Piper Jaffray analyst Stephanie Wissink raised her price target on Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) to $29.00 (from $24.00) following Q4 results but maintained a Neutral rating. The analyst said while the P&G deal adds scale, core sales growth is still lagging.

commented, "We are maintaining our broader thesis surrounding a lack of growth discount on shares, but are encouraged by cost re-engineering that is preserving and improving profits. Should revenues begin to grow, the implied leverage is favorable. As a standalone entity, COTY's mix is somewhat less attractive than prestige brand peers. Strength in mass color (nail and make-up) follows on a great industry growth trend tied to product innovation and consumer participation. Skin/body and fragrance are expected to remain weak, but we are hopeful the declines begin to lessen. We are raising estimates in our oldCo model mainly for the share buyback, but maintain a newCo (Coty + PG Beauty) proforma that has the potential to exceed $1.50 in annualized EPS post-merger. Our revised PT at $29 is based on 24x (vs. 22x prior) on our revised FY17E EPS."

The firm raised FY 2016 EPS from $0.97 to $1.06 and FY 2017 EPS from $1.10 to $1.20.

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Shares of Coty Inc. closed at $30.47 yesterday.