UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-Banamex cuts Mexico’s Soriana to ‘hold’
June 3rd, 2008 | by admin |(Updates stock price, adds details)
MEXICO CITY, June 3 (Reuters) - Banamex brokerage cut itsinvestment recommendation on Mexican retailer Soriana(SORIANAB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) to “hold” from “buy” and increased its pricetarget to 44 pesos per share from 37.5 pesos.
“The stock has shown a strong performance during 2008, butwe think that the price and the forward multiples factor in abig part of the performance expected for the next months,”Banamex said in a report released on Tuesday.
Soriana shares rose 2.41 percent to 37.81 pesos inmid-morning trading, compared with a flat broader market,although its volume was very thin.
Mexico’s No. 2 supermarket chain has enjoyed a share pricehoneymoon after buying more than 200 stores from a rival,making it the most formidable challenger to market leaderWal-Mart de Mexico (WALMEXV.MX: Quote, Profile, Research).
Its share price has climbed 16 percent since announcinglast December it was buying 198 stores in Mexico and seven inthe United States from smaller rival Gigante (GIGANTE.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) in a$1.35 billion deal. (Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
