TD Cowen starts Prog at Outperform on positive industry view

TD Cowen initiated coverage of Prog Holdings with an Outperform rating and $37 price target. The analyst is positive on the lease-to-own industry citing continued moderation in inflation, improvement in consumer confidence, real wage growth for subprime consumers, and traction in soft landing. In this environment, the firm favors models that could deliver faster long-term growth albeit with higher structural losses, over ones with slower growth. Like the rest of the LTO industry, positive growth should return to Prog over the next few quarters, which could help improve the stock’s valuation, the analyst tells investors in a research note.