Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, National Bank Financial Analyst Says

Key Points

• National Bank Financial raised its price target on Maple Leaf Foods to C$35 and kept an outperform rating, implying about a 17.65% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly bullish—Stifel and Scotiabank recently raised ratings (Stifel to C$35/"buy", Scotiabank to "strong-buy")—with an average rating of Buy and an average price target of C$34.71.
• Shares last traded at C$29.75; the company shows solid metrics (trailing P/E ~7.0, last-quarter EPS C$0.32, ROE 35.43%) but carries a relatively high debt-to-equity of 93.3.

Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at National Bank Financial from C$34.00 to C$35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. National Bank Financial's target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.65% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Maple Leaf Foods from C$32.00 to C$35.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Maple Leaf Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Maple Leaf Foods has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of C$34.71.

Maple Leaf Foods Stock Performance

Shares of MFI traded up C$0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting C$29.75. The stock had a trading volume of 96,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 316,425. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 93.30, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$28.74 and a 200 day moving average price of C$27.15. Maple Leaf Foods has a fifty-two week low of C$23.35 and a fifty-two week high of C$36.35. The firm has a market capitalization of C$3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00, a PEG ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.47.

Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported C$0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Maple Leaf Foods had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of C$991.24 million during the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Maple Leaf Foods will post 1.4334187 EPS for the current year.

Maple Leaf Foods Company Profile

Maple Leaf Foods Inc is a consumer-packaged meats company. It produces prepared meats and meals, fresh pork, and poultry and turkey products. The company also has agribusiness operations. These operations supply livestock to the meat products business operations. Its main markets are Canada, the United States, Japan, and China. The key brands are Maple Leaf and Schneiders, Maple Leaf Prime Naturally, Shopsy, Mitchell's Gourmet Food, Larse, Parm, and Hygrade.

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