J.P. Morgan Reiterates Neutral Rating on Dean Foods (DF)

J.P. Morgan is out with a research report this morning, where it reiterates its Neutral rating on Dean Foods DF; it has a $10.00 price target on the stock, down from $11.00. The JPM analysts said that they cut estimates on the name following it s Q3 earnings report. Despite yesterday's sell-off, they cannot as yet become more constructive on the DF shares. The analysts noted that all of the category negatives, including excess capacity, intense competition, pricing pressure, and soft volumes, seem unlikely to improve over the next several quarters. As for valuation, the analysts remarked, “Our sum-of-the-parts analysis assigns a 9x multiple to Dean's core dairy-derived EPS – similar to that of protein companies such as Tyson and Smithfield – and a 12x multiple to its WhiteWave-Alpro-derived earnings.”