01:41 PM EDT, 06/20/2025 (MT Newswires) -- BMO has raised its target on Empire Company to $55, from $53, and kept its Market Perform rating.

Analyst Tamy Chen notes that the fourth quarter was another quarter of sequential strengthening behaviour among Empire shoppers. "For now, we are hesitant to assume further sequential acceleration in SSS, in part due to H2/26E lapping stronger comps."

While Chen is comfortable with the continued assumption for annual gross margin expansion of 20bps., she notes that "FQ4/25 was a better SG&A result than historical trends. We would like to see more quarters of this as it is a key component to drive consistent 8-11% EPS growth."

Price: 55.39, Change: +0.74, Percent Change: +1.35