Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) Issues Q3 Earnings Guidance

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) updated its third quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of ($0.38)-($0.31) for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of ($0.27). The company issued revenue guidance of $40-$44 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $36.67 million.

Clearfield Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CLFD traded up $4.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.13. 687,406 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 152,067. Clearfield has a 52-week low of $22.91 and a 52-week high of $50.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.95 and a 200 day moving average of $28.18. The company has a market cap of $531.47 million, a PE ratio of -144.52 and a beta of 1.33.

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.13. Clearfield had a negative return on equity of 1.06% and a negative net margin of 1.79%. The company had revenue of $36.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Clearfield will post -0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities raised shares of Clearfield from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Clearfield from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Clearfield in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $42.40.

Insider Activity at Clearfield

In related news, Chairman Ronald G. Roth bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.62 per share, for a total transaction of $59,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,259,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,315,157.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 16.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Clearfield

Clearfield, Inc manufactures and sells various fiber connectivity products in the United States and internationally. The company offers FieldSmart, a series of panels, cabinets, wall boxes, and other enclosures; WaveSmart, an optical components integrated for signal coupling, splitting, termination, multiplexing, demultiplexing, and attenuation for integration within its fiber management platform; and active cabinet products.