Dr Pepper Snapple rises as analyst touts focus

Shares rose $2, or 8.2 percent, to $26.28 in afternoon trading.

JPMorgan analyst John Faucher said the company's "aggressive" sales growth targets for the second half of 2008 may indicate a small shift in focus as the company drives greater growth on its higher return warehouse business. This would benefit the company in the long-term, Faucher said.

"We would welcome a shift in strategy towards the warehouse business, as we think this would lead to lower capital spending, better cash flow growth, and higher returns," Faucher wrote in a client note.

However, Faucher, who rates the stock "Underweight," warned the company may lose distribution for the Monster energy drink. If this were the case, Faucher said earnings in 2009 may be diminished by 10 cents per share.

"We expect that Dr Pepper may lose at least a portion of distribution, potentially in the West Coast, where Monster is strong, but Dr Pepper's distribution is seen as weaker," Faucher wrote.

The company was spun off recently from Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages and operates 24 manufacturing and bottling facilities in North America and more than 200 warehouse and distribution centers.