Piper Jaffray Overweight On Werner Enterprises Inc. (WERN)

Piper Jaffray has an Overweight rating and a $29 price target on shares of Werner Enterprises Inc. WERN. In a note to investors, Piper Jaffray writes, "Yesterday we hosted WERN CFO John Steele in NYC. WERN demand fundamentals are ramping – beginning mid Feb – and this momentum built all the way through the third week of March above normal seasonality we believe (and likely for TL industry). Further, the demand pickup coincides with WERN's 2011 contractual rate negotiations, and we believe the company will realize the higher end or above mgmt's 3%-4% yield target (ex fuel). Weather and fuel likely weighed on 1Q11 EPS, reflected now in our lowered estimate. Yields combined with better utilization likely propel WERN EPS higher in 2012 above expectations. We continue to believe WERN is the best pure TL play on our expectations for stronger than expected price this cycle. We reiterate our Overweight rating." Shares of WERN closed at $25.63 yesterday.