Priceline's Stock Gets An Early Lift From An Analyst Upgrade

Priceline Group Inc.'s stock gained 0.9% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the online travel company was upgraded at Stifel Nicolaus, which said that a stabilization of European macro risks and compelling free-cash-flow generation now presents an attractive risk-to-reward profile. Analyst Scott Devitt raised his rating to buy from hold and set a stock price target of $1,400, which is 22% above Monday's closing price of $1.149.83. He believes that since European risks have already been priced into the stock, he sees "the potential upside from positive surprises in the region as a key driver for share appreciation to new highs." He said Priceline's 2015 free-cash-flow yield estimate of 5.0%, which is above Amazon.com Inc.'s 2.2% and Google Inc.'s 4.1%, and its favorable shareholder return policies makes it a relatively-strong large-capitalization Internet asset. The stock has gained 0.8% year to date, while the First Trust DJ Internet Index ETF has rallied 6.5% and the S&P 500 has tacked on 1.3%.