Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) were up 6.3% as of 2:00 p.m. EDT Monday after an analyst at Wedbush upgraded shares of the specialty retailer from neutral to outperform. The firm also raised its per-share price target by $2 to $16 -- a significant premium from Friday's closing price at $9.89 per share.
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To justify his relative bullishness, Wedbush's Seth Basham suggested Bed Bath & Beyond could benefit from progress in recent business transformation initiatives, as well as sweeping changes made to its board of directors following pressure from activist investors. Basham added that the retailer's earnings should stabilize over the next two years as it implements that transformation, helped in part by private-label brands and the potential sale of noncore assets such as its Cost Plus World market chain of stores.