Apparel maker Limited Brands, Inc. (LTD) on Friday caught some continued bullish sentiment from analysts at Nomura Securities.

The firm maintained its “Buy” rating and $55 price target on LTD, which suggests a 20% upside to the stock’s Thursday closing price of $45.91.

A Nomura analyst commented, “Business trends continue to be strong at the core brands, demonstrating their dominance in their markets. The competitive landscape is favorable for LTD, which should help merch margin especially in 2H when costs ease. While the 2Q guidance seems light on the surface ($0.40-$0.45 vs. cons of $0.47), it includes a shift in mktg dollars as well as some other one-time SG&A ‘investments’. Our F12E EPS of $3.01 and F13E EPS of $3.46 remain unchanged. Trading at 15x FY12E EPS, we continue to believe LTD is well-positioned for F12, and we believe there is upside potential to guidance/consensus.”

Limited Brands shares posted small gains in morning trading Friday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Limited Brands (LTD) have a 2.18% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $45.86. The stock has technical support in the $42-$45 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $50-$52 price levels.

Limited Brands, Inc. (LTD) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

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