Wall Street Zen Upgrades Hanesbrands (NYSE:HBI) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Hanesbrands (NYSE:HBI) received a rating upgrade from "hold" to "strong buy" from Wall Street Zen, reflecting increased confidence in the company's future performance.
• Analysts have varied opinions on HBI, with target prices ranging from $4.00 to $9.00, and the current average rating being "Hold" with a target of $6.00.
• Hanesbrands reported a Q2 EPS of $0.24, exceeding expectations and indicating a slight year-over-year revenue decrease of 0.4% to $991.33 million.

Hanesbrands (NYSE:HBI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on HBI. Barclays set a $6.00 price target on Hanesbrands and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Hanesbrands from $3.00 to $4.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Hanesbrands from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.00.

Hanesbrands Trading Down 0.3%

HBI traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $4.82. 5,656,587 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,335,296. The firm's fifty day moving average is $4.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.33. Hanesbrands has a 1-year low of $3.96 and a 1-year high of $9.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.62. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.10 and a beta of 1.40.

Hanesbrands (NYSE:HBI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The textile maker reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.06. Hanesbrands had a return on equity of 226.31% and a net margin of 2.49%. The company had revenue of $991.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $971.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. Hanesbrands's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Hanesbrands will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hanesbrands

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Hanesbrands by 175.7% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 276,547 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $2,283,000 after acquiring an additional 176,238 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Hanesbrands by 60.6% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 216,653 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 81,709 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Hanesbrands by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 366,836 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 106,464 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Hanesbrands by 436.4% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 119,749 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 97,426 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Hanesbrands by 324.8% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,886,647 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $15,357,000 after acquiring an additional 1,442,571 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.31% of the company's stock.

About Hanesbrands

Hanesbrands Inc, a consumer goods company, designs, manufactures, sources, and sells a range of range of innerwear apparels for men, women, and children in the Americas, Europe, the Asia pacific, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Innerwear, Activewear, and International.