UPDATE: Credit Suisse Raises PT on Yum! Brands on Potential 2-Year Comp Acceleration

In a report published Friday, Credit Suisse analyst Keith Siegner reiterated an Outperform rating on Yum! Brands YUM, and raised the price target from $70.00 to $72.00. In the report, Siegner noted, “We believe TB menu and marketing innovation is well on its way to introducing the concept to a younger generation, and, with boneless KFC chicken launching in 2Q, and the potential for a less competitive pizza market, we believe 2-year comps can still accelerate from here. Further, we continue to believe that mis-modeling of the CRM benefit of refranchising (CRMs beat consensus by more than 100bps in 1Q) can act as a tailwind to numbers. Reflecting Avian flu related pressures, our F13 EPS est. falls to $2.99 from $3.23, F14 falls to $3.63 from $3.89, and F15 to $4.15 from $4.42.” Yum! Brands closed on Thursday at $67.20.