Wall Street Zen Upgrades Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Research analysts at Wall Street Zen upgraded Sotera Health from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating increasing confidence in the company's stock.
• Sotera Health reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.20, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.17, alongside revenues of $294.34 million, which also surpassed projections.
• The consensus target price for Sotera Health is currently set at $16.00, reflecting analysts' positive outlook despite some mixed ratings from different firms.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on SHC. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Sotera Health from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Sotera Health from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $14.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Sotera Health in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sotera Health has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $16.00.

Sotera Health Stock Performance

Shares of Sotera Health stock traded up $0.2350 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $16.0350. The company's stock had a trading volume of 614,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,233,133. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $12.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.47. Sotera Health has a one year low of $9.53 and a one year high of $17.08. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 200.46 and a beta of 1.81.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. Sotera Health had a net margin of 2.14% and a return on equity of 39.42%. The firm had revenue of $294.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sotera Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.750-0.820 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sotera Health will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sotera Health

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Sotera Health by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 255,341 shares of the company's stock worth $3,493,000 after purchasing an additional 7,594 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Sotera Health by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 18,184 shares of the company's stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 1,740 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sotera Health by 58.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 9,029 shares of the company's stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 3,331 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Sotera Health by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 15,300 shares of the company's stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 5,300 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Sotera Health by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,143,955 shares of the company's stock worth $43,004,000 after buying an additional 673,979 shares during the period. 91.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sotera Health

Sotera Health Company engages in the provision of sterilization, lab testing, and advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Sterigenics, Nordion, and Nelson Labs. It provides mission-critical end-to-end sterilization services, including gamma and electron beam irradiation, and ethylene oxide processing, as well as designs, installs, and maintains gamma irradiation systems.