L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 177,068 shares, an increase of 93.5% from the May 31st total of 91,517 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 76,939 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

L.B. Foster Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ FSTR traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.67. The stock had a trading volume of 40,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 74,568. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.84. L.B. Foster has a 1 year low of $21.67 and a 1 year high of $45.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm has a market cap of $467.25 million, a P/E ratio of 43.37 and a beta of 1.15.

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.36. L.B. Foster had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 6.36%. The business had revenue of $121.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $104.30 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that L.B. Foster will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FSTR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of L.B. Foster from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded L.B. Foster from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised L.B. Foster from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, B. Riley Financial increased their target price on L.B. Foster from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Comerica Bank raised its position in L.B. Foster by 356.7% during the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in shares of L.B. Foster during the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in L.B. Foster by 189.5% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,131 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in L.B. Foster during the 2nd quarter valued at $122,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in L.B. Foster by 469.1% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 4,752 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.63% of the company’s stock.

About L.B. Foster

L.B. Foster Company is a diversified infrastructure solutions provider offering products and services to the transportation, energy, and construction markets. Founded in 1902 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company has built a reputation for delivering specialty materials and engineering solutions that support critical infrastructure projects across various industries.

The company’s operations are organized into three primary segments: Rail Products & Services, Construction Products, and Tubular & Energy Products.