L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 129,300 shares, a growth of 18.5% from the December 31st total of 109,100 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 39,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FSTR. StockNews.com raised L.B. Foster from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. B. Riley increased their price target on L.B. Foster from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Institutional Trading of L.B. Foster

An institutional investor recently raised its position in L.B. Foster stock. De Lisle Partners LLP raised its holdings in L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP owned 0.43% of L.B. Foster worth $961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 80.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

L.B. Foster Stock Performance

FSTR stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.83. 38,435 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,901. The firm has a market capitalization of $301.40 million, a PE ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.04. L.B. Foster has a 52 week low of $14.23 and a 52 week high of $30.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $137.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.56 million. L.B. Foster had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 6.01%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that L.B. Foster will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

L.B. Foster Company Profile

L.B. Foster Company provides engineered and manufactured products and services for the building and infrastructure projects in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Rail, Technologies, and Services; and Infrastructure Solutions. The Rail, Technologies, and Services segment offers new rail to passenger and short line freight railroads, industrial companies, and rail contractors, as well as used rails; rail accessories, such as rack spikes, bolts, angle bars, tie plates, and other products; insulated rail joints and related accessories; fixation fasteners, coverboards, and special accessories; and trackwork products.