MW: Dollar Tree up after upgrade by Morgan Stanley
By Andria Cheng
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Discounter Dollar Tree Inc. DLTR +0.36% was raised to overweight from equal-weight by Morgan Stanley on Wednesday. Behind the upgrade was the firm's survey of 1,200 consumers that showed the 2% payroll tax hike didn't impact shopping. "Lower income shoppers were least aware of the tax change," analyst Mark Wiltamuth said. "This removes much of the bear case risk of a collapse of the lower income consumer." Dollar Tree inched up 0.3% as the broader markets trade lower. Its larger rivals Dollar General Corp. DG -0.45% and Family Dollar Stores Inc. FDO -0.29% were both lower.
