UPDATE: BMO Capital Markets Reiterates Outperform Rating, Raises PT on Dean Foods Company

In a report published Friday, BMO Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating on Dean Foods Company

, and raised its price target from $21.00 to $23.00. BMO Capital noted, “Dean Foods is a different company now compared with two years ago, as evidenced by the strong quarter and solid guidance, particularly its robust growth outlook in its fresh dairy segments despite significantly higher raw milk costs. A relentless focus on cost cutting (FDD cost structure has shrunk by $250-$300 million over the last two years) coupled with increasing ability to undertake aggressive long-term efficiency enhancement initiatives (e.g., plant network optimization) continues to significantly reduce the impact of higher milk costs on DF's fresh dairy business. Moreover, the absence of irrational retailer promotions, a benign competitive environment, and improving volume trends has significantly lowered the magnitude of margin compression risk from a potential – albeit unlikely – re-inflation of milk costs in 2013.” Dean Foods Company closed on Thursday at $16.40.