UPDATE: Credit Suisse Reiterates Outperform Rating, Raises PT on Safeway Heading Down the Road of Value Creation

In a report published Friday, Credit Suisse analyst Edward J. Kelly reiterated an Outperform rating on Safeway SWY, and raised the price target from $34.00 to $40.00. In the report, Credit Suisse noted, “Safeway appears to be accelerating down the road of value creation, as the company announced the exit of Chicago, hinted at a further review of its asset base, and telegraphed an avenue to potentially offset at least a portion of its $1.8 billion Canadian tax bill. While the underlying quarter disappointed, the miss was not enough to matter, in our view. Further strategic moves now seem likely, and the opportunity to unlock value looks to be even greater than we initially estimated. Our analysis suggests a stock price of over $40 is now a possibility (depending upon further strategic action/potential Canadian tax offsets). We raised our target price to $40 from $34 and continue to rate the stock Outperform.” Safeway closed on Thursday at $31.57.