ITT raised to Buy at BofA on margin expansion opportunity (NYSE:ITT)

ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) +0.3% in Thursday’s buying and selling after earlier touching a 52-week intraday excessive $109.49 as Financial institution of America upgraded to Purchase from Maintain with a $125 value goal, citing resilient end-market publicity in oil/fuel and aerospace/protection, differentiated auto sector publicity, and underappreciated margin growth alternatives.

BofA’s Andrew Obin mentioned ITT’s (ITT) reported Q3 orders ranked among the many high of his protection, and backlog protection offers sturdy visibility into 2024 development and extra stabilized markets; whereas many corporations in his protection are simply beginning to really feel the impression of destocking, a number of of ITT’s greater margin finish markets such because the European automotive aftermarket began to destock initially of 2023.

Obin famous ITT’s (ITT) long-term margin goal for the corporate is ~20%, and the analyst sees a path for margin growth in every of the corporate’s three companies for 2024, with highest conviction in Industrial Course of and Movement Tech.