Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has upgraded Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating, suggesting increased confidence in the stock's performance.
• Conversely, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Arcos Dorados from "overweight" to "neutral," lowering its price target from $10.50 to $8.80.
• Arcos Dorados reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.11, exceeding the estimate of $0.05, but its revenue of $1.14 billion fell short of analyst expectations of $1.22 billion.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Arcos Dorados from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $10.50 to $8.80 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $8.80.

Arcos Dorados Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ARCO traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $6.76. 722,101 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,228,530. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.73, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.63. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $7.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.45. Arcos Dorados has a 12 month low of $6.51 and a 12 month high of $10.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.06. Arcos Dorados had a return on equity of 24.54% and a net margin of 2.89%.The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arcos Dorados will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Arcos Dorados

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Arcos Dorados during the second quarter worth about $117,349,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Arcos Dorados during the 1st quarter valued at about $79,583,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Arcos Dorados during the 2nd quarter valued at about $51,549,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,907,929 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $30,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moerus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 67.3% during the 1st quarter. Moerus Capital Management LLC now owns 3,552,013 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $28,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,429,338 shares in the last quarter. 55.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arcos Dorados Company Profile

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc operates as a franchisee of McDonald's restaurants. It has the exclusive right to own, operate, and grant franchises of McDonald's restaurants in 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, the U.S.