Charles River Labs (CRL) PT, Estimates Raised at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI analyst Ross Muken raised estimates and his price target on Charles River Labs (NYSE: CRL) to $91.50 (from $83.50) but maintained a Hold rating.

Muken commented, "Charles Rivers’ epic nine quarter run continued (core growth in HSD) as biopharma end market strength remains the main story. Strong demand across the portfolio, improved pricing, solid execution on costs and intelligent capital allocation have transformed CRL into a company that has sustainably grown EPS mid-teens. Unfortunately for those like us whom missed the inflection, valuation is now somewhat reflective of this reality with the company’s P/E rising toward the upper end of the historical range of 14-20x. Our hesitation to become more constructive at this point of the cycle is our belief that there is a cyclical element to demand and thus a ‘cooling off’ period may occur at some point, albeit it does not appear near-term and will likely be difficult to predict (we model core returning to 4% in 2018). Based on these factors we reiterate our Hold rating but raise our PT modestly ."

The firm raised FY 2016 EPS from $4.40 to $4.50, FY 2017 EPS from $5.00 to $5.10 and FY 2018 EPS from $5.60 to $5.25.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Charles River Labs click here. For more ratings news on Charles River Labs click here.

Shares of Charles River Labs closed at $87.04 yesterday.

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