In a surprising turn of events, Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) has recently been downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating. This new research note has left investors perplexed and questioning the future prospects of this well-established bakery food products company. However, let’s take a closer look at Flowers Foods and its recent performance to gain a better understanding of the situation.
On May 19th, Flowers Foods announced its quarterly earnings data, revealing an impressive $0.38 EPS for the quarter. This exceeded the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02, indicating that the company had surpassed expectations. Moreover, Flowers Foods boasted a return on equity of 17.95%, which is no small feat in the competitive baking industry.
However, despite these positive results, many were expecting even better outcomes. The business had reported revenues of $1.53 billion during the quarter, slightly lower than analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Although this may seem like a minor discrepancy, any deviation from projections can significantly impact market sentiment.
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