Vantiv (VNTV) PT Lifted to $40 at Piper Jaffray on 'Solid' Q4

Piper Jaffray analyst Jason Deleeuw reiterated an Neutral rating but boosted his price target on Vantiv (NYSE: VNTV) to $40.00 (from $38.00) following 'solid' Q4 results and conservative guidance.

Deleeuw commented, "VNTV posted solid 4Q results beating consensus revenue by 1% and posting 4Q cash EPS of $0.53 vs. consensus of $0.52. Importantly, Merchant Services (MS) organic revenue growth accelerated to 8% in 4Q vs. 7% in 3Q, and fundamentals in the Financial Institutions (FI) segment appear to have stabilized. The midpoint of VNTV’s 2015 EPS guidance range of $2.09-$2.15 assumes 8% organic revenue growth for the MS segment, reflecting some conservatism, in our view. We remain Neutral, however, as we don’t expect significant upside potential above the high end of the guidance range and believe further valuation multiple expansion will be limited. We maintain our ‘15/’16 revenue and EPS estimates of $2.13/$2.37, which assume ~8.5% organic revenue growth for MS. Our PT moves from $38 to $40 as we increase our P/E multiple to 17.0x (previously 16.0x), reflecting the expansion of peer group multiples."

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

Shares of Vantiv closed at $37.51 yesterday.

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