UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises PT to $20 on Big 5 Sporting Goods Following Positive Guidance Surprise

Piper Jaffray maintained Big 5 Sporting Goods

with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $18.00 to $20.00. Piper Jaffray commented, "Last night Big 5 Sporting Goods announced Q4 results at the high end of the pre-announced range, but more importantly, guided Q1 well above expectations. Q1 EPS guidance of $0.18-0.24 and comp guidance of +high-single digits was well ahead of consensus of $0.08/shr and +4.9% as favorable weather and strong firearm/ammo sales accompany solid underlying trends. We are raising our estimates and price target to reflect the strong start to the year and remain buyers of BGFV shares as margins can still go much higher and solid topline growth appears sustainable at this point." Big 5 Sporting Goods closed at $15.15 on Tuesday.