Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN) from a "hold" to a "buy" rating in a report issued Saturday.
• Ribbon's most recent quarter beat EPS expectations ($0.59 vs. $0.11) but missed revenue estimates ($227.3M vs. $241.4M) and saw revenue decline ~9.6% year-over-year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but skewed positive — four Buys, one Hold and one Sell — giving a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $3.58; the shares trade around $2.78 with a market cap near $488M.

Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Craig Hallum reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $3.00 price target on shares of Ribbon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ribbon Communications in a research report on Friday, February 6th. B. Riley Financial lowered Ribbon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $2.90 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on Ribbon Communications from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ribbon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $3.58.

Ribbon Communications Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:RBBN opened at $2.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Ribbon Communications has a 1-year low of $1.80 and a 1-year high of $4.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $487.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.75.

Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.48. Ribbon Communications had a return on equity of 26.11% and a net margin of 4.69%.The business had revenue of $227.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $241.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. Ribbon Communications's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ribbon Communications will post 0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ribbon Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ribbon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,691,070 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $29,226,000 after acquiring an additional 166,683 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Ribbon Communications by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 4,614,741 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $13,290,000 after acquiring an additional 309,271 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Ribbon Communications by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,099,793 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $6,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,280 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ribbon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,033,914 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,929,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Ribbon Communications by 99.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 964,446 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,665,000 after buying an additional 481,276 shares in the last quarter. 70.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ribbon Communications Company Profile

Ribbon Communications Inc is a global provider of real-time communications software and network solutions for service providers and enterprises. The company's offerings address the full life cycle of voice, video and data transmission across fixed, mobile and cloud environments. Ribbon's technology portfolio is designed to enable secure, intelligent and interoperable communications in applications such as unified communications, contact centers, wholesale VoIP interconnect and next-generation 5G networks.

Ribbon's product suite includes session border controllers (SBCs), which secure and interwork IP voice and multimedia sessions; Diameter signaling controllers for 4G/5G policy and charging control; network edge virtualization platforms; and analytics engines for service assurance and fraud management.

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