Knight Transportation Upgraded By Credit Suisse

NEW YORK (AP) — An analyst upgraded shares of Knight Transportation Inc. Thursday on prospects that demand for truck freight services is increasing and the shares are fairly valued.

Credit Suisse analyst Christopher J. Cerasco upgraded the stock of the Phoenix-based company to "Neutral" from "Underperform" and raised his price target to $17 from $16.

"The contraction in freight ended in the second quarter of 2009 and we are now in the early stages of a freight expansion," he wrote in a client note.

"Over the next five quarters, we expect to see steady improvement in the year-over-year declines, with fourth quarter of 2010 freight actually increasing 1.1 percent."

Cerasco also said Knight Transportation's stock has become more reasonable and is now fairly priced.

The analyst raised his earnings-per-share estimate for 2010 to 85 cents from 81 cents. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect, on average, 73 cents.

In afternoon trading shares slipped 14 cents to $16.75.