann has initiated Franklin Electric FELE with a Buy rating and $60 PT. In the report, Ladenburg Thalmann commented, “We initiate coverage with a BUY rating and a $60 price target based on shares trading at 17.9x and 9.3x our 2013E EPS and EBITDA estimates, respectively. Shares currently trade at 17.4x 2012E EPS and 9x 2012E EBITDA Consensus, respectively. Our estimates are based on 5.2%/7.8% Water segment organic sales growth in 2012/2013, and 8%/4% Fueling segment organic sales growth in 2012/2013. We believe CBM sales could increase EPS by $0.45/$0.70 in 2015/2016 respectively, if the packaged systems prove commercially viable.” Franklin Electric is currently trading at $48.