Oppenheimer Maintains a Buy Rating on Sprouts Farmers (SFM)


In a report released today, Rupesh Parikh from Oppenheimer maintained a Buy rating on Sprouts Farmers (SFM), with a price target of $27. The company’s shares opened today at $22.90.

Parikh said:

“We overall view the Q1 results collectively as much better than very muted investor expectations. $0.46 easily topped a Street figure of $0.41, and management raised the lower end of its EPS guidance even with the recent pricing actions from WFM in the produce category. This suggests to us management sees a lower risk of reacting to recent competitive developments. On the negative side, comps disappointed modestly increasing 1.4% below a Street figure of +1.7%. We continue to rank SFM as No. 3 within our food retailing/discounter coverage, behind DG and COST. We remain optimistic that the return of food inflation and lapping elevated expense investments could again drive a return to double-digit EPS growth in FY20 and beyond.”

According to TipRanks.com, Parikh is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 16.6% and a 66.2% success rate. Parikh covers the Services sector, focusing on stocks such as United Natural Foods, Ulta Beauty Inc, and Dollar General.

Currently, the analyst consensus on Sprouts Farmers is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $25.75, implying a 12.4% upside from current levels. In a report issued on April 29, Deutsche Bank also upgraded the stock to Buy.

See today’s analyst top recommended stocks >>

Based on Sprouts Farmers’ latest earnings release for the quarter ending December 31, the company reported a quarterly net profit of $12.7 million. In comparison, last year the company had a net profit of $66.62 million.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 37 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock.

TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.

Sprouts Farmers Markets, Inc. engages in operating healthy grocery stores. It specializes in fresh, natural, and organic products. Its products include fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, grocery, meat and seafood, deli, bakery, dairy, frozen foods, body care, and natural household items.

Stay Ahead of Everyone Else

Get The Latest Stock News Alerts