Bear of the Day: Flowers Foods (FLO)

You ever walk into a grocery store and catch the smell of freshly baked bread? It’s a simple pleasure. But as investors, we have to separate that warm, comforting aroma from cold, hard earnings trends. That brings us to today’s Bear of the Day, Flowers Foods (FLO). The stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and a company that’s feeling the heat for all the wrong reasons.

Flowers Foods is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery goods in the United States. With brands like Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, and Wonder Bread under its belt, you’d think the business would be in a good spot. After all, people have to eat, right?

Yes, but this is Wall Street, not Main Street. Here, it’s not about what’s in your pantry. It’s about what’s in the pipeline. And when it comes to earnings, FLO has been serving up some half-baked results.

Over the last sixty days, five analysts have cut their earnings estimates for the current year and next year. The bearish moves have slashed our Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year from $1.18 to $1.10 while next year’s number is off from $1.27 to $1.14. That means that analysts are now forecasting a 14% contraction in earnings this year and just 3.6% growth next year.

The Food – Miscellaneous industry is in the Bottom 27% of our Zacks Industry Rank. There are some stocks within this industry which are in the good graces of our Zacks Rank. These include Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) Nomad Foods (NOMD) and Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) Ingedrion (INGR).

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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