UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises Price Target on Wolverine World Wide on Better-Than-Expected Q2 Report

In a report published Tuesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Erinn Murphy raised the price target on Wolverine World Wide WWW from $52 to $53, reaffirming its Neutral status.

In the report, Piper Jaffray stated, “We are raising our estimates and adjusting up our price target on the heels of WWW's better-than-expected Q2 report. Our FY13E EPS moves from $2.65 to $2.75 and FY14E EPS moves from $3.25 to $3.30. The inclusion of the PLG brands drove two-thirds of the gross margin outperformance in the quarter and Sperry's growth was a key contributor to fundamental performance. While Merrell's performance was softer than expectations, mgmt suggested that low-single digit sales growth is still achievable for the brand in FY13--supported by high-single digit growth in its backlog. With shares trading ~17x our FY14E EPS, we believe the stock is fairly reflecting strong fundamental performance and we are maintaining our Neutral rating at this time.”

Wolverine World Wide closed on Monday at $55.27.