Wall Street Zen Upgrades Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating, signaling increased confidence in the company's stock.
• Analysts have mixed forecasts for Blue Bird's stock price, with Needham raising its target from $49 to $53, while Barclays and DA Davidson lowered theirs.
• Blue Bird reported a strong quarterly performance, with earnings per share of $1.19, surpassing expectations and reflecting a 19.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

BLBD has been the subject of several other research reports. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.36.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ:BLBD traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $56.16. 129,785 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 558,811. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Blue Bird has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $60.45. The company has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.50. The business's 50-day moving average price is $44.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.74.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.29. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 61.66%. The company had revenue of $398.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $377.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.21, for a total value of $532,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 48,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,564,881.63. This trade represents a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at $14,445,960. This represents a 11.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 72,849 shares of company stock worth $3,743,780. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BLBD. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 23,513 shares of the company's stock worth $908,000 after buying an additional 6,600 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 306,286 shares of the company's stock worth $11,832,000 after buying an additional 5,109 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 765,490 shares of the company's stock worth $29,578,000 after buying an additional 13,262 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,365 shares of the company's stock worth $2,293,000 after buying an additional 2,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 162.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,840,198 shares of the company's stock worth $186,977,000 after buying an additional 2,998,453 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

About Blue Bird

Blue Bird Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, manufactures, and sells school buses in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Bus and Parts. It offers Type C, Type D, and specialty buses; and alternative power options through its propane powered, gasoline powered, compressed natural gas powered, and electric powered school buses, as well as diesel engines.