UPDATE: Imperial Capital Downgrades Republic Airways Holdings to In-Line, Raises PT Ahead of Potential Frontier Airlines Sale

In a report published Wednesday, Imperial Capital analyst Bob McAdoo downgraded the rating on Republic Airways Holdings RJET from Outperform to In-Line, but raised the price target from $12.50 to $14.00. In the report, Imperial Capital noted, “Downgrading our rating on RJET shares to In-Line from Outperform as 2 of 3 potential Frontier outcomes may not excite investors, in our view. Nonetheless, we are raising our one-year price target to $14, about 7% above the recent price, from $12.50 as we remain positive on Republic's contract flying business as a standalone entity. On September 17th, Republic announced that it has extended the exclusivity deadline for the sale of Frontier Airlines by a period of two weeks until 9/30/13. This announcement suggests that negotiations between the parties remain challenged and a sale may not be a sure thing. We believe there are likely three possible outcomes regarding the pending sale of Frontier 1) no transaction, 2) a transaction with little or no payment to Republic, and 3) a transaction with a meaningful payment to Republic. In our opinion, scenarios one and two are most likely and would be viewed as neutral by the Street given the recent strong performance in RJET stock.” Republic Airways Holdings closed on Tuesday at $13.11.