Big Lots (BIG) Upgraded from Equal Weight to Overweight at Barclays Capital

Big Lots (BIG) has been upgraded today by the research analysts at investment firm Barclays Capital which upgraded BIG from a “equal weight” rating to “overweight.”   Barclays also lowered their price target for BIG  from $46 to $38 dollars.  BIG is up during intraday trading and has been trying to regain ground from a bearish price gap that occurred on May 19th, 2011.

Big Lots is slated to release their next earnings report on August 24th, 2011 and is estimated to post EPS of 46 cents.  Their last earnings report was released on May 26th, 2011 and announced an EPS of 70 cents with revenue totaling $1.227 billion which was down -0.6 % year to year.  BIG is currently trading below its 50 & 200-day moving averages and 2011 is currently an up year for the company.

Big Lots is the nation’s largest broadline closeout retailer.  As of January 29th, 2011 they operated a total of 1,398 stores in 48 states.  The company has market capitalization of $2,512,000,000 and 75,203,000 shares outstanding.  BIG has a 52-week high of $44.44 with the low being $27.82 dollars.