L.B. Foster Rating Increased to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus (FSTR)

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) was upgraded by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, TheFlyOnTheWall.com reports. The firm currently has a $49.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 20.42% from the company’s current price.

The analysts wrote, “L.B. Foster reported 2Q13 net income of $7.3 million, or diluted EPS from continuing operations of $0.71. The Street average estimate had been $0.97 and our estimate was $0.98 (our 2Q13 net income estimate was 10.1 million). The negative variance between the reported results and our model was concentrated in the company’s Rail segment revenue, which declined 10% y/y.”

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on FSTR. Analysts at Zacks reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of L.B. Foster in a research note to investors on Monday, June 10th. They now have a $47.00 price target on the stock. Analysts at Ativo Research upgraded shares of L.B. Foster from a “most unfavorable” rating to an “unfavorable” rating in a research note to investors on Saturday, June 1st.

Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. L.B. Foster currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

Shares of L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) traded up 7.84% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.88. L.B. Foster has a 52 week low of $29.75 and a 52 week high of $47.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $45.17. The company has a market cap of $446.1 million and a P/E ratio of 23.55.

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $149.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $175.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. L.B. Foster’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that L.B. Foster will post $3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th.

L. B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) is engaged in the manufacture, fabrication and distribution of rail, construction and tubular products.