WFMI Wins Over Its Competitors

Analyst Alton Stump of Longbow Research initiates coverage of Whole Foods Markets Inc (NASDAQ: WFMI) with a “buy” rating. The target price for WFMI is set to $35.

WFMI’s identical-sales have recovered significantly over the last two quarters. Longbow Research believes that SFMI would be able to regain lost customers, since the quality of its products is much better than that of its grocery-store competitors.

Whole Foods Markets is poised to benefit from the anticipated improvement in stabilization and recovery opportunities in the domestic grocery industry in 2010, Longbow Research says. WFMI was able to enjoy higher traffic and basket size than its competitors, despite lesser discount activities. The company’s stock is attractively valued at present, the analyst adds.