** Shares of U.S. grocer Albertsons ACI.N up ~1% at $20.05 premarket
** Brokerage Telsey Advisory Group upgrades to "outperform" from "market perform", citing increased confidence in the company's potential for growth in sales and profits
** Albertsons retained its top leadership team, and even added some key staff over the past two years, which should help it in achieving its targets - brokerage
** Adds, ACI is sharply focused on increasing digital engagement via e-commerce and loyalty, which should result in greater omnichannel sales and profits
** Raises PT to $26 from $21, representing a 31% premium to stock's last close
** Expects company's focus on driving profitable growth through initiatives such media collective expansion, optimizing store base, transforming core business to help generate long term identical sales
** Seven of 19 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or "higher" and 12 "hold"; their median PT is $22.50 - LSEG
** Up to last close, stock down about 14% YTD
(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru)
((AnujaBharat.Mistry@thomsonreuters.com;))
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