L-3 Communications "neutral," target price raised

04/24/07 - Credit Suisse

NEW YORK, April 24 (newratings.com) - Analyst R Spingarn of Credit Suisse maintains his "neutral" rating on L-3 Communications Inc (LLL), while raising his estimates for the company. The target price has been raised from $90 to $92.

In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company has posted robust 1Q results, with EPS ahead of the estimates and the consensus. L-3 Communications’ organic sales was higher than expected on account of direct work for the Afghanistan and Iraqi governments and an increase in linguist work in Iraq, the analyst says. The company has raised its EPS and sales guidance for 2007 from $5.55-$5.65 to $5.65-$5.75 and from $12.9-$13.1 billion to $13.2-$13.3 billion, respectively, to reflect the extension of the Linguistic contract, tax benefits and an improved performance. The EPS estimates for 2007 and 2008 have been raised by $0.18 and $0.14, respectively.