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BofA-Merrill upgrades Coach to buy



01 September 2009 @ 11:52 am ET

Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch upgraded Coach Inc to "buy" from "neutral," citing a successful start to the handbags and accessories maker's strategy of lowering price points.


BofA-Merrill upgrades Coach to buy
A woman withdraws money from a Bank of America automatic teller machine in New York's financial district September 16, 2008. Bank of America Corp's $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co would mark the end of a storied name in American finance, but create the nation's biggest bank by far. Investors soured after the merger was announced early Monday, worried it magnifies Bank on America's exposure to risky debt in a fragile economy, less th... (Reuters Photo / Lucas Jackson)
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"Its (Coach's) Poppy collection and tweaks on existing products have moved half of the assortment to price points below $300. This has caused an inflection point in traffic and conversion that we expect will stabilize results in the near-term," analyst Lorraine Hutchinson said.

Coach's gross margin will benefit from leaner inventories and sharper price points, Hutchinson said, adding that the company has $800 million of cash on hand and using that cash for a share buyback would be 10 percent accretive to earnings.

Hutchinson, who views China as a great long-term growth opportunity, said the company is not cutting costs like its peers but instead investing in its business in China, which is favorable.

The analyst raised the price target on the company's stock to $36 from $28.

Shares of the company rose 4 percent to $29.35 in morning trade, on the New York Stock exchange. (Reporting by Viraj Nair in Bangalore; Editing by Pradeep Kurup)

Copyright 2009 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

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