Haverty Furniture upgraded to "strong buy"

12/12/03 - BB&T Capital Markets

NEW YORK, December 12 (New Ratings) – Analysts at BB&T Capital Markets upgrade Haverty Furniture Companies (HVT) from "buy" to "strong buy." The 12-month target price is set to $26.

Shares of Haverty Furniture Companies, a furniture store chain operating in the south and central parts of the US, are currently trading at $20.80.

According to BB&T Capital Markets' research note published this morning, Haverty Furniture’s sales growth has been rapidly recovering from the lower-than-expected sales performance during November 2003. The company is well positioned to capitalize on the improving consumer expenditure in the US, the analysts say.

According to the analysts, the earnings estimates for Haverty Furniture for 2004 and 2005 are conservative. The company is likely to outperform these estimates, given the improving housing sector in the US, the analysts add. The current upgrade in rating is on account of Haverty Furniture’s stock price decline during the last week, BB&T Capital Markets reports.

The EPS estimates for 2003, 2004 and 2005 are $1.05, $1.30 and $1.43, respectively. The P/E estimates for 2003, 2004 and 2005 are 19.8x, 16.0x and 14.5x, respectively.

BB&T Capital Markets upgrades Haverty Furniture Companies from "buy" to “strong buy.”