UPDATE: Bank of America Upgrades Macerich on Phoenix Market Dominance

In a report published Monday, Bank of America analyst Jeffrey Spector upgraded the rating on Macerich Co. MAC from Neutral to Buy, and raised the price target from $62.00 to $68.00. In the report, Spector noted, “We derive our PO on a forward NAV with a 5.9% cap rate, applying a 5% premium, which we believe is warranted given MAC's dominance in Phoenix. Positive potential catalysts include MAC's positioning in Phoenix and the likely development site at Estrella Falls, the potential optimization at King's Plaza, MAC's new NYC urban property, and better than expected tenancy at MAC's Chicago outlet. This March, we conducted a deep dive and a proprietary tour of MAC and the Phoenix MSA. We visited with marketing research, mall management and leasing. We visited a number of regional malls and one future regional mall site (Estrella Falls) in the Phoenix area.” Macerich Co. closed on Thursday at $64.38.