Q3 2017 Earnings Forecast for Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc. Issued By Imperial Capital (NASDAQ:BUFF)

Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:BUFF) – Imperial Capital cut their Q3 2017 earnings per share estimates for shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a report issued on Thursday. Imperial Capital analyst G. Kelly now anticipates that the company will earn $0.23 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.25. Imperial Capital has a “Outperform” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Imperial Capital also issued estimates for Blue Buffalo Pet Products’ Q4 2017 earnings at $0.24 EPS, Q1 2018 earnings at $0.25 EPS, Q2 2018 earnings at $0.25 EPS, Q3 2018 earnings at $0.28 EPS, Q4 2018 earnings at $0.29 EPS, FY2018 earnings at $1.07 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $1.29 EPS.

Blue Buffalo Pet Products (NASDAQ:BUFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.21. Blue Buffalo Pet Products had a return on equity of 98.02% and a net margin of 12.13%. The company had revenue of $294.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. Blue Buffalo Pet Products’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: “[[title]]” was first posted by [[site]] and is the sole property of of [[site]]. If you are accessing this report on another website, it was stolen and reposted in violation of US & international copyright laws. The legal version of this report can be viewed at [[permalink]].

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on BUFF. Citigroup Inc. upgraded Blue Buffalo Pet Products from a “buy” rating to a “top pick” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Susquehanna Bancshares Inc restated a “positive” rating on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Zacks Investment Research cut Blue Buffalo Pet Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Off Wall Street started coverage on Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, J P Morgan Chase & Co restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down from $28.00) on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $27.00.

Shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products (NASDAQ:BUFF) opened at 23.70 on Friday. Blue Buffalo Pet Products has a one year low of $21.51 and a one year high of $26.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.70. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.38 and a beta of 1.95.

Blue Buffalo Pet Products announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 8th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 4.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,072,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,330,000 after buying an additional 310,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 50.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,235,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,411,000 after buying an additional 1,752,086 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 11.1% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 4,914,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,031,000 after buying an additional 489,439 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 69.8% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,523,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,033,000 after buying an additional 1,447,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 360.6% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,320,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,739,000 after buying an additional 2,599,478 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.92% of the company’s stock.

About Blue Buffalo Pet Products

Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc (BBPP) is a holding company. The Company operates as a pet food company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, develops, produces, markets and sells pet food under product lines, including BLUE Life Protection Formula, BLUE Wilderness, BLUE Basics, BLUE Freedom and BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet lines.