Piper Jaffray Neutral On Arkansas Best Corp.

Piper Jaffray is out with a research report on Arkansas Best Corp. ABFS and it has a Neutral rating and a $27 price target on shares. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "Yesterday before market ABFS reported 2Q11 EPS of $0.20, above our $0.10 estimate and Consensus $0.06. Upside versus our model resulted from ABFS leveraging strong price and tonnage improvement – relatively in line with our expectations over lower operating costs, adding $0.10 of upside to our estimate. Yield growth (gross of fuel) accelerated during 2Q11 up 9.5% y-o-y from 2.3% in 1Q11 on price initiatives. 2Q11 tonnage growth, albeit strong, decelerated (9.9% in 2Q11 versus 17.4% in 1Q11) and likely moderates further in 3Q11 given price momentum and current softer demand. Run-rate profit improvement appears to be reflected in current EPS estimates (not materially changed despite 2Q11's upside); we remain Neutral rated." Shares of ABFS lost 18 cents yesterday to close at $23.90.