UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Initiates Overweight, $22 PT on Conns on Turnaround and Growth Outlook

Piper Jaffray initiates its coverage of Conns

with an Overweight rating and $22 price target. Piper Jaffray notes, "CONN represents an attractive 12-month investment opportunity as it is in the process of improving its business model and is poised for significant growth in the coming years. Additionally, we believe CONN is incorrectly characterized by the Street as a retailer of Consumer Electronics to lower income households. In reality, the new CEO Theodore Wright is leading a successful and compelling push toward higher margin furniture and mattresses. Additionally, the company's proprietary credit program has been cleaned up and creates tremendous customer loyalty. All in, CONN still has long-term business drivers in place on store growth, comp growth, gross margin expansion, and charge-off stabilization." CONN closed at $17.49 on Thursday.