Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.05, but opened at $23.35. Fortrea shares last traded at $24.90, with a volume of 1,157,651 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on FTRE. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Fortrea from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Fortrea from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $42.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Fortrea from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortrea presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.60.

Fortrea Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.15, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.02). Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 1.98% and a negative net margin of 10.09%. The firm had revenue of $674.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.86 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortrea Holdings Inc. will post 0.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTRE. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its stake in Fortrea by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 6,750,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,545,000 after buying an additional 375,000 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in Fortrea by 3.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,938,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,075,000 after purchasing an additional 121,126 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA grew its stake in Fortrea by 933.7% in the second quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 3,140,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,296,000 after purchasing an additional 2,836,563 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortrea by 59.3% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,466,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,561,000 after purchasing an additional 918,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,438,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,845,000 after buying an additional 519,344 shares during the last quarter.

About Fortrea

Fortrea Holdings Inc, a contract research organization, primarily engages in the provision of biopharmaceutical product and medical device development services worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Clinical Services and Enabling Services. The Clinical Services segment provides across the clinical pharmacology and clinical development spectrum.