Deutsche Bank's 5 Key Reasons For Brixmor Property Upgrade

Deutsche Bank upgraded Brixmor Property Group Inc BRX to Buy from Hold following the company's renewed focus on extracting value from the existing portfolio via redevelopment and an organizational decentralization.

"In light of these positive strategic shifts, the accounting issues and the Blackstone ownership overhang now behind them, and a still heavily discounted valuation, we are upgrading BRX to Buy from Hold with a new $30 target price (up from $27)," analyst Vin Chao wrote in a note.

Following are the five key reasons for the upgrade.

1) "The elimination of the Blackstone ownership overhang following last weeks' $1.17B secondary offering"

2) The hiring of Jim Taylor as President and CEO and Angela Aman as CFO & Treasurer."

3) "An increased focus on redevelopment."

4) The successful resolution of the company's accounting issues including demonstrated access to debt capital markets at attractive credit spreads following 2 unsecured offerings this year and the recasting of its $2.75B credit facility."

5) "A wider than average FFO multiple discount versus peers despite in-line organic and FFO growth prospects and improved balance sheet flexibility."

Chao maintained 2016 FFO/share estimate at$2.05 (guidance of $2.03-$2.06), but cut 2017 estimate to $2.15 from $2.17.

At time of writing, shares of Brixmor were up 0.29 percent to $27.62.