Piper Jaffray Raising Price Target On Ross Stores (ROST)

Piper Jaffray is raising its price target on Ross Stores, Inc. ROST to $63 from $53, but is keeping its Neutral rating. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "We are raising our estimates and price target following the release of October sales results. October same store sales increased +4% and were ahead of consensus of +0.8% as cooler weather in core markets generated higher traffic. Management raised Q3 EPS guidance to $1.01-1.02 from $0.94-0.96 due to better than expected sales and margins. We are raising our estimates to account for sales and margin gains and raising our price target to $63 based on 13x FY12E EPS of $4.87." Shares of ROST gained $3.14 yesterday to close at $63.63.