Citigroup Meets With Confident Management From Energizer Holdings

Citigroup has published a research report on Energizer Holdings ENR after meetings with company management that conveyed confidence and share repurchases through 2011. In the report, Citigroup writes "There is much debate about (i) whether or not ENR mgmt is gaming EPS given its compensation package and (ii) whether or not ENR has “sandbagged” its initial guidance for FY11. We give up trying to guess which is more likely. All we know is that ENR is investing heavily in the business, for the betterment of the business, and we think the payback of these investments will be considerable, whether in FY11 or FY12. We laud ENR's decision to update its FY11 outlook with each quarterly report, and we are optimistic that this new policy of offering annual EPS targets will stick." Citigroup maintains its Buy rating and $81 price target. Energizer Holdings closed yesterday at $68.00.