Fairfax Financial (OTCMKTS:FRFHF) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Key Points

• Shares gapped up — Fairfax opened at $1,730.00 on Thursday versus a prior close of $1,685.50, with the stock last trading near $1,695 on light volume.
• Mixed analyst sentiment — Recent moves include downgrades from Zacks (strong-buy to hold) and BMO (outperform to hold) while Scotiabank kept an outperform, leaving a MarketBeat average rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Quarterly beat and solid metrics — Fairfax reported $57.57 EPS and $7.71B revenue, both above estimates, and shows a net margin of 15.1%, ROE of 16.29% and a low P/E of 7.84.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (OTCMKTS:FRFHF - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $1,685.50, but opened at $1,730.00. Fairfax Financial shares last traded at $1,695.4680, with a volume of 1,390 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Fairfax Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research cut Fairfax Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Fairfax Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fairfax Financial presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

Fairfax Financial Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $36.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.59. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $1,703.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,727.20. The company has a quick ratio of 3.78, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Fairfax Financial (OTCMKTS:FRFHF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The financial services provider reported $57.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $55.45 by $2.12. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.62 billion. Fairfax Financial had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 16.29%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. will post 166.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fairfax Financial Company Profile

Fairfax Financial OTCMKTS: FRFHF is a Toronto-based financial holding company primarily engaged in property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and investment management. The company underwrites a broad range of commercial and personal insurance products, operates specialty and run-off reinsurance businesses, and manages a diversified investment portfolio largely funded by insurance float. Fairfax conducts its insurance operations through a network of subsidiaries and affiliated companies that provide local underwriting and claims services across multiple markets.

On the insurance side, Fairfax writes a mix of short-tail and long-tail coverages across specialty lines, commercial casualty, property and other niche markets, while its reinsurance activities include treaty and facultative solutions for cedants and intermediaries.

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