UPDATE: Bank of America Upgrades General Growth Properties on Valuation, Strong Growth Trends

In a report published Friday, Bank of America analyst Craig Schmidt upgraded the rating on General Growth Properties GGP from Neutral to Buy, and raised the price target from $22.50 to $25.00. In the report, Bank of America noted, “We upgrade General Growth Properties (GGP) to Buy from Neutral based on its attractive valuation; strong track record of operating metrics, which we expect to continue in 2014; and greater value creation within GGP's external growth pipeline. We increase our price objective to $25 from $22.50 on higher NOI estimates and based it on a forward 12-month NAV with a 5.25% cap rate. Our PO assumes the stock trades in line with our forward NAV. Combining price appreciation with dividend yield; we estimate an approximate 18% total return.” General Growth Properties closed on Thursday at $21.23.