Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Carvana's stock rating was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from "hold" to "buy," reflecting increasing investor confidence.
• Analysts have noted significant earnings growth, with Carvana reporting a 41.9% increase in revenue year-over-year and beating EPS estimates.
• Despite recent insider sales, with major shareholder Ernest C. Garcia II selling over 95,000 shares, 56.71% of the stock is still owned by institutional investors, indicating strong institutional support.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Carvana (NYSE:CVNA - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

CVNA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Carvana from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised Carvana from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Carvana from $260.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Carvana from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush raised Carvana to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $383.47.

Carvana Price Performance

NYSE CVNA traded down $5.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $361.21. The stock had a trading volume of 703,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,044,656. The company has a quick ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 4.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $348.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $283.86. The company has a market cap of $77.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 3.51. Carvana has a 52-week low of $124.39 and a 52-week high of $413.33.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.19. Carvana had a return on equity of 40.57% and a net margin of 3.46%.The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.05) earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 41.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Carvana will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carvana

In related news, major shareholder Ernest C. Garcia II sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.99, for a total value of $34,699,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 37,092,317 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,870,663,075.83. This trade represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,700,257 shares of company stock valued at $949,012,330. Company insiders own 16.36% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Carvana by 140.8% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 3,390 shares of the company's stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 1,982 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Carvana in the 4th quarter worth $51,091,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Carvana by 333.1% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,482 shares of the company's stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Carvana in the 4th quarter worth $36,527,000. Finally, Brucke Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Carvana in the 4th quarter worth $415,000. 56.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Carvana Company Profile

Carvana Co, together with its subsidiaries, operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the United States. Its platform allows customers to research and identify a vehicle; inspect it using company's 360-degree vehicle imaging technology; obtain financing and warranty coverage; purchase the vehicle; and schedule delivery or pick-up from their desktop or mobile devices.