Century Aluminum upgraded to overweight by Morgan Stanley (CENX)

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm currently has $33.00 price target on the stock.

“We are upgrading CENX to Overweight and introducing our PT at $33 (up 106% vs. our previous base case). Our upgrade is based on 69% upward revision to our 2015e EBITDA on stronger pricing & mix. We see $4/share of incremental value from mix improvement, $3 from growth, and $1 from cost cutting opportunities, not currently priced in shares. We estimate 2015e FCF at $3.68/sh, leaving sufficient cash to invest in low-capex growth/mix improvement opportunities and capital return (share buyback or special dividend). Our bull case is at $50 on higher EBITDA (73% above base case).,” the firm’s analyst wrote.

Shares of Century Aluminum traded up 4.64% during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $26.14. The stock had a trading volume of 492,729 shares. Century Aluminum has a 52-week low of $7.65 and a 52-week high of $24.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.38 and a 200-day moving average of $15.38. The company’s market cap is $2.321 billion.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $458.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $438.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.39) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post $0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. They now have a $20.90 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at CRT Capital raised their price target on shares of Century Aluminum from $18.50 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. They now have a buy rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an overweight rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. They now have a $24.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $15.00. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $20.10.

Century Aluminum Company is engaged in producing aluminum.

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