Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

FLEX has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Flex from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Flex from $142.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Freedom Capital raised Flex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $170.00 price objective on Flex and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $131.78.

Flex Stock Performance

Flex stock opened at $88.10 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Flex has a fifty-two week low of $53.07 and a fifty-two week high of $166.86. The company has a market cap of $32.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.80.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $8.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.17 billion. Flex had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 3.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flex will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Flex

In other news, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 2,755 shares of Flex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.64, for a total transaction of $332,363.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 243,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,336,632. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Flex by 101.1% during the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,587 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after buying an additional 7,333 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in Flex by 24.5% in the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 45,576 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,013,000 after acquiring an additional 8,972 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Flex by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 52,180 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,739,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Alta Advisers Ltd raised its position in shares of Flex by 66.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 2,674 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flex during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,284,000. Institutional investors own 94.30% of the company’s stock.

Flex Company Profile

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) is a global manufacturing and supply chain solutions provider. The company helps original equipment manufacturers design, engineer, manufacture, distribute and service products across their lifecycles.

Flex serves customers in industries including automotive, communications, consumer electronics, health care, industrial, lifestyle and cloud infrastructure. Its capabilities include product design and engineering, printed circuit board assembly, systems integration, supply chain management, logistics, and aftermarket services.

The company was founded in 1969 as Flextronics and later adopted the name Flex.