BUZZ-Carvana shares up as UBS initiates with 'buy", sees 20% upside

** Shares of Carvana CVNA.N up 0.4% at $376.07 on Mon as UBS starts coverage with a 'buy' rating, citing used-car retailer's best-in-class e-commerce platform

** UBS assigns a PT of $450, about 20% above stock's last close

** "CVNA has a differentiated, best-in-class online platform and customer experience that positions them to gain share in the large but fragmented used vehicle market," UBS analyst Joseph Spak writes in note to clients

** Spak says he expects EBITDA to continue to grow at a ~25% CAGR through the remainder of this decade, supporting a premium valuation

** CVNA is only ~1.5% of the used vehicle sales market (~3% of used retail market), Spak says, but this could grow to ~4% by the end of the decade and ~8% over the next 10 years as the company heads toward its 3 mln used vehicle target

** Spak's upside case PT of $554 is roughly 47% above current levels

** Now, of 26 analysts covering CVNA, recommendation breakdown is 19 "strong buy" or "buy", 6 "hold" and 1 "sell"; median PT is $427.50, per LSEG data

** With move on the session, shares up about 85% YTD

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))