Piper Jaffray maintained an Overweight rating on Smart & Final Stores (NYSE: SFS), and cut the price target to $18.00 (from $20.00), ahead of the company's 3Q earnings report. With meat prices declining in Q3 and competitors such as SuperValu mentioning continued deflation in the quarter, Piper Jaffray trimmed Q3 comp estimate slightly. SFS is is scheduled to report 3Q earnings tomorrow (11/11/2015).

Analyst Sean Naughton commented, "With Q3 earnings slated for tomorrow, we wanted to provide our updated thoughts on
the quarter and the long-term thesis for Smart & Final investors. On the quarter, we believe deflationary pressures likely remained with declining meat prices representing the greatest headwind to comps. That said, we believe traffic trends remained solid with transactions averaging +4.3% y/y over the past 4 quarters. Several merchandising initiatives are driving this traffic and we think this can continue as the company rolls out these offerings to its Extra! format stores and continues with its conversions. With strong traffic trends, a healthy California economy and potential upside to FY16 estimates from the Haggen store bid, we continue to recommend Smart & Final shares."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Smart & Final Stores click here. For more ratings news on Smart & Final Stores click here.

Shares of Smart & Final Stores closed at $14.35 yesterday.