Zacks reissued their neutral rating on shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) in a report released on Thursday. Zacks currently has a $182.00 target price on the stock.
Zacks’ analyst wrote, “Driven by increased sales along with improved margins and lower tax rate, Ralph Lauren’s adjusted earnings for third quarter fiscal 2013 jumped 34.8% to $2.40 per share and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.21. Moreover, with its continued focus on cost management, Ralph Lauren’s gross and operating margins expanded 220 basis points (bps) and 150 bps, respectively. Encouraged by the better-than-expected bottom-line result, Ralph Lauren raised its operating margin forecast for fiscal 2013 to 75-100 bps from 25 75 bps expected earlier. Further, we believe that the company’s strategy to capitalize on the opportunities in emerging markets along with its focus on core business activities will boost its top and bottom lines. However, we remain slightly cautious on the stock due to the prevailing weak macroeconomic conditions in Europe, intense competition and volatile raw material prices. Therefore, we are maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.”
RL has been the subject of a number of other recent research reports. Analysts at Macquarie reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note to investors on Thursday, February 7th. They now have a $210.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at UBS AG raised their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $185.00 to $195.00 in a research note to investors on Thursday, February 7th. They now have a buy rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at Citigroup reiterated a buy rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note to investors on Monday, February 4th. They now have a $180.00 price target on the stock.
Shares of Ralph Lauren traded up 0.44% during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $171.87. Ralph Lauren has a 52 week low of $134.29 and a 52 week high of $182.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $168.. The company has a market cap of $15.591 billion and a P/E ratio of 22.50.
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