UPDATE: Sterne Agee Initiates Coverage On Vitamin Shoppe on Expected Mean Revision

In a report published on Wednesday, Sterne Agee analyst Charles Grom initiated coverage on

with a Buy rating and a price target of $54.00. In the report, Sterne Agee stated, "While we respect the bear case, at ~16-17x forward EPS (an all-time low since its '09 IPO) and massive 4,700 bps underperformance YTD (vs. XRT), we think the risk/ reward here is very attractive. Point #1: Lagging XRT by 4,700 bps YTD . . . Due for Some Mean Reversion." Vitamin Shoppe closed on Tuesday at $44.15.