Citi On Bemis: 'A Lot To Like, But A Lot Is Priced In'

Shares of Bemis Company, Inc. BMS have outperformed year-to-date. Citi’s Anthony Pettinari downgraded the rating for the company from Buy to Neutral, with a price target of $52.

Bemis’ shares have gained 14.2 percent YTD, and is trading at a premium to peers. “BMS further trades at a historic premium to 10-year NTM EBITDA multiples on both a relative & absolute basis,” analyst Anthony Pettinari wrote.

Shares Fairly Valued

Following the upturn, Bemis’ shares already seems to reflect the positives, including improved FCF generation, an inflection in US Packaging volumes and increased efforts to return to cash to shareholders, Pettinari said. An inflection in US volumes is expected, as the back half of the year benefits from “asset recapitalization & lapped customer losses.”

Pettinari estimated the company’s FCF generation at $308mm, above the consensus expectation of $268mm. He added, “Despite remaining above consensus for FCF and modeling multi-year margin improvement, we move to Neutral as we view the stock as roughly fairly valued.”