Wall Street Zen Upgrades Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) to Strong-Buy

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Commercial Metals from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup raised Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price (down from $57.00) on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Commercial Metals from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.85.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

CMC stock opened at $61.98 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a PE ratio of 81.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.32. Commercial Metals has a 12-month low of $37.92 and a 12-month high of $64.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.69.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 1.09%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Commercial Metals news, Director John R. Mcpherson acquired 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $58.09 per share, with a total value of $100,030.98. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,722 shares in the company, valued at $390,480.98. The trade was a 34.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMC. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 80.3% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 282.3% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 692 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 51.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 77.8% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,394 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company manufactures, recycles, and fabricates steel and metal products, and related materials and services in the United States, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through two segments, North America and Europe. The company processes and sells ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals to steel mills and foundries, aluminum sheet and ingot manufacturers, brass and bronze ingot makers, copper refineries and mills, secondary lead smelters, specialty steel mills, high temperature alloy manufacturers, and other consumers.