Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) gapped down prior to trading on Monday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $13.85, but opened at $9.61. Fortrea shares last traded at $11.49, with a volume of 1,761,855 shares trading hands.

The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $697.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $703.22 million. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 2.00% and a negative net margin of 10.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Fortrea from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Fortrea from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortrea from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Fortrea from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortrea has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas Pike sold 11,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.04, for a total value of $203,274.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,884,018.72. This trade represents a 6.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 12,386 shares of company stock worth $219,751 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortrea

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Fortrea by 21.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 364,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 63,766 shares during the period. Starboard Value LP raised its stake in Fortrea by 5.0% during the third quarter. Starboard Value LP now owns 8,400,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Fortrea by 7.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,250,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,014,000 after purchasing an additional 233,577 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fortrea by 9.0% during the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 495,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,909,000 after purchasing an additional 40,748 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortrea by 20.5% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,197,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,954,000 after acquiring an additional 204,021 shares during the last quarter.

Fortrea Trading Down 25.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $931.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.04, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Fortrea Company Profile

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.