UPDATE: Deutsche Bank Upgrades International Game Technology to Buy on Operating Trends

Deutsche Bank raised its rating on International Game Technology IGT and increased its price target from $16 to $19. Deutsche Bank commented, "Our upgrade rationale centers around the following factors, each of which we detail in the body of this note: 1) accelerating earnings and beatable Consensus numbers, which has historically correlated strongly with stock price performance, 2) real free cash flow relative to peers which allows for accretive buybacks, 3) a gaming ops yield inflection in the F2H13 which should curb the primary bear case in the stock, 4) two years of solid expansion demand which is likely to curb “earnings cliff” fears that center around F2014, 5) a relatively free option on expansion in the social gaming segment, and 6) a historically inexpensive valuation and inexpensive valuation relative to peers despite the most stable outlook and most ample liquidity, in our view." International Game Technology closed at $13.87 on Friday.