Wall Street Zen Downgrades TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) to Sell

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

TBI has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of TrueBlue in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $5.50 price target on TrueBlue in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on TrueBlue from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

TrueBlue Price Performance

TrueBlue stock opened at $3.70 on Friday. TrueBlue has a 52 week low of $3.45 and a 52 week high of $7.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.07 million, a PE ratio of -2.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.48.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $418.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $413.31 million. TrueBlue had a negative net margin of 2.97% and a negative return on equity of 6.87%. On average, equities research analysts predict that TrueBlue will post 0.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TrueBlue

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TBI. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in TrueBlue during the first quarter worth about $156,000. Peapod Lane Capital LLC grew its position in TrueBlue by 37.5% during the second quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 358,454 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,323,000 after acquiring an additional 97,698 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in TrueBlue during the second quarter worth about $83,000. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TrueBlue in the 2nd quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 1,236.2% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 547,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,547,000 after purchasing an additional 506,550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.15% of the company’s stock.

About TrueBlue

TrueBlue, Inc is a Tacoma, Washington–based workforce solutions provider specializing in temporary staffing, permanent placement and managed service solutions. Operating through its subsidiaries and brands, TrueBlue connects clients across manufacturing, logistics, retail, construction and public sector markets with skilled professionals for both short-term and long-term engagements. The company’s offerings encompass on-demand blue-collar labor, specialized industrial staffing, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and contingent workforce management.

TrueBlue’s primary service lines include PeopleReady, which supplies general labor for construction, hospitality and event services; PeopleManagement, which focuses on technical and industrial professionals; PeopleScout, a global RPO business offering end-to-end talent acquisition and consulting; and Staff Management | SMX, which delivers seasonal staffing for large-scale events, amusement parks and federal workforce contracts.