Goldman Sachs raises its rating on 1-800-Flowers Inc.
Long Island Business News, Jul 11, 2006 by Gregory Zeller
The bloom is back on the rose at 1-800-Flowers Inc.
Global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs on Tuesday raised its rating on the gift retailer from sell to neutral. Among other factors, Goldman Sachs noted 1-800-Flower's stock was within 6 percent of Goldman Sach's six-month price target of $6 per share.
The stock's decline of 21 percent [since Goldman Sachs downgraded 1-800-Flower's rating last year] is the sole reason for our upgrade, states a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. research ntoe obtained by LIBN. We believe that recent weakness in - shares is partly attributable to the reduction in profit forecasts over the past several weeks.
While we remain concerned about the challenge that (the company) continues to face in driving double-digit top-line growth without sacrificing profitability - we believe that the current share price more than discounts this risk, the note adds.
Almost a year ago to the day, on July 12, 2005, Goldman Sachs downgraded 1-800-Flowers stock from in-line to underperform.
Despite that setback, Tuesday's upgrade marks the fourth straight ratings hike for the Carle Place company's stock. WR Hambrecht (Aug. 10, 2005, from sell to hold), Keybanc Capital Markets (Sept. 19, 2005, from buy to aggressive buy) and Brean Murray (Dec. 8, 2005, from accumulate to strong buy) have all upgraded 1-800-Flowers' rating within the past year.
After closing Monday at $5.63 per share, 1-800-Flowers stock [Nasdaq: FLWS] was up 27 cents, nearly 5 percent, to $5.90 per share late Tuesday afternoon.
Most Recent Business Articles
- Multiple criteria evaluation and optimization of transportation systems
- Multi-criteria analysis procedure for sustainable mobility evaluation in urban areas
- A two-leveled multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the hub and spoke location problem
- Multi-criteria analysis for evaluating the impacts of intelligent speed adaptation
- The development of Taiwan arterial traffic-adaptive signal control system and its field test: a Taiwan experience
Most Recent Business Publications
Most Popular Business Articles
- 7 tips for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice - Back To Basics - effective listening is a crucial skill for internal auditors
- FAS 109: a primer for non-accountants - Financial Accounting Standards Board's "Statement 109: Accounting for Income Taxes"
- Design a commission plan that drives sales - Sales Commissions
- Too Young to Rent a Car? - 25-years-old the minimum age for car renting - Brief Article
- Getting the global view: Nestle, led by Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, climbs to the #1 spot in this year's Best Companies for Leaders



