Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

ARCO has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Arcos Dorados from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $10.50 in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Arcos Dorados from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

Arcos Dorados Stock Performance

NYSE ARCO opened at $8.10 on Tuesday. Arcos Dorados has a fifty-two week low of $6.67 and a fifty-two week high of $9.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.26.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The restaurant operator reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.07. Arcos Dorados had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 5.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arcos Dorados will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Arcos Dorados

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCO. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Arcos Dorados by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 694,787 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,968,000 after purchasing an additional 18,068 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in Arcos Dorados by 38.1% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 139,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 38,621 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Arcos Dorados by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 81,779 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 11,244 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Arcos Dorados during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $81,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Arcos Dorados during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $87,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.91% of the company’s stock.

About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc (NYSE: ARCO) is the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world. The company operates and franchises McDonald’s restaurants across Latin America and the Caribbean under a master franchise agreement with McDonald’s Corporation.

Its restaurants offer McDonald’s products, including hamburgers, chicken items, french fries, breakfast products, beverages, desserts and other menu offerings. Arcos Dorados also provides services such as McCafé, McDelivery, digital ordering and drive-thru operations, depending on the market.

Headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Arcos Dorados serves customers in approximately 20 countries and territories, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.