Bank of America Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Stock Price

Key Points

• Bank of America cut its price target on Commercial Metals from $84 to $78, while maintaining a buy rating. The new target still implies about 25.7% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst opinion on CMC remains broadly positive, with MarketBeat showing a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $79.45. Recent calls have been mixed, with several firms raising targets while others downgraded ratings.
• Commercial Metals reported strong fiscal results for the latest quarter, beating EPS and revenue estimates and posting 22.9% year-over-year revenue growth. The stock opened at $62.05, well below its 52-week high of $84.87.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Bank of America from $84.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Bank of America's price target suggests a potential upside of 25.71% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on CMC. Wall Street Zen lowered Commercial Metals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group raised Commercial Metals from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Commercial Metals from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Commercial Metals from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.45.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

NYSE CMC opened at $62.05 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of 11.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.54. Commercial Metals has a twelve month low of $49.66 and a twelve month high of $84.87.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 15.69%. Commercial Metals's revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Qsemble Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 118.6% during the fourth quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 49,885 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,453,000 after buying an additional 27,062 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Commercial Metals by 7.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 884,604 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $50,670,000 after acquiring an additional 64,491 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 14.1% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 459,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,329,000 after acquiring an additional 56,705 shares during the last quarter. Moore Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 47.7% in the third quarter. Moore Capital Management LP now owns 163,348 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,357,000 after acquiring an additional 52,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its holdings in Commercial Metals by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 217,082 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $12,434,000 after acquiring an additional 67,864 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Commercial Metals Company Profile

Commercial Metals Company NYSE: CMC is a leading global steel and metal recycler, manufacturer and fabricator based in Irving, Texas. The company operates an integrated network of scrap recycling facilities, electric arc furnace steel mills, metal fabrication plants and distribution centers. Through these operations, Commercial Metals collects and processes ferrous scrap to produce finished steel products and provides recycled metal to a variety of end markets.

In its steelmaking segment, CMC uses electric arc furnace technology to transform recycled scrap into reinforcing bar (rebar), merchant bar, coil and structural products.

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