BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) needs to show proof of growth consistency and improvement in comparable sales for a positive recommendation to buy its stock, BofA Securities said in a Wednesday note reinstating coverage of the company.

The company's warehouse club model of offering gas and bulk product discounts can potentially perform well if oil prices remain elevated for longer, BofA analysts said. High oil prices could potentially provide upside to their projection of comparable sales growth excluding gas of 2.5%, but the uncertainty of the length of the conflict in the Middle East makes it

difficult to quantify the benefits, the analysts said.

In an expansion push, BJ's has expanded outside its stronghold in the Northeast US into other states, including Tennessee and Texas, among others. The company needs to demonstrate that it can accelerate its comparable sales in the new markets to reduce its valuation gap versus competitor Costco (COST), according to the note.

BofA reinstated coverage of the company's stock with a rating of neutral and a price target of $110.

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