FedEx price target raised to $278 from $269 at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs analyst Jordan Alliger raised the firm’s price target on FedEx (FDX) to $278 from $269 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of its Q1 results. The company is dealing with a few crosscurrents that make the quarter a bit difficult to assess, with positives that include a freight diversion from UPS (UPS) as well as at least a one-month benefit from diversion/freight redistribution due to the Yellow bankruptcy, though its parcel and all of freight transportation remains mired in a relatively tepid core volume environment due in part to weaker consumer spending on goods as well as ongoing slower imports from Asia and weakness in Europe, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm is updating its assumed forward earnings multiple at 12.5-times however, up from 12.0-times, to reflect other transport providers moving closer to what looks like “some form of freight bottoming over the next few quarters.”