Needham & Company LLC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Stock

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has raised its price target for Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) from $49.00 to $53.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.07% from the stock's previous close, while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Despite a positive outlook from Needham, Wall Street Zen downgraded Blue Bird from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, highlighting mixed sentiments among analysts as three have rated it hold while six have given it buy ratings.
• The company reported earnings of $1.19 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a 19.4% increase in revenue year-over-year, with strong performance metrics such as a net margin of 7.97%.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Needham & Company LLC from $49.00 to $53.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on BLBD. Wall Street Zen lowered Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays cut their price objective on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.36.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ:BLBD traded up $3.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $55.34. 3,070,362 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 533,467. Blue Bird has a 52 week low of $30.04 and a 52 week high of $60.45. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $43.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.50.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.29. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 61.66% and a net margin of 8.16%. The firm had revenue of $398.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blue Bird will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 10,000 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.21, for a total value of $532,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 48,203 shares in the company, valued at $2,564,881.63. This trade represents a 17.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 13,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total transaction of $554,151.30. Following the sale, the director owned 270,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,290,942.20. The trade was a 4.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,149 shares of company stock worth $1,901,766. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blue Bird

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLBD. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 23,513 shares of the company's stock valued at $908,000 after acquiring an additional 6,600 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,426,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,752,000 after acquiring an additional 25,745 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 306,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,832,000 after acquiring an additional 5,109 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,349,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 765,490 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,578,000 after acquiring an additional 13,262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

About Blue Bird

Blue Bird Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, manufactures, and sells school buses in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Bus and Parts. It offers Type C, Type D, and specialty buses; and alternative power options through its propane powered, gasoline powered, compressed natural gas powered, and electric powered school buses, as well as diesel engines.