UPDATE: Barrington Research Upgrades Walgreen Company to Outperform, Names $65 PT Following Very Solid Q4/13 Performance

In a report published Thursday, Barrington Research analyst Charley Jones upgraded the rating on Walgreen Company WAG from Market Perform to Outperform, and named a $65.00 price target. In the report, Barrington Research noted, “WAG had a very solid Q4/13 performance with sales increasing 5.1% to $17.9 billion and adjusted EPS up close to 20% to $0.73 versus revenues of $17.1 billion and $0.63 adjusted EPS in Q4/12. Revenue was essentially in line with the Street consensus and EPS was $0.01 above the consensus of $0.72...We are upgrading WAG to OUTPERFORM with a $65 price target. All this said about the positive trends in WAG business, our upgrade of WAG is really based around the management's execution of the Boots deal and achieving its FY/16 goals. WAG has set a goal of growing EBIT from $3.5 billion to $8.5-9.0 billion with roughly $8 billion in cash flow. We thought we would get a chance at a better re-entry point when we downgraded in May after a 50% return from our previous upgrade around the announcement of the AB deal, but our downgrade in May was a mistake and we are adjusting our rating to reflect that. We continue to view WAG as an asset that presents a very favorable risk/reward opportunity for investors seeking large, high quality blue chip companies that have a secular growth trend underlying the business.” Walgreen Company closed on Wednesday at $56.45.