Zacks Research Downgrades Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY) to Strong Sell

Key Points

• Zacks Research has downgraded BASF's stock rating from "hold" to "strong sell," indicating a negative outlook on the company's performance.
• Despite the downgrade, Morgan Stanley upgraded BASF shares from "equal weight" to "overweight," reflecting differing opinions among analysts regarding the stock's potential.
• BASF reported earnings of $0.14 per share for the last quarter, which fell short of the consensus estimate of $0.20, although revenue was higher than expected at $18.10 billion.

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Morgan Stanley upgraded Basf from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Basf currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Basf Stock Performance

OTCMKTS BASFY traded up $0.27 during trading on Monday, reaching $14.02. 188,155 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 114,746. Basf has a fifty-two week low of $10.57 and a fifty-two week high of $14.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $12.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.85, a PEG ratio of 16.69 and a beta of 1.09.

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $18.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.62 billion. Basf had a net margin of 0.59% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Basf will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Basf

BASF SE operates as a chemical company worldwide. It operates through six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural Solutions. The Chemicals segment provides petrochemicals and intermediates. The Materials segment offers advanced materials and their precursors for applications and systems comprising isocyanates, polyamides, and inorganic basic products, as well as specialties for plastics and plastics processing industries.