Zacks Research Upgrades Malibu Boats (NASDAQ:MBUU) to Strong-Buy

Malibu Boats (NASDAQ:MBUU) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MBUU. Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Malibu Boats in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.00 price objective on the stock. Griffin Securities set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Malibu Boats in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Malibu Boats from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Malibu Boats in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.40.

Malibu Boats Trading Up 6.2%

Shares of MBUU stock traded up $1.50 on Monday, hitting $25.65. The stock had a trading volume of 30,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,023. Malibu Boats has a twelve month low of $23.92 and a twelve month high of $39.65. The firm has a market cap of $477.07 million, a P/E ratio of 35.13 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.42.

Malibu Boats (NASDAQ:MBUU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.01. Malibu Boats had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 4.25%. The company had revenue of $188.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Malibu Boats will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Malibu Boats announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, December 19th that allows the company to buyback $70.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 12.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Malibu Boats

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Malibu Boats in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,041,000. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in shares of Malibu Boats by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,544,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,106,000 after purchasing an additional 170,178 shares during the period. Lodge Hill Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Malibu Boats by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 885,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,719,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its holdings in shares of Malibu Boats by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 505,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,408,000 after purchasing an additional 112,561 shares during the period. Finally, Dean Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Malibu Boats by 107.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 100,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,254,000 after purchasing an additional 51,927 shares during the period. 91.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Malibu Boats Company Profile

Malibu Boats, Inc is a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of performance sport boats for the recreational boating market. The company’s product portfolio includes the premium Malibu® brand and the value-oriented Axis® Wake Research line, as well as Cobalt® boats following its 2020 acquisition. Malibu’s vessels are engineered to serve water-sports enthusiasts, with models optimized for wakeboarding, wakesurfing and waterskiing.

Founded in 1982 by water-sports enthusiast Jack Springer, Malibu Boats is headquartered in Loudon, Tennessee.