TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on TBI. Robert W. Baird set a $9.50 price target on TrueBlue in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded TrueBlue from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised TrueBlue from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TrueBlue currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.75.

TrueBlue Price Performance

TBI stock opened at $10.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $310.64 million, a P/E ratio of -5.43, a PEG ratio of 12.14 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $7.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.28. TrueBlue has a 52-week low of $3.18 and a 52-week high of $10.65.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The business services provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.16. The company had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.84 million. TrueBlue had a negative net margin of 3.35% and a negative return on equity of 6.26%. As a group, equities analysts expect that TrueBlue will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TrueBlue

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TBI. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in TrueBlue during the second quarter valued at $21,543,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of TrueBlue in the 2nd quarter worth about $15,550,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 37.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,220,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,106,000 after purchasing an additional 606,446 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,012,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,156,000 after purchasing an additional 492,984 shares during the period. Finally, Azarias Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Azarias Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,001,950 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,070 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.