Wall Street Zen just bumped Leslie’s (NASDAQ:LESL) from “sell” to “hold,” announced in a Sunday note to investors. Marks a shift in sentiment. The company has been under analyst scrutiny recently.
Mizuho also tweaked its price target for Leslie’s, dropping it from $4.00 to $3.50 but kept “neutral” rating as of May 8 . Morgan Stanley joined in, setting $1.00 target and giving an “underweight” rating in February 18 report. Meanwhile,Zacks Research raised its rating from “strong sell” to “hold” on March 17,and Wolfe Research bumped its price target from $2.00 to $3.00, holding an “outperform” rating on May 14. Weiss Ratings stuck with a “sell (e+)” on March 25 .
Right now, stock has one “buy” rating,four “holds,” and two “sells,” leading to an average “reduce” rating with a target price of $2.85. On Friday,Leslie’s shares opened at $7.97, market cap at $74.60 million. Stock's been volatile,hitting a low of $0.87 and a high of $13.57 over the past year.
Leslie’s revealed its quarterly earnings on May 13, showing an EPS of ($5.36),missing analysts’ forecast of ($4.41) by $0.95. But revenue hit $184.74 million,beating $162.48 million consensus. Analysts expect an EPS of -2.73 for this year.
Institutional investors have been shuffling their Leslie’s holdings. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake by 923.6% in Q1, now holding 1,254,176 shares valued at $922,000 after buying 1,131,647 more shares. Jane Street Group LLC upped its position by 123.7%, now with 2,213,776 shares worth $1,628,000 after purchasing 1,224,115 shares.
Other moves: Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake worth about $229,000 in Q2,and Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake by 732.6%, now holding 421,280 shares worth $177,000. Cerity Partners LLC expanded its holdings by 269.7%, acquiring 276,532 shares valued at $116,000 after adding 201,731 shares .
Founded 1963 in North Miami Beach, Florida,Leslie’s is now largest direct-to-consumer pool supplies retailer in the U.S. Runs over 900 stores,offering everything from pool chemicals to maintenance services . Residential and commercial clients alike. But how will recent changes impact its future?…
