Jefferies Maintains Buy And PT Of $32 On PPL Corporation (PPL)

Jefferies maintained its Buy rating and price target of $32 on PPL Corporation PPL in spite of better than expected Q1 results. In a research report published today, Jefferies decided to leave its earnings per share estimate for the whole year unchanged, after deciding to lower its Q2 and Q4 earnings estimates. In the report, Jefferies states, "We are maintaining our 2011 EPS estimate of $2.60 despite better than expected 1Q11 results. Our 2011 EPS estimate is close to the mid-point of the PPL's 2011 reaffirmed EPS guidance of $2.50-$2.75... We are lowering our 2Q11 EPS estimate by $0.10 to $0.35, primarily to reflect the impact of longer than planned Susquehanna Unit 2 outage. PPL expects the regular planned outage will be extended for 4-6 weeks due to the replacement of the defective turbine blades discovered during the scheduled outage. The management believes that better thanexpected 1Q results should off set the negative impact of the outage. We are also lowering our 4Q11 EPS estimate by $0.05 to $0.70." PPL currently trades at $27.67, up 1.02% on yesterday's value.