Barclays Maintains an 'Equalweight' on WW Grainger (GWW); 2Q Result Strong but Leaves Our Thesis Intact

Barclays maintains an 'Equalweight' on WW Grainger (NYSE: GWW), PT raised $5 to $160.

Barclays analyst says, "Success around growth and margin initiatives evident in 2Q results but full valuation keeps us neutral for now: Sales for the quarter were up 12% with April up 14%, May up 11% and June up 12%. We think these results were ahead of expectations and ahead of growth in the end markets largely due to company initiatives. July so far is running inline with June excluding the impact of oil spill sales. We see total sales growth moderating in 2H11 as the company faces more difficult comps related to oil spill sales."

"We are raising our 2011 EPS estimate to $8.70 from $8.65 and our 2012 EPS estimate to $9.90 from $9.65. PT goes to $160 which is based on ~17.5x our 2012 estimate discounted back at 10%."

For more ratings news on WW Grainger click here and for the rating history of WW Grainger click here.

Shares of WW Grainger closed at $156.24 yesterday.

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