Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Key Points

• Calavo Growers has been downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a cautious outlook on the company's stock performance.
• Despite the downgrade, Lake Street Capital has increased its price target for Calavo shares from $35 to $40, maintaining a "buy" rating on the stock.
• Calavo Growers reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.57 for the last quarter, slightly above expectations, but its revenue of $178.82 million fell short of analyst projections.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Lake Street Capital raised their price target on shares of Calavo Growers from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Calavo Growers Stock Performance

CVGW stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $27.82. 205,281 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 176,615. The company has a market capitalization of $496.59 million, a P/E ratio of 31.61 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Calavo Growers has a twelve month low of $21.46 and a twelve month high of $30.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.09.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 9th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $178.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.20 million. Calavo Growers had a net margin of 2.28% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Calavo Growers will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Old West Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Calavo Growers in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,364,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Calavo Growers by 1,873.8% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 226,793 shares of the company's stock worth $6,030,000 after purchasing an additional 215,303 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Calavo Growers by 588.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 236,579 shares of the company's stock worth $6,291,000 after purchasing an additional 202,221 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Calavo Growers by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 275,452 shares of the company's stock worth $6,608,000 after purchasing an additional 131,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main bought a new position in Calavo Growers in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,102,000. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

About Calavo Growers

Calavo Growers, Inc markets and distributes avocados, prepared avocados, and other perishable foods to retail grocery and foodservice customers, club stores, mass merchandisers, food distributors, and wholesale customers worldwide. It operates through Grown and Prepared segments. The Grown segment distributes tomatoes and papayas; and procures avocados grown in California, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.