By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com -- Planet Fitness Inc (NYSE:PLNT) was upgraded from Neutral to Overweight by JPMorgan) analyst John Ivankoe Wednesday.
The analyst, who has a $90 price target on Planet Fitness shares, said they are upgrading the low-cost gym company based on factors such as usage trends, store growth, low labor exposure, and "much better" valuation.
Based on a website scrape conducted by JPM, they see Planet Fitness' total gym count at 2,318 as of May 10th, translating to 27 new unit openings quarter-to-date.
"The low-cost value proposition is the result of a 'labor light' store model with 12- 15 employees total per gym with <5 employees required per shift. The box economics remain largely intact even after factoring for a higher initial investment cost of ~$2.5m," stated the analyst.
"F22 provides high visibility to the return of capital to shareholders," added Ivankoe.
Planet Fitness stock is up 4.23% Wednesday.