Levi Strauss & Co.'s (LEVI) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham reaffirmed its Buy rating on Levi Strauss, maintaining a $28 price target—representing approximately 43.7% upside from the prior close. Analysts overall rate the stock “Moderate Buy,” with an average target of $26.69.
• Levi Strauss beat quarterly EPS estimates, reporting $0.48 versus the expected $0.36, while revenue rose 4.3% year over year to $1.61 billion but narrowly missed forecasts.
• The outlook is mixed: fiscal 2026 EPS guidance was raised to $1.54–$1.56, partly due to tariff refunds, but revenue guidance of about $6.7 billion is below analyst expectations and reflects continued weakness in U.S. direct-to-consumer sales.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $28.00 price objective on the blue-jean maker's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 43.71% from the company's previous close.

LEVI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $26.69.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Down 5.1%

NYSE LEVI opened at $19.48 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $21.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.14. Levi Strauss & Co. has a twelve month low of $17.72 and a twelve month high of $25.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.32.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.12. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.79% and a net margin of 9.66%.The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Levi Strauss & Co. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.560 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Levi Strauss & Co.

In related news, EVP Harmit Singh sold 98,144 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.22, for a total transaction of $2,377,047.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,747 shares in the company, valued at $2,391,652.34. The trade was a 49.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 462.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,839,861 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $89,489,000 after purchasing an additional 3,979,223 shares during the period. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,854,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,849,014 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $34,185,000 after acquiring an additional 148,174 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,644,561 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $40,834,000 after acquiring an additional 7,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $24,799,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company's stock.

More Levi Strauss & Co. News

Here are the key news stories impacting Levi Strauss & Co. this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Levi Strauss reported third-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.48, well above the $0.36 analyst consensus and up from $0.34 a year earlier. Stronger margins, international growth, wholesale performance and momentum in lifestyle categories supported profitability. Levi Strauss beats third-quarter profit estimates as margins widen
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $1.54-$1.56 from $1.46-$1.52, benefiting partly from tariff refunds. Levi Strauss expects to redeploy approximately $60 million of the refunds into the business, including growth initiatives. Levi Strauss Raises Earnings Outlook, Boosted by Tariff Refunds
• Positive Sentiment: Levi Strauss declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, equivalent to $0.64 annually and a yield of approximately 3.3%. The dividend is payable November 4 to shareholders of record October 21.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management expects roughly 4% organic revenue growth in the fourth quarter and is investing in its direct-to-consumer business, including a new AI shopping assistant intended to improve online engagement and sales. Levi’s Got $80 Million in Trump Tariff Refunds
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue of $1.61 billion narrowly missed the $1.62 billion consensus, while revenue growth of 4.3% was driven partly by tariff benefits. Direct-to-consumer revenue increased only 2%, with continued pressure in the U.S. Levi Strauss hikes profit guidance after tariff refunds, but its sales outlook is less optimistic
• Negative Sentiment: Fiscal 2026 revenue guidance is approximately $6.7 billion, below the $6.8 billion analyst estimate, and management moved expected revenue growth toward the low end of its prior range. This sales concern appears to be outweighing the EPS beat and higher profit guidance.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co is an apparel company best known for its Levi's brand of denim jeans and related clothing. Its product portfolio includes jeans, tops, bottoms, jackets, footwear, accessories and other casualwear for men, women and children.

Founded in 1853 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company also owns the Dockers, Beyond Yoga and Signature by Levi Strauss & Co brands. Levi Strauss & Co sells its products through company-operated stores, e-commerce platforms, wholesale partners and other distribution channels.

The company serves customers in North America, Europe, Asia and other international markets.