Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD)

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 29.00% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on CLFD. StockNews.com upgraded Clearfield to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Roth Mkm cut their target price on Clearfield from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Northland Securities upped their price target on Clearfield from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Lake Street Capital upgraded shares of Clearfield from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $47.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Clearfield currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.75.

Clearfield Price Performance

NASDAQ CLFD opened at $38.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 5.73 and a current ratio of 8.38. The stock has a market cap of $551.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -155.04 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.97. Clearfield has a 52-week low of $22.91 and a 52-week high of $44.83.

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $0.30. The company had revenue of $48.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.13 million. Clearfield had a negative net margin of 5.26% and a negative return on equity of 3.06%. The firm’s revenue was down 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Clearfield will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Clearfield

In related news, Director Walter Louis Jones, Jr. bought 1,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $37.77 per share, for a total transaction of $50,007.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,923.97. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 16.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Clearfield in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Clearfield by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,082 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Clearfield in the second quarter valued at $75,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Clearfield in the 2nd quarter valued at about $85,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Clearfield in the 2nd quarter valued at about $130,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.73% of the company’s stock.

Clearfield Company Profile

Clearfield, Inc manufactures and sells various fiber connectivity products in the United States and internationally. The company offers FieldSmart, a series of panels, cabinets, wall boxes, and other enclosures; WaveSmart, an optical components integrated for signal coupling, splitting, termination, multiplexing, demultiplexing, and attenuation for integration within its fiber management platform; and active cabinet products.