Wall Street Zen Downgrades Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) to Buy

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

ESCA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Escalade in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Escalade from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Escalade Stock Performance

Shares of ESCA stock opened at $17.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.44 million, a PE ratio of 17.73 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 4.28 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Escalade has a one year low of $11.41 and a one year high of $18.40.

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.07. Escalade had a net margin of 5.70% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The firm had revenue of $62.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.55 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Escalade will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Escalade

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Escalade by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 15,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Escalade by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 140,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,000 after purchasing an additional 4,373 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Escalade by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 12,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 3,701 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Escalade by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Escalade by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 221,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,995,000 after purchasing an additional 878 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.22% of the company’s stock.

Escalade Company Profile

Escalade, Inc is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of recreational equipment and specialty products for both consumer and commercial markets. Headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, the company operates through two principal business segments: Sporting Goods and Commercial Products. The Sporting Goods segment encompasses a diverse range of products such as hockey and lacrosse goal assemblies, fitness accessories, archery and hunting gear, and table tennis equipment. The Commercial Products segment focuses on seating solutions for restaurants, hospitality venues and other public spaces under the Top Seat brand, as well as storage, display products and industrial carts.

Within Sporting Goods, Escalade markets its products under proprietary brands including Bear® Archery, Gene St.