Much to the delight of its shareholders, the Premier Investments Limited (ASX: PMV) share price has defied the market today and climbed as much as 7% higher to $14.79.
The company behind retail brands such as Smiggle, Peter Alexander, and Just Jeans was given a huge boost after two leading brokers upgraded its shares to buy ratings following yesterday's half-year result release.
According to research notes out of Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, the two brokers have upgraded Premier Investments to a buy rating with a $15.00 price target and an outperform rating with a $15.38 price target, respectively.
Analysts from both investment banks were impressed with the first-half result and are notably bullish on Smiggle's international expansion.
Smiggle now has 272 stores open across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The company is aiming to deliver $200 million in annual sales in the UK by calendar year 2019 and I feel confident it will achieve this.
Should you invest?
In my opinion Premier Investments is one of the best retail shares available to investors at this point in time, so I would have to agree with Deutsche and Credit Suisse.
It may not come cheap at 22x trailing earnings, but I believe its long-term growth prospects could make it a great buy and hold investment alongside fellow retailers Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP) and Noni B Limited (ASX: NBL).
Another bonus is its growing dividend. At present its shares provide a fully franked trailing 3.5% dividend, but I believe the success of Smiggle's international expansion will allow the company to grow it substantially over the next five years.
