Kaufman Raises Price Target on Acuity Brands (AYI) Following Solid Earnings

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AYI Hot Sheet

Rating Summary:
4 Buy, 9 Hold, 2 Sell

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Up

Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 20 | Down: 11 | New: 38

Kaufman Bros. is maintaining its Hold rating on share of Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI) and is raising its price target from $50 $52 following the release of the its Q1 results.

The company posted solid quarterly results with both earnings and sales topping expectations. Earnings for the quarter reached $0.70 per share as sales rose to $474 million. The Street's consensus called for earnings of $0.67 per share on $466 million in sales.

"We believe Acuity will need to further diversify its end markets away from new construction for there to be any meaningful pick up in sales. We believe weakness in residential and commercial construction will partially be offset by growth in the renovation sector, including the LED lighting markets and through market share gains," reports an analyst at Kaufman.

The firm also increased its FY12 EPS estimate from $3.00 to $3.05 on $1.939 billion in sales.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Acuity Brands click here. For more ratings news on Acuity Brands click here.

Shares of Acuity Brands closed at $54.94 yesterday, with a 52 week range of $33.13-$61.45.

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