J.P. Morgan Discusses CBL & Associates Earnings (CBL)

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. discusses CBL & Associates Properties CBL, which reported earnings yesterday. It has a Neutral rating and a $14 price target on shares. In a note to clients, J.P. Morgan writes, "Tuesday evening, CBL reported a fairly straightforward quarter in which FFO/share came in $0.02 ahead of our estimate and $0.03 above the Bloomberg consensus. As discussed below, the beat was on higher NOI seemingly driven by improvement in operating stats. One thing to note is that while we (and we believe the Street) have been focused on the company's progress in forming/seeding a JV to further de-lever, CBL has been actively putting capital to work in the form of acquisitions/development. Net-net, our initial read on the quarter is positive and we think the stock could trade well tomorrow (Wednesday) on the heels of the 2010 guidance increase and marginally better core ops." Shares of CBL gained 39 cents yesterday to close at $16.48, a gain of 2.4%.