UPDATE: Stifel Upgrades Liberty Property Trust to Buy, Names $36 PT on Industrial Bifurcation Analysis

In a report published Tuesday, Stifel analyst John Guinee upgraded the rating on Liberty Property Trust LRY from Hold to Buy, and named a $36.00 price target. In the report, Stifel noted, “Our current forward implied cap rates are 7.4%/6.4%/5.5% for NOI/Cash Flow/CF less G&A based on 3Q13 actuals, the $1.475B Cabot acquisition at an assumed 6.5% cap rate, and the sale of $705mm of office/flex assets at a 9.3% cash cap rate. Taking the analysis a level further, we bifurcated the analysis by assuming various cap rates for the office/flex portfolio, which will represent roughly 49% of NOI once the $705mm portfolio sale is closed in the next month.” Liberty Property Trust closed on Monday at $32.99.