TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of TrueBlue from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of TrueBlue in a research report on Monday, June 17th.

TrueBlue Price Performance

TrueBlue stock traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $7.71. 282,365 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 366,495. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.51. TrueBlue has a 52-week low of $7.65 and a 52-week high of $16.14.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The business services provider reported ($0.35) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.30). TrueBlue had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. The firm had revenue of $396.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $414.49 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that TrueBlue will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TrueBlue

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in TrueBlue in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Azarias Capital Management L.P. increased its position in TrueBlue by 40.8% in the second quarter. Azarias Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,247,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,846,000 after purchasing an additional 361,101 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in TrueBlue by 2.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 130,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,905 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in TrueBlue by 3.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 290,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,991,000 after purchasing an additional 8,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of TrueBlue in the 1st quarter worth $1,557,000. 97.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TrueBlue Company Profile

TrueBlue, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides specialized workforce solutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Puerto Rico. It operates through three segments: PeopleReady, PeopleManagement, and PeopleScout. The company PeopleReady segment provides general, industrial, and skilled trade contingent staffing services for construction, transportation, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and renewable energy industries.