Piper Jaffray Initiates Coverage On Life Time Fitness (LTM

Piper Jaffray is out with a research report initiating coverage on Life Time Fitness LTM with an Overweight rating and a $50 price target on shares. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "LifeTime does not guide quarterly, but we believe net member gains will be the important number on the print and likely accelerated from last year given the company opened 2 centers early in the quarter, utilization rates remain well below peak and LTM locations have better unemployment metrics than national averages. In addition, we note our member model shows more deceleration than normal historical seasonality would suggest, which could lead to upside in our member estimates. We remain encouraged by shares at the current valuation and note they trade at a 16% discount to its historic 20x forward P/E multiple." Shares of LTM lost 7 cents yesterday to close at $39.53, a loss of 0.18%.