Ahead Of The Bell: Winn-Dixie Upgraded

NEW YORK (AP) — An FBR analyst on Friday raised her rating on shares of grocery store chain Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., saying the stock is cheap given that the company has been reporting stable business trends.

Analyst Karen Short raised her rating to "Outperform" from "Market Perform" and said in a note to investors that Winn-Dixie has a strong balance sheet and is viewed as less expensive than one of its biggest competitors, the privately owned Publix chain.

Short also noted the chain's strong third-quarter financial report. Earlier this month, the company handily beat Wall Street analysts' profit estimates and posted a 10 percent increase in earnings.

"As demonstrated by third-quarter results, we think the company is executing extremely well in this environment — hence our upgrade," Short said.

The analyst also maintained her previous price target of $16.50, implying she expects the shares to rise about 17 percent from Thursday's closing price of $14.08.