Ecolab upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel

Stifel analyst Shlomo Rosenbaum upgraded Ecolab to Buy from Hold with a price target of $283, up from $233. The company’s story sounds better than it has in many years, and its positive trajectory should continue, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm thinks Ecolab’s bias to estimates will be upward for the next several years, and thinks the company could achieve its 20% EBIT margin goal in the next few years due to a combination of factors. Investors should be interested in Ecolab’s operational improvement and margin expansion story, says Stifel, which looks “to own a high-quality name where the numbers are likely to be revised upward over the next several years.”