Needham analyst Tom Nikic raised the firm's price target on Steven Madden to $42 from $41 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of its Q1 earnings this week. The core brand is experiencing strong demand, and the issues in the private label business are well-understood, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Needham adds that it is reducing its Q1 EPS view by 7c to 34c per share but raising its estimates for the remainder of the year and believes that it was "overly conservative" for Q2 to Q4.
