Abercrombie & Fitch price target raised to $172 from $112 at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Alex Straton raised the firm’s price target on Abercrombie & Fitch to $172 from $112 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares. An outsized Q1 beat and guidance raise suggest a higher profitability “ceiling” than the firm had thought, leaving it “incrementally positive,” but bullish buyside expectations, expensive relative valuation and ongoing cyclicality risk leave the firm with an Equal Weight rating pending further conviction in the operating margin trajectory from here, the analyst tells investors.