Piper Jaffray Raises Estimates & PT On Lincoln Electric

Piper Jaffray is maintaining its Overweight rating and increasing its outlook for Lincoln Electric LECO as it believes the company is centrally positioned to benefit from the continued build-out of global infrastructure. Piper expects that the BRIC countries will continue to drive the fastest growth as the U.S and Europe continue to grow at a more modest pace. Piepr sees continued upside coming from operational improvements as well as from continued market share gains. Piper expects acquisition activity to increase in CY11 and provide the basis for further market share gains. Lincoln provides best exposure to expanding global infrastructure spending. Piper continues to view Lincoln as a key holding for those looking to achieve exposure to the multi-year increase in spending on the build-out of global infrastructure. Lincoln is essentially unmatched in their product breadth and engineering strength, which we believe will drive further market share gains in the BRIC countries where we expect to see growth rates meaningfully higher than the more developed markets Piper Jaffray has an $86 PT and OW rating on LECO LECO closed Friday at $73.48