Shareholders In Campus Crest Communities Can't Lose

In a report published Tuesday, Wunderlich Securities analyst Craig Kucera upgraded the rating on

from Hold to Buy, and raised the price target from $7.50 to $8.25. In the report, Wunderlich Securities noted, "We are raising our rating on Campus Crest Communities (CCG) from Hold to Buy and our price target from $7.50 to $8.25 following what we believe to be a very credible and thoughtful proposal from an activist shareholder, which could be superseded by the successful completion of ‘strategic alternatives' by existing management." The report continued, "While we do not know which direction the board will ultimately go, we believe shareholders will win in either event and we are raising our rating to Buy and our price target to ~ NAV ($8.25), compared to student housing and multifamily REITs trading at an average 102% & 98% of NAV. respectively, and which would represent a conservative 11.5x 2015E FFO vs. student housing peers trading at 18.3x and multifamily REITs trading at 17.9x." Campus Crest Communities closed on Friday at $7.01.