UPDATE: Raymond James Upgrades Big Lots to Market Perform from Underperform

In a report published Thursday, Raymond James analyst Dan Wewer upgraded Big Lots, Inc.

to Market Perform from Underperform. According to the report, the upgrade largely reflects Big Lots' more attractive valuation and is not a change in the analyst's cautious view of the company's business model or competitive environment. “Year-to-date, BIG shares have traded 5.5% lower on top of the 17% decline from peak of $38.96 on December 3, 2013,” the report noted. “In contrast, the S&P Retail index has remained roughly flat (+0.1%) over this duration. With Big Lots' stock price now approaching our fair value estimate of $30 (implied by applying the company's three-year average P/E multiple of 11.6x on our FY14 EPS estimate of $2.55), we believe most of our concerns tied to sales and profitability, at least in the near term, are already priced in.” BIG closed Wednesday at $29.80 with shares trading down at 2.29 percent.